VALLEJO III

by Sharon Potter

Dr. Marcotte, handles the medical and breeding duties at Vallejo III.

Vallejo farrier Mike Proulx has been praised by farriers from coast to coast.

Assistant Trainer Kiera Robinson

Office Manager Bette Mitchell.

A FIRST-CLASS FACILITY WITH A STAFF TO MATCH

The Vallejo facility has everything you could want in a top-class show and breeding facility, from the Bermuda grass pastures to the main training barn with its 80' x 200' indoor arena. The training barn holds 45 horses, with the office and visitor's lounge in front. Nearby is the 60-foot indoor heated bullpen, outdoor arena with French drain, stallion paddocks, grass turnout paddocks for the show horses on their days off, and at the very back of the training barn, you'll find the covered parking area housing the Vallejo III 15-horse streamliner van and Peterbilt truck. Past the training barn and paddocks is the Harts' home and a five-stall barn housing Kathie's personal show horses. The balance of their personal stock resides in the sheltered pastures.

The outstanding staff at Vallejo III runs like a well-oiled machine, with each person aware of and responsible for their duties. Bob likes to see to it that each person has his or her own set of responsibilities with no overlapping or confusion, since this enables him to immediately pinpoint who is responsible if a job is not done or is done incorrectly. He encourages the staff to help one another, yet each is ultimately liable for their own duties. This system contributes greatly to the overall efficiency and smoothness of operation that surrounds the farm.

By 7:30 a.m., activity in the training barn is bustling. A board outlining the day's training plans lists each and every one of the 45 horses in residence. Each groom is always assigned to the same six or seven horses, enabling the grooms to be aware of subtle changes before they become problems.

The staff at Vallejo III consists of an outstanding group of dedicated people. The friendly voice you hear on the phone is Bette Mitchell, Vallejo III's office manager. She began showing Arabian horses as an amateur with Bob, and won her first national championship on the mare Negaseyns Emerald, whom Bob also showed to the National Western Pleasure Open title. Bette's familiarity with Vallejo as an amateur rider made for an easy transition when she joined the staff in 1994.

General farm maintenance and repair is handled by Tom Ash, who has been with Vallejo III since 1991. Tom also takes excellent care of Bob and Kathie's personal horses, including foaling duties, caring for broodmares, and halter breaking the babies.

Multi-National Champion
Rohara Moon Storm is a sire
of National and regional champions in
halter and performance.

Bob Hart Jr. says he grew up at horse shows. He can't remember a time when he was not busy helping his dad. Well known trainer Bob Hart Sr. was noted for his park and English horses, and during the 40 year span of his career, showed some of the greats -- *Oran Van Crabbet, *Aramus, Seahorse Duke Dorsaz, and *Zbrucz. Bob laughingly says that when he was training with his dad, he made a conscious decision to excel with Western horses, since his dad got all the good English prospects.

Growing up in Ohio, Bob was surrounded by top people in all breeds. Distinguished trainers such as Stretch and Clark Bradley, Dale Wilkerson, and Doug Lilley imparted freely of their knowledge. Even the 4-H group Bob belonged to was highly competitive. If he wanted to win, he had to be better than just good, and notes that during his teenage years, he always had 15-20 horses to work after school. He also rode horses through sale barns to earn extra money. Rodeo and calf roping also appealed to Bob, and he says the lessons he learned from the variety of equine events he's participated in have played a major role in making him into the trainer he is today. He comments that he probably made a regular nuisance of himself when he was younger, always wanting to learn everything he could from anybody who would take the time to teach him. Bob was winning at the Nationals while he was still in high school, riding Lewisfield Nizzo to two top tens. His first national championship came in 1970 on the Western pleasure horse Lewisfield Magic. Following those beginning successes comes an impressive list of wins, including an unprecedented group of national championships. In three out of the last four years, Bob Hart Jr. has ridden the U.S. National Champion Purebred Western Pleasure horse and has won these titles on three different horses! His horses have been top ten or better every year for the past 14 years, with the exception of 1984 when his father, Bob Hart Sr., was one of the judges and Bob Jr. could not show. At the Canadian Nationals, 50 percent of the open Western championships since 1989 have been won by Vallejo III, again all on different horses.

Kathie and Bob have been very active in the International Arabian Horse Association, serving on several committees as well as both being lifetime members of IAHA and the American Horse Shows Associations. Kathie is quick to mention that participating in these organizations is a major goal of hers and Bob's, since it is a way to give something back to the business that is so much a part of their lives.

Both Bob and Kathie have been honored at the prestigious Arabian Horsemen's Awards, with Kathie winning the Female Amateur Award twice, as well as being nominated for Horsewoman of the Year. Bob has won the Western Trainer of the Year Award twice and has been an "R" judge since the mid-'70s. This must run in the family; Bob Hart Sr. was also honored as a Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Talented amateur Kathie Hart comes by her love of horses naturally. Herman Cornell, Kathie's great-grandfather, was a rancher in Texas and raised Arabian horses, with his brand eventually finding its way into Bazy Tankersley's Al-Marah herd as some of her foundation broodmares. The original Vallejo Ranch was a working cattle ranch, located in Cimarron, N.M., and was founded by Kathie's grandparents, who used Arabians as their working ranch horses. The Vallejo name carried on into the next generation with Kathie's mother, Dickie Simpson. She and her husband, Bill, established Vallejo Ranch in Chelsea, Okla., and both Dickie and Bill competed in the working and Western divisions. From these early days at Vallejo came such champions as Zubraffa (Niran Ibn Indraff x Zubreiya), winner of 16 national titles in cutting; and AM Silversparrow (*Silver Vanity x *Blue Millet) shown by Dickie Simpson to the title of 1967 U.S. National Western Pleasure Champion. Both these mares have gone on to greener pastures, but have left their legacy at Vallejo III through their produce. Multi-National Champion Working Cow Horse Bar-Fly (by Fadloren) is out of Zubraffa and Vallejo Contessa, by Khemosabi and out of AM Silversparrow, has produced several national winners for Vallejo III. Also out of Silversparrow is the champion producing mare Vallejo Sable, who is in foal to Rohara Moon Storm.

Kathie has been showing since the age of 3 and attended school in Maryland, where she learned to ride, show and appreciate hunters. She won her first national championship in stock seat equitation back in 1969, and has continued her winning ways in many divisions, including Western pleasure, hunter pleasure, park, English pleasure, and working cow horse. Kathie says her first really big win was in 1982, on her mother's horse Dargario, a son of *Cytrys. With Kathie riding, he was named Buckeye Open Western Pleasure Champion, and Canadian National Western Pleasure Open and AOTR Champion; it was a truly special moment for her, and even more so since she had lost her mother that same year. It is important to note the longevity of the Vallejo horses; Dargario was pulled out of retirement at the age of 16 and ridden to these wins!

Bob and Kathie's daughter, Audrey, loves the atmosphere at Vallejo III. Enthusiastic and talented, she enjoys many sports, including track and basketball, in addition to her riding. She is also an active 4-H member. Inheriting Kathie's love of the history and pedigrees of the Arabian horse, Audrey can often be found in front of her computer monitor, studying the Arabian Horse Bookshelf to learn more about the horses. "Mom is an excellent hunter pleasure teacher," says Audrey, "and Dad helps me with Western, which is my favorite class to ride. There's just something about the way the Western horses go ... I just love it!" At shows, she can most often be found following Bob, and intently watches as he teaches.

"Just how much she has learned from watching us ride and win at horse shows became evident during her first hunter pleasure walk-trot class at Youth Nationals on her Half-Arabian pony, Lady Sheeba," Kathie says, "where Audrey rode like a pro, very aggressively, setting up her passes and using the ring to her advantage. Bob and I were amazed and surprised, since we hadn't formally coached her on any of this ... she just picked it up from watching. It was a very special moment and one I'll never forget."

Kathie's days at Vallejo are hectic, since she is constantly switching hats, as she fondly refers to her duties as a mom, a wife, and a horsewoman. Much of her time revolves around Audrey's extracurricular activities, as well as spending time with the steady flow of customers coming and going from the farm. Kathie tries to fit in as much time with her horses as she can, which usually amounts to a couple of hours a day. Occasionally she gets in a little more time with them, if she's lucky.

---

Carrying on the generations-old Vallejo tradition of breeding top quality Arabian horses, an important step for the Vallejo breeding program has been the acquisition of Rohara Moon Storm. He represents the next phase of the program and, so far, his foals are more than living up to the expectations of their breeders, winning National and regional championships in both halter and performance. Rohara Moon Storm has been National Western Pleasure Champion, Reserve National Hunter Pleasure Champion, National Champion Western Pleasure Junior Horse, and National Top Ten Futurity Stallion. He comes by his talent naturally, with a pedigree that reads like a who's who of Arabian horses. His sire, Moonstone Bey V, is a son of the immortal Bay-El-Bey, and is out of the Khemosabi daughter, Moska, herself a granddaughter of Bay-El-Bey's sire, Bay-Abi, through her dam, Baychatka. Rohara Moon Storm's dam is the exquisite U.S. National Champion Mare Rohara Tsultress, a daughter of Rohara's foundation mare, Emenee (*Aramus x Diamindita), and sired by top producer Ivanhoe Tsultan (Ivanhoe Tsatan x Hillcrest's Bint Imaraff).

So far, Rohara Moon Storm+// get have won 16 National Champinships and 11 National Reserve Championships.

Both cooled and frozen semen are available from Rohara Moon Storm and the other stallions standing at Vallejo III. In fact, Whit Byers of Select Breeders Southwest's Mobile Cryopreservation Lab visits the farm once a year to collect and freeze semen from the stallions at the farm.

Kathie is quick to note that she really knows her broodmares, especially since they are the product of generations of Vallejo breeding. She can tell you the strong and weak points of each mare as well as how they will cross, and emphasizes that knowing your mares and being objective is critical to the success of any breeding program.

Recently, a new dimension was added to the already successful program. Bob and Kathie have crossed their Arabian mares with top Quarter Horse bloodlines, most notably Zippo Pine Bar. For those unfamiliar with Quarter Horse bloodlines, Zippo Pine Bar has done for the American Quarter Horse Association Western division what *Bask did for the Arabian English division. Vallejo has a 4-year-old gelding by Zippo Pine Bar, as well as a 4-year-old filly by Zip's Chocolate Chip, a direct son of Zippo Pine Bar. These exciting young horses are the beginning of a new era in Half-Arabian Western pleasure horses, as they are bred specifically for the job and have the very best of both worlds in their pedigrees. Kathie notes that Vallejo has never followed fads in their breeding program, instead choosing their own path with great success.

Kathie enjoys seeing horses with the Vallejo name go on to win for their new owners as well, and comments "Whenever I watch that national championship blanket of roses being laid across a Vallejo horse's shoulders, I see little flashbacks and memories of that horse as a foal playing in the pasture, and remember the history behind each one of them. They are such a part of me." She laughingly recalls making the victory pass at Nationals on Vallejo Eclipse. Once the ribbons and roses were on, Eclipse started bucking and kicking -- kind of their own little celebration.