How A Family Imported French Bloodlines To Revive Working Percheron Draft Horses

Real power doesn’t need glitter. We sit down with Travis and Ashley from southern Illinois to trace a bold move: importing a French Percheron stallion to bring back the old-style draft—shorter, heavier, smarter, and sound from hoof to head. What starts as a love story with a rock-solid mare becomes a cross-Atlantic quest for bone, brains, and better feet.

Walk through their two-week tour of German farms and the French national stud, where selection is stricter, bloodlines span centuries, and stallions must earn their place in the book. They explain how that discipline shows up in the horses: compact frames, minimal feather, round cupped hooves, and calm, teachable minds. Then meet “Nemo,” a dark dapple gray with black legs, 16.1 hands and roughly 1,700 pounds, who rides like a big quarter horse and drives with a quiet, thinking attitude. We cover training choices, why they started him under saddle first, and what makes him a standout for true draft crosses that look the part and work all day.

If you’ve watched hitch trends stretch Percherons taller and narrower, this conversation offers a different path. We unpack registry differences, breeding goals, semen collection and shipping, and color genetics, including plans to test for homozygous gray. There’s a practical through-line for farmers, teamsters, carriage pros, mule lovers, and anyone who wants a versatile half draft with real width and a soft eye. And yes, their imported filly sets the stage for full-French foals registered in both France and the U.S.

Come for the story; stay for the blueprint to revive a working Percheron that fits modern jobs and old values. If you care about sound feet, sane minds, and draft horses that actually draft, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a fellow horse person, and leave a review telling us which old-style traits you want to see return.

For more info on breeding your mare to Nemo De La Noe

 - Contact me at (606) 303-5669 

Thank you for your support, and God Bless You! 

Your friend, Steven D Haste------

Transcript

Welcome, Thanks, And Community Shoutouts

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to Harvest Up with Hate Draft Horses and New, where we talk all things related to these magnificent episodes. Their history and music. Join us this week with experts at the field. Exploring. Explore the world of draft horses at you. Whether you're state or just podcast for you. So hard stuff. Join Ace Draft Horses and Mules for some lively discussions about the God-given creature.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Howdy folks, Steven here with Harnessed Up Podcast with Hace Draft Horses and Mules. Guys, we're coming right back at you again. I told you I was going to start trying to do more podcasts and try to be a little more regular. Well, I'm giving you another one this week, so you all been asking for them, and here it is. These are some super nice folks. Um I've never met them in person, but I'm going to someday here pretty soon. We'll get into that as the podcast goes along. But guys, thanks for coming on. Thanks for listening. Y'all listening out on the platforms. Also, y'all watching on YouTube, thank you. God bless you. We appreciate each and every one of y'all so much. You mean the world to us, and we couldn't thank you enough. Without you all, there'd be no reason to even do this. So you matter most and we appreciate it. Guys, check us out on our website if you're new here at www.draft

Meet Travis And Ashley In Illinois

SPEAKER_01 1:50

horses and mulesforsale.com. You'll find all our stuff on there. We're on all of social media. You can find us anywhere at Haste Draft Horses and Mules. All right, guys, we're going to get here and dig in with Travis and Ashley. Where are you all from again?

SPEAKER_03 2:05

We're from Adroit, Illinois. That's like South Central.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Southern Illinois?

SPEAKER_03 2:12

Yeah, it I think it's considered Southern. South Central is what I say.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I sold a late team to some folks two weeks ago, I think it was. On a Saturday night. Two weeks ago tonight. Them people from deep southern Illinois, they will tell you quick Southern Illinois.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

That's what we do. There's a difference.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

There is a mat there's a huge difference. We won't get into all that, but there is a big difference. One guy told me one time, Southern Illinois is actually far western Kentucky.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

But I don't know if there's any free for that or not.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

But no offense to you people up north now. We love them too. I saw a lot of horses in Chicago, and we got a lot of fans in that area too. So we thank everybody and appreciate you for coming on listening. Guys, Travis called me, what has it been, Travis, two months ago or something like that? Yeah, something like that. He reached out to me about a stallion that they have got, and I'm gonna we're gonna dig into it about this stud of theirs. First off, though, guys, there's a huge difference in perching horses, and we're gonna dig in and talk about the difference in them and what these guys are trying to do for the breed of perchurons here in the U.S. versus over in France and what the difference are from one to the other. But first, I want you all to tell them a little bit more about you all, where you're from and what you do, and all about y'all.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Well, I'm Travis, and this is my beautiful bride Ashley. We're like I said, over here in Edgewood, Illinois. We got a small 80-acre farm. We manage a small logging business, family-owned dog logging business. Me personally, I've always grown up around horses, but it's always been a trail riding horder horses, and my wife as well. Same. We can't actually remember a time where we weren't around horses. So, but it's always been trail riding horter horses. And then whenever after we got married and started having babies and stuff like that, there was a time that came that we decided to sell our horses because we didn't have the time to put into them, and we also didn't have the money to put into them. And back

From Trail Horses To Logging With Drafts

SPEAKER_03 4:20

then, horses weren't worth a whole lot. They were pretty good horses we sold, but they weren't worth a whole lot. But I promise you, there's never been a time where it doesn't cost to feed a horse. So that was the smart financial decision for us back then. And after that, let's see. There was a few years we went with not owning horses, and uh I came into some financial trouble. I've been in the concrete business my whole life, always worked for other people, but anyway, I started uh I was laid off in the wintertime because it's hard to pour concrete in a hard winter over here. And I actually went out to my own woods and started logging my own timber, and I started I logged my first semi-load logs out with a Toyota pickup truck, is all I had to use. And not too long into it after that, a family member loaned me a small loader tractor, so I started pulling logs with that, and the whole time I was always thinking that it would be pretty efficient and really cool to be able to use horses to do this. And we could have a whole other podcast in itself, but on this subject right here, but the Lord really blessed us, in the got me into the logging business and this the small family business, and he blessed us getting us into the horse, the draft horses. And like I said, I could have a whole podcast in itself telling you about how the Lord did some things around it. It was a miracle. It was a miracle how we got started in this. And another thing he did real immediately after we got a team, our first team of drafts, they were a uh big Belgians, and they kind of taught me what I was doing, and I made a lot of mistakes and everything. But there's a lot of people in my area I was blessed with having a lot of people older teamsters that aren't really that far away. And we became very close with these people. They're like they are like family to us, and I've just been blessed really good in that manner. And then, like I said, after we got into the the horse that got bought my first team, and I was learning how to use them alongside that our logging business grew, and I I have done some good horse logging jobs with teams and horses, but for the most part, I mechanically log around here. That's the bulk of my business. And my brother works with me, and some close friends work with me on that. And our area is kind of hard to I don't ever foresee myself being a strict horse logger because our area and just our community, it's really not that good fit for horse logging. It's a lot of low crop ground around here, and if it's timber, it's down in a holler and you have to pull everything up. So very few good horse logging jobs. But I've even had people say, well, they did it in the old days. How'd they do it in the old days? And I've learned around here that back in the old days they put the sawmill down at the bottom of the hill, and the horses drug everything down to the sawmill, which nowadays, you know, we're loading semi-trucks and hauling them to big industrial mills. But I do some farming, go to a lot of plow days, we go to a lot of plow days with my horses. Met a lot of really good.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Your current team you have.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

My current team. I have a team of older mares that are that are being bred by this stuff right now. So that's kind of been in the last couple years, it's kind of been hard to have a really hard working team because they're they're always pregnant, and they're older mares, so I'm not I'm trying to take it easy on them too. But I'm I'm getting into a different season, especially with him, and then I've got another three-year-old and stuff, so hopefully I can start incorporating him a lot more. But I like hauling manure with them and plowing and stuff like that. How we got into him. This is what this what was that?

SPEAKER_01 8:28

I said this is what this podcast is all about real people and real horses. And you're just you're sitting here telling us just exactly what we want to hear. It's great. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

Good. So I've got a friend that doesn't live too far away. He's an older guy, and he's always been into the old style pertring. And like I said at the time, I had a team of Belgians, and I really like them Belgians. And but he had a mare come up for sale, and I went and looked at her, and I really liked how she was built. She was not very tall, big and heavy, and uh, he let me try her out. So I took her in the woods and logged with her, and I liked how she worked. She didn't have any quid in her. She could pull anything that I hooked her to, and she was a leader and very smart. So I ended up purchasing her, and she was pregnant, shortbred at that time, and I kind of fell in love with her. So afterwards, she's registered and everything. We got to talking. Well, look, we we ought to breed her since she liked her so much, and we got to looking around,

Discovering Old-Style Percherons

SPEAKER_03 9:30

and I just really couldn't find a stud that really suited me because I like I said, I like them heavier built horses. So one day she was fooling around on the internet and found a stud for sale, but it was overseas, and I'm like, man, I I really like that stud. I wish there was something like that over here. And we showed our friend that I bought this mare off of, and he said, Why don't we just go over there and buy that stud? Well, long story short, we didn't buy that stud, but we started looking around and talking to a woman over there that comes over here quite a bit, and I'll let Ashley tell you more about that. We if at one point I thought, this is crazy. I'm not gonna put the money out there to import a stud over here and everything. It just seemed kind of, I don't know, kind of a little on the crazy side, but we talked about it and we came to the conclusion was we still feel like if the Lord blesses us, we have plenty of years to be involved in this. And if I'm always gonna have draft horses, I might as well have something that I like and breed something that I like. And if we like 20 years down the road, if we look back and decide if we don't do this, are we gonna regret not doing it? And we've both felt that we'd probably regret not doing this. So we pursued it even farther, and I'll let Ashley get into that side of it. But we set it up and we've got young kids and a business. So I stayed at home and ran the business, watched the kids, took care of the farm, and Ashley and Leonard, the friend I was telling you about, they went over to Germany and then France and picked out some colts, and we imported three studts over here. And then last year we imported a Philly. So I've got a stud and a Philly that are not related, so I can hopefully produce full-blooded French pertrins. And uh it's just the horse that we like. I don't I don't like ragging on anybody's horse. In fact, I threw all this breeding horses. If if you've ever tried to breed and raise colts, you'll learn real quick that it's super hard. So I've got a respect for anybody. I don't care what breed they're they're raising and breeding, if they're doing it, my hat's off to you. It they deserve my respect. And I I actually I I appreciate and like watching the hitch horses and I appreciate what they do, but it's not what I want to do and raise. I I I want a little

Why Import French Bloodlines

SPEAKER_03 12:15

shorter, ideally, I want six in between 16 and 17 hands, and I like a good, heavy, built horse and good feet. That's a one thing that I've found with this these French perchrons is they have really extremely nice feet. They're extremely smart and docile, they're quick learners. They're not there's not a mean bone in them. They're they got a kind eye. It's almost too easy, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Well, that's what that's what the perchin was bred to do.

SPEAKER_04 12:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

The perchin was bred for that. It's just so crazy how they've changed. I mean, it's it's okay. I mean, they've almost bred the perchin out of the perchin. The perchin's gone from the perchin. And some of these cults I get in, like we get in some two-year-olds, I can't tell the difference from a Frisian or a like. They got that narrow neck and that big old head and and the butt sticks up higher, like way up high. And I don't I don't understand it, but um that's like I said, there's something for everybody. And I mean, back whenever I was selling cars and working at the car lot back a lot of years, you know, I worked at the Ford store from 05 till 2017. We would always have an old junky car there or something that sat there 300 days, and you'd think nobody would ever buy that crazy car. My manager told me at the time back when I first started, he said, Steven, there's a rear end for every seat. And I believe that, you know. It's it's crazy, but you know, there's a horse for every person, and somebody's gonna like that horse no matter what it looks like. Right. I respect those old French perchins. I do. And when you sent me those pictures of that show yard and that it was just amazing. I mean, it was just I I've never seen a perching like that here. Maybe one or two in a lot of years. Right, but you told me when you called me and said you was going to bring import this French, you already done it, and you sent me pictures. I said, Whoa, he's got it. He's got one of them. And I'm glad you did, and I want to help support you all with that stud. And I want to tell all the viewers out there and everybody, hey, listen, we got a good, nice, old style, old blood French perching stud right here in the area that you can breed your horse to. And that's exactly what we're gonna do on this. We're gonna talk about him and uh but I want to hear the story how this all went down, like when you went over there, what it was like and stuff. That'd be cool.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Well, it's starting out, we're just gonna go to France for what was it, seven days. Well, then we decided we'd traverse to Germany for a few days too. So we spent some time in Germany and we we met some really cool people and happened to find some horses along the streets to talk about, you know. But by the time we got to France, we visited several different farms. There was a couple individual farms, and then we spent several days at the national stud farm there, Japan. And there's a lady named Virginia. I mean, if you're in the perchron world, you probably know Virginia. She comes here and she does a lot of work with helping people find good perchins over in Europe too.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

She's kind of the spokesman for

The Buying Trip To Germany And France

SPEAKER_03 15:30

France.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Yeah. She's actually very well versed in French, English, everything.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

To be a person honest with you, I'm not in I'm not in the perching world because I like those old style horses. Those old style farm raised. That's what we sell, those old style work horses. And if you're in the perching world, you're probably not going to be selling those horses. So, you know, we sell a few of them when we you know when we get them because some people like them. But yeah, but I could get in the perching world if you start raising these cults registered though.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

And the thing is, like, like I said, we spent several days at DuPen the during the show, and she told us when we got there that if we saw a cult that we liked, we needed to we needed to get in with the breeder and speak to them and you know see if it was available or see what kind of bloodlines it had or whatever. And she was just great to work with. I mean, she was on it. If we saw one, she was getting in and talking to because there's obviously a language barrier. But we picked out three that we liked throughout the weekend. We I mean we saw hundreds of horses that they just fit the bill of the old style pertrent. I mean, there's very few that are looking more like the hitch horse here in America over there. So, I mean, it was awesome to see. I mean, we're just surrounded with the kind of horse that we wanted. So we picked out three three colts there. There was another time that we went to a farm in southern France because there was a a stud cult that was available there, but we couldn't get him imported due to some USDA stuff with testing and whatnot, but that's another story. But so after we picked out our cults and we got everything lined up, I mean it was it was just a waiting game because we picked them out in September. And then it was what was it March? March before they got here, February or March before they actually got here. And that process is it's lengthy, but it wasn't so bad that we didn't decide to do it again last year. So we went about it a little bit differently last year, but it was really cool just to spend the time over there during those two weeks and see all these different farms and talk to these breeders that have hundreds of years of plaques up on their barn, you know, and just see where they came from and what they've done with the breed there, and even just how much the breed has changed over there versus what it's done here.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

One thing that stuck out to me coming back when she came back was some of these farms are generational and they've they've passed the same bloodline and the they've kept that bloodline in the family for sometimes like 400 years. The families had the same bloodline of that pertrin, and they've they've had plaques up. They've just kept that bloodline in the family, and that was really amazing to me. It was pretty neat.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Something else that I noticed over there is that they are they're a lot more strict with their registry than we are here, whether it be pertrins, quarter horses, whatever. I mean, like over in France, the stallions have to earn so many points during their that show to be able to be in the registry, to be a breeding stallion. And I mean that's just not the case here. I mean, if you have two registered parents, you have a registered cult. So I think that they've really done a good job in preserving the bloodlines and you know, not they don't have to they they do a better job culling things than we do.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yeah, I don't know nothing about it. I but I'm jealous of you. I would love to go over there. It was a great experience. Are you gonna get to go, Travis, or not?

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Well, I don't know. Right now, we're pretty happy. We've only so I've got some what I call American old style mares that I'm breeding with him, and then I've got that imported Philly that she's three, so I'm gonna breed her this year, so we can produce full-blooded French perchrins here. And then, you know, of course, my studs. We're happy now, but one of the guys we're close with that got one of the other studs, he lives in Idaho. His name's Tim Miller. He's got a real nice stud too. He's talking about going over there and buying several fillies right now, and he wants us to go with him because basically she's become the chauffeur, and so we'll see what happens there in the future. But I'm pretty sitting pretty happy right now.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Let's tell the folks about your stud.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

He's I'd call him a

Strict French Registry And Bloodlines

SPEAKER_03 20:10

dark dapple gray, steely gray. He's got black legs, very little feathering, very nice feet. My farrier brags about them feet, and I'm pretty proud of them too. They're nice and cupped up and solid, but they're not spalled out and humongous, but they're big enough to carry him. He's heavy boned. As of right now, we just measured him today. He's 16-1 hands, and he weighs 1700 pounds. He's very smart. Like I said, he's almost too smart sometimes, but he is very submissive. He's got he's very kind. I don't worry about anything with him. So last year I broke him and I did things different. I don't know why, I just wanted to play around with this. I've always grown up here, and you break them to drive before you break them to ride. That's what all the old timers around here did. But I wanted to break him to ride and then break him to drive. So I did do that. I got a few rides in on him. I did some groundwork and I got a few rides in on him, and then I I broke him to drive, and then I sent him to a facility in Arthur. It's five-star equine Elmer Miller. And the reason I did that is because this guy is a very professional horse trainer, he has a very nice facility. The reason I did that is it was in the busy time of the year for me, and I just couldn't commit to every day being on that horse. And I think when you're breaking a horse, you need to commit 30 days to him at least. And so I went ahead and they broke him to ride very well and got him back, and she rode him quite a bit. He he's a big, heavy horse, but he rides really nice and slowly. Smooth for a ride. And I wanted to break him to drive in ride because I think there's a possibility for a huge huge market half drafts now. And I like half draft horses. We actually actually covered a few quarter horses last year with him, and I've got one of them, and she's due in April. But I I haven't gotten to work him a whole lot just yet, but he is still three, and in my opinion, don't need to throw a lot of work on a horse when they're two anyway. But this summer I'm really hoping to throw some work at him and just go from there.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

That's great. Yeah, I was wondering how versatile he was, like how he rode. Like does he ride like a big plumpy horse or does he move, you know, move really free and nice? And that that answered my question. So that's good.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

No, you can jump on him and you can go on a walk, a trot, nice, easy rocking chair, lope. If you get in him a little bit, he'll drop his nose and I mean he'll he'll about push dirt with it if you really work with him. But he's he rides like a quarter horse.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

When I come out there, we're gonna I'm gonna go out and visit this stud. I gotta see him in person. I'm gonna do a YouTube video of it. I'm gonna bring you guys along with me here on YouTube. So stay tuned for that. We're gonna do that sometime as soon as time allows. And we're gonna go out there and uh check that horse out and do a little YouTube video with Travis and Ashley at their place, and we'll get y'all riding him on the video and show the folks too. That'll be fun.

SPEAKER_03 23:25

Sounds like fun to me.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

And guys, also you can see this stud on our website. I was telling you about that earlier. Wdrafthorses and mulesforsale.com. He's in my blogs. I'll put a link in the description below to that link, pictures of him and everything. But also, Travis has sent me a lot of pictures of her trip over to France. And I'm gonna put those pictures at the end of this video. So stay tuned. You gotta watch till the end and uh check out all these pictures. We'll have pictures of the stud and pictures of their trip and all that good stuff. So you want to tell the folks a little bit about how you're breeding him this year? Are you

Introducing “Nemo” The French Stallion

SPEAKER_01 24:00

this year are you letting people breed to him and how do they go about contacting you and all that stuff?

SPEAKER_03 24:05

So this year, obviously gonna be rebreeding my mares, and then but yeah, I've I'm in contact with a facility and we're gonna collect off of him. And if we we'll set up, we'll have that all set up. So they can actually people can get a hold of you, correct?

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Yeah, they can call me and uh I can hook them up right with you. And uh guys, this is a great opportunity. I mean, when he told me he imported that stud, it I was so excited because we don't have this here in the perchin breed. We just don't, not that I know of. Now, there may be some people out there that's got them that I don't know of, and if if so, reach out, that'd be cool. But um, this is the first time I've seen a French perchin be imported, especially this close to home, to Kentucky here. So he's in southern Illinois, so guys, that'll really be good for you guys there, and plus collecting semen, he can ship it anywhere. So um that's a super good thing. Have you ever seen a quarter horse mare bred to a hitch bred perchin?

SPEAKER_04 25:07

I haven't.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

I don't know. You don't want to see it. It's not what I call a draft cross. The cool draft crosses to me are like those old Brabant's crossed with a quarter horse, or you know, the more chunkier pulling bread Belgians crossed with a quarter horse. You get that true draft cross look. The wide chest still, but not as heavy as a full draft. That's what people really want. Another thing I love about these French perchins is that feathering is gone. Yep. Do you know how hard it is here in Kentucky with mud and feathering on horses? People call me all the time, do you have Clydesdales and Shires? No, I don't, because we don't want to fool with cleaning them. I mean, it's just it's a lot of work. And all that feathering they're white and they get stained, and for me it's a big bonus. And of course the foot, you're talking about how good their feet are. I've read that a whole lot and studied it, and those feet are so round and tight, but like you said, Travis, still big enough to support the weight of the heavy horse. And um I think it's a great thing. And um, I think a lot of people's gonna catch on to it in time. Each horses, they have their place. Like I'm going to road to the horse in two weeks up at Lexington. A whispering pine perchings will be there with their six horses. Yes, I'm gonna knock the door down and go in there and watch them because I love it's interesting to watch. But it is. I think I actually talked to the Perchin Association about this. They didn't agree with me at all. They did not want to agree with me. But I told them, I said, I think it ought to be split. It's two different type horses. The hitch perchin is not a draft horse. They've bred it out of them. It's bred out. I mean, that's just the honest truth. It's just what it is. And these old style perchins are a different type perchin. We need a registry in the U.S. for these old style perchins to get them going and get people to liking them and noticing and promoting them, and hey, it c it could come here really easy. Yeah, I'll agree with that. So, Travis, you may have to start it. I don't know. We'll see. Registries are tough. All jokes aside, this is a great thing. They are, it's tough. I don't sell many registered horses at all. I hardly ever sell a registered horse. Because, you know, we sell a lot of geldings, so what does it matter? Right. I mean, and the reason also, I like the old style, like I said, I like those old work horses. I like those horses that have been on farms for year in and year out that you know, generations down, and they're just solid work horses. And not only am I talking about the build and the look, I'm also talking about the brain. Yeah, yeah. And what you're talking about, that French perch, and you've got what's his name? What do y'all call him around the barn? Nemo.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

That's his real French name.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Yeah. Well, the mind of a horse, of a stallion, is bar none the most important thing too. Yeah. And it is. When you're breeding horses, you want to breed a good horse to a good horse.

SPEAKER_04 28:19

Yeah.

Training For Riding And Driving

SPEAKER_01 28:20

It goes back, I was telling I tell everybody all the time, they're all the time saying, what's better, a Molly Mule or a John Mule? What's better? A s a gilding or a mare? It's just like people. They're all their own individual thing, and some men are better than some women, and some women are better than some men, and it it's ultimately the main thing is breeding a good stud to a good mare to get a good horse. That's right. I love that you've brought this good-minded perching stud in this country, and uh I would love to breed me a couple mares to him, that's what I'd like to do. We can hook that up. I would love to. I'd like to find the right mares though. I'm not just gonna breed anything. We don't want to make hen I'm a mule man, you know that. I'm a mule man, but you don't want to make hennies, we don't want to breed him to a genny. That'd be bad.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

What I would like to see in the future, hopefully the near future, I would like to see some of I would like to see some mules out of these. Honestly, that would be really cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Hey, you're talking up my alley. I would love it. I would love it. Because these mules are getting hitchy. I mean, I just put a pair on I bought out of Tennessee. They're 18 hands, and they're out of hitch Belgian mares. And them mules are they're all leg. They're old, they're huge. And they're cool. They're a great broke team, but they're not that stocky, wide old style mule. And there's old style mules too.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

I've seen a picture, a black and white picture from the twins, and it was a this guy, I don't remember what he was doing out in the field, but he had a team of gray mules, and they were just they were huge. They were big, but they weren't tall. And I'm like, that is a good looking team of mules right there. I'd like to see that again.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

I got a picture of my great-great-grandpa working a pair of mules in the 30s, and I hate to say it, that's the ugliest pair of mules I ever seen. I'll send it to you. You'll you'll have to look at them. They're pretty ugly, but I guess he had to work what he had to work. Yeah. So you're gonna pull this stud, you're gonna sell semen, ship it everywhere. That's the best way to do it. So, guys, you're out there listening, I know we got listeners on the podcast all the time from Australia, everywhere, all the time. Canada. You Canadians, you love these old horses. Listen to this. We got this old French style perching stud here in the States now. We can ship semen up there. And it's a great thing. And all my friends out there, you want to breed your mares. I get calls all the time wanting a stud. Here he is. A good opportunity right here, and I'm excited about it. I want you all to be excited about it. So we got to get him on video and get him on the YouTube channel as soon as we can to let people really see this stud and see what they're breeding their horse to. And uh, I'm gonna, like I said, I'm gonna put pictures at the end of this. You sent me some good pictures of Ashley riding him and pictures of him out in the field and all kinds of stuff, and we're gonna stick them on the end of this video so you guys can see exactly what we're talking about. And um, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. What um tell us about your Philly that you bought. Is she a little bit more about her?

Draft Crosses, Feet, And Feathering

SPEAKER_03 31:40

Well, she is not at all related to him at all through any lineage. He's completely full French bread and imported from France. She's gonna be free at the end of the month. She's the same age he is. Have you started her? I have not started her yet. But I am gonna do that here pretty quick. She is basically everything he is.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

She well, she's actually kind of a pest, honestly. She you go out in the pasture, she is in your pocket. And if you're trying to get something done, you've got a big horse trying to get in your pocket all the time. But she isn't gonna be hard to break at all. She and she's just as heavy, they're about the same color, dark dapple gray. She's got good feet, she just picks up on things real quick. I've had her in the stocks already, worked on her feet, and she just walks right in there and acts like she's done it and she has it.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

She just she's just very quiet and compliant, just easygoing.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

One other question Will this will this perchin be eligible for registry in the United States Perching Association? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

Yeah, whenever we imported these guys, we had to get their French registry all lined up, and then we had to do DNA and everything to run them through the American registry. So these two are registered in France and and the perch and horse association here in the States. So their babies will be able to be registered here.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

That's good. That's really good. That's a good point. And then also, guys, I'm not bashing nobody that's got hitchhors. Don't take this the wrong way. We love y'all. Y'all can drive them, we love them too. They're beautiful to look at. We're just speaking what we like and what type horses we like, and if everybody liked the same thing, the world would be a bad place. Yeah, it would. We don't like the same thing. But um, guys, we're not talking bad about nothing at all. We're just excited to have this older style, more blocky horse here in the States, because we've needed it. We need some people want to work horses, you know, we want work horses. We want those wide, chunky horses with the mind like they used to have back in the old days, and some people want the hitchhorses, and that's fine. But we're just we're just speaking what we like, and uh, we're excited about this stud, and I think a lot of you all are gonna be too because a lot of people that call me want long tail chunky purchase. It's the number one call I get every day. Well, no, number two. Number one is still mules and always will be mules. Always. I wake up every morning, my son, he's three year old. He comes to my bedside every morning between 4 30 and 5 30 every morning. Da da, get up. That's my alarm that's my alarm clock, and uh he wakes me up and starting about 6 30, 7 o'clock in the morning, that phone will ring. I bet money on it every time. Mule call. And every morning it is, always. Starts up and I get calls all day, every day, wanting people to want me to find them mules. I've got two texts while we've been on here come through on the computer screen. And one of them was from here in the States wanting a mule, and the other one was a friend of mine in Canada wanting a team of mules. It's just all the time. But uh Perchins, long tail, chunky, old style perchings, people want them. And I wonder what he's gonna throw. That's what's gonna be real exciting. Yeah. Have you tested

Breeding Plans And Semen Collection

SPEAKER_01 35:10

him to see if he's homozygous yet?

SPEAKER_02 35:12

We've not.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Yeah, we need to get that done. You need to pull that panel. Yeah. It's really easy to do. Or you can send it to the University of Florida, a lot of different places do it. And um, if he's homozygous gray, that's gonna be pretty cool. It will be, yeah. You can breed him to any color, Mary, and you're gonna get a gray. Yeah. And gray is one of the most popular colors for perchance. Everybody wants a gray purchase. But um I should test a pair I've got. I've got a pair of gray, Dapple Greys, Mark and Twain, they're online for sale if anybody wants to buy 'em. They're not cheap. I know they're not, and I'm I'm not gonna sell them for cheap because I know what they are, but um that's a nice team of horses. They're unlike anything I've ever seen, and I kind of like them. But um, I should test them and see what they come back as because they're four and five, they're sixteen one. They're not as wide as a French perchin, though. I don't see that in 'em. They're just not hardly heavy enough, but they're pretty cool horses still.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

They are a good looking team. She pointed them out to me, and I I I like that team.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

But what I'm wondering is, is he homozygous or is he not? Yeah. The U.S. Army, we sell them a lot of ho a lot of horses, and they want black perchins, you know. And this horse is up their alley, they want them 16 hands, 16-1, long tails and black to pull the case on. So I'm wondering, will he throw a black coat? What what's he gonna throw every time?

SPEAKER_04 36:46

Yeah, we'll have to find out. Be interesting.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

And you know, some people tell me, now I don't know if it's true or not, but if you breed a homozygous stud to a homozygous mare, the mare always controls. But I don't know for sure. Be interesting to see. But uh when these foals start popping out, you gotta get pictures of every one of them. You bet. That's gonna be good. That'll be the thing. And show people what he throws, because that's real important. Yep. Real important. Alright, guys. Like I said, I've been up since four, well, about five thirty this morning, so I'm getting pretty sleepy. You're good. That's fine. I'm tired. We've been down here in the heat. I'm sunburnt. It's got hot down here in South Carolina. But uh, their trees are already budding, and I'm sitting here looking at a pretty red bush out here. Pretty nice. But uh, I thank you all for coming on with me tonight. I really do, and I'm looking forward to coming out and meeting you and coming out and seeing that stuff with my own eyes and having a good time out there in southern Illinois. Sounds good. Any last words you got for the folks out there? No, not so much. Not today I can think of. Guys, thank you all for watching and listening as always. We appreciate you. And we're gonna try to do some more. I got a lot of podcasts coming up. I'm actually gonna be recording tomorrow night with a super good guy I met at Road to the Horse a couple years ago. He's a horse trainer that moved from Mississippi to Lexington, Kentucky. And uh, y'all are in for a real treat. Super cool guy. Me and him is gonna dig in tomorrow night and talk about his life with horses. And then next

Color Genetics And Foal Expectations

SPEAKER_01 38:20

week, I'm gonna be recording Tuesday night with a guy. I'm not gonna say his name yet. I'm gonna let it be a surprise. He was actually on the Run for the A million out in Vegas, the reining competitions. He was on it the last two years, and he's gonna be on it in 2026, too. Super cool guy. Y'all don't want to miss that one either. We've got a lot of podcasts coming up, and a whole lot more of just I like doing them with people like that too, I guess, because it gets the name, it gets the searches out where more people listen. But yeah, everybody's great. Like some of the best podcasts are just real people like Travis and Ashley, and just real people that dig in and talk. It's a lot of fun. But uh we're gonna do podcasts with a lot of people this year, and I hope to put a lot of customer podcasts on here too. Some of my customers and get their insights. So it's gonna be a great year. I'm looking forward to it. Thank y'all. God bless you. And remember, check us out on the website www.drafthorses and mulesforsale.com. Also, if you're a social media fan, my wife runs all our social media. We're on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. I think she's even on Truth Social. She's on everything, and she does a phenomenal job at it. You just type in at Haste Draft Horses and Mules, and you'll find us. Thank y'all. God bless you. Keep harnessing up, and we'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

As another captivating episode of Harness Up with Haste Draft Horses and Mules draws to a close. We extend our sincere gratitude to our listeners for joining us on this enlightening journey. We hope today's discussions have deepened your appreciation and understanding of these magnificent creatures. Remember, the adventure continues beyond this podcast. Stay connected with us on social media and share your stories. For more information and to explore further, visit draft horses and mulesforsales.com. Thank you for being part of our community. Until next time, keep harnessing your curiosity and passion for these God given creatures. Farewell for now, it