Under the dappled shade of majestic post and live oaks, just off State Highway 4 near the tiny community of Patillo, Texas, sits a little farm that is a big labor of love. When I say a “little farm,” I’m not referring to acreage, although there isn’t an overly large amount of land there. No, I’m referring to the inhabitants of the farm, the horses, that is, not the people.
When Daniel and Carla Crider bought their land on Sunset Mountain Road in 2003, they knew they needed animals in order to qualify for the agricultural tax exemption. “We went down the list,” Daniel said. “We looked at a variety of animals. We knew we didn’t want sheep, and we didn’t have enough land for cattle or quarter horses. We had first seen miniature horses on a trip to Arkansas in 1987, and had been fascinated by them, so Carla thought they would be perfect for us.”
Though a city girl, Carla Crider had grown up around horses. She and her family lived in Bedford during the school and work week, but they owned land near Patillo, so the family spent the weekends riding horses and enjoying the country life. Daniel, on the other hand, had desperately wished for horses as a child, yet the only experiences he had ever had were at youth camps where he could occasionally go on trail rides. Because Carla was the one with equine experience, the couple decided that she would be the bloodline expert. So, the first year they owned the land was spent researching bloodlines and going to horse shows.
“I wanted to buy them all. If I liked how they looked, I was ready to buy, but Carla kept me in check,” Daniel said
“I would say, ‘Put your pocketbook away,’” Carla quipped. “‘That one doesn’t have the right lines, or the conformation is wrong for what we want.’ I knew we would want to have a breeding program, so bloodlines were crucial.”
In 2004, the couple purchased their first four horses, and Sunset Mountain Miniatures came to life. By 2005, the Criders were anxious to compete their horses, but they knew they needed a trainer. They began working with Gary and Lisa Barnes of the Bar NS Ranch in Tolar, Texas. With more than 18 years experience in showing, judging and training miniature driving horses, the Barnes were the perfect trainers to work with the Criders.
“Our first driving horse, Bayin’ At the Moon, was born under a full moon,” Daniel said. “She was a little berserk, so we asked Gary to work with her. It took a full year before he had her ready to compete, but then we could take her anywhere. She got to where we could drive her in parades with little children waving banners and yelling near her, and she never batted an eye. Eventually she won a regional competition, and we realized that was probably as far as she’d ever go, so we retired her to become a brood mare.”
As Daniel learned training techniques from the Barnes, he found the courage to step out on his own and train a jumping horse. Wizard’s Spell Troubles Exemplary — Larry for short — is a spunky little pony, mostly chestnut with a white patch on his side. Daniel considers his greatest accomplishment on the ranch to be Larry’s training. To have gone from a boy who longed for a horse, but never owned one, to a man that has trained a world-famous jumping champion, makes Daniels’ tall stature seem, perhaps, to grow even a little taller as he talks about his beloved champion.
“Larry only stands 30-and-one-half inches tall, but he has cleared jumps as high as 42 inches. The average horse in his class stands a full four inches taller than Larry,” Daniel beamed.
Indeed, Larry has made a name for himself in the American Miniature Horse Association show world. His nickname is “The Little Horse That Can Jump,” and he has his own fan club. People from around the United States and in Europe watch Larry compete via the Internet when they can’t make his shows, and several people have requested to purchase Larry, including a European couple at a recent show. The answer is always the same. Not for sale.
No wonder so many wish to own the little stallion. His tenacity and dependability in the ring are legendary. One of Daniel’s proudest moments with Larry was at a competition where he was not feeling his best due to having received his injections too close to the show date. “I overheard another horse trainer say, ‘Larry’s having a bad day; maybe I have a chance this time.” Daniel laughed as he retold the story’s ending. “We still won!” he enthused, an unmistakable fatherly pride in his voice.
Carla added, “Larry knows when it’s show time. He gets clipped, and his feet get done. He loves it. You can tell the horses whose owners force them to compete and the ones who do it because they love it. Larry loves it.”
In their typical tag-team-style conversation, Daniel broke in. “He gets animated and excited in competition. He loves to go full speed in the ring, and I have to say, ‘Larry, I can’t run that fast!’”
For that reason, perhaps, Larry enjoys showing with Rebekah, the Crider’s 19-year-old daughter.
“I enjoy the jumper competition most because it’s the most competitive,” said Rebekah, who also shows in carriage driving.
When Rebekah shows Larry, he can run as fast as his little legs can go. At a recent competition, the family was thrilled to hear a child shout from the stands, “Look Daddy, it’s The Little Horse That Can Jump!” And as usual, they also heard plenty of the regular comments from their competitors, such as “Oh, Larry’s here. We might as well go home.”
With a track record that includes World Reserve Champion in the Open Jumper Competition at the 2007 AMHA World Championship Show held at Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, along with championships at every regional event he has shown in since 2007, and 24 blue ribbons so far in 2009, it’s easy to see why the competition feels intimidated by The Little Horse That Can Jump.
Larry, however, isn’t the only world champion on the farm. Senior stallion, Fallen Ash Farms Scout Out Loud, is a showy little black and white paint with a haughty head and proud, dainty step that is the unmistakable hallmark of a halter champion.
“When we first started researching bloodlines, I saw his picture in a magazine,” Carla said. “I thought to myself, ‘Now that is a horse!’ So I called his owners, Bob and Dorcas Jenkins at Rio Red Ranches, and asked to see him and his throw. In those days, I was spending a lot of time looking at stallions and their offspring to narrow down the bloodlines we wanted.”
Bob Jenkins, a native of Weatherford, Texas, and his wife invited the Criders to come to their ranch in Washington, Texas. Not only did Carla fall in love with Scout, but the two couples developed a close friendship that has helped the Criders in their breeding and showing goals over the years. In 2008, the Jenkins called Carla and said they were selling Scout, would she be interested. “It was my wildest dream,” Carla said. “So we snatched him right up.”
The former 2002 World Reserve Halter champion lives the life of luxury at Sunset Mountain Miniatures, surrounded by his harem and receiving the loving accolades due him from Daniel, who always keeps cookies in his pockets, which are at just the right height for the little horse to reach. The Criders estimate that currently, there are about 20 to 30 of Scout’s descendants in competitions around the world, and they intend to increase that number through their own breeding program.
Today, the Criders own 13 horses, including a little foal born to Bayin’ At The Moon in March. “What we are really trying to get to, what is achievable for us, is to have a stable herd of about 25 horses with 10 to 15 foals to sell each year,” Daniel said.
And while the business end of a ranch is paramount to keeping the day-to-day operations going, the Criders enjoy community volunteerism and sharing their horses with children in the area as much as they enjoy their shows and championship titles.
There is a family who brings their children from Stephenville to work with the horses at the ranch, and the Criders have been generous in allowing the children to compete their horses. Additionally, the family has attended several events at The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, where Larry showed off his jumping skills while Rebekah took children for rides in the family’s carriage, drawn by Bayin’, all of it filmed by the local NBC affiliate news. The family has attended numerous other community events, from the Benbrook Heritage Festival to various children’s camps around the area.
“Our purpose in doing these large civic events is to let kids handle the horses and to educate folks on miniature horses, get them interested,” Daniel said. “We always take horses gentle enough to be handled by children.”
With all the time taken up in caring for, training and showing horses, not to mention attending civic events, it’s a wonder the Criders have time for a life outside the farm. Yet Carla is a nursing instructor at Weatherford College and was a labor and delivery nurse for many years.
Rebekah attends Weatherford College and plans to transfer to Texas A&M; soon, where she will study microbiology with an eye toward medical research.
Daniel is a computer expert who develops training curricula for a California company. The job allows him to work from home where, he jokes, he can go outside and pet the horses when he gets too stressed out. “You can’t allow yourself to be stressful around horses, they pick up on it,” he said.
How could anyone be stressed out, riding in a horse drawn carriage down Sunset Mountain Road behind Miss Sobe, short for ERL So Be It?
The Crider’s up-and-coming champion driving horse has only competed in two local shows, where she took eight blue ribbons and eight second places, added to her four blue ribbons she has already taken as a hunter.
With Rebekah, an accomplished and graceful young lady, at the reins, I ended my visit to the little horse farm under the oaks with the repetitive clip-clop of horse hooves and the relaxing sway of an old-fashioned carriage ride. Miss Sobe’s tail swished contentedly and butterflies flitted on the wild flowers in the bar-ditch. Over the soothing sounds of the carriage creaking, I could hear bees humming as they went about their business of collecting nectar. It struck me that I would never have noticed that simple beauty had I been barreling down the lane at 60 miles an hour, windows rolled up, air conditioner on and country music blaring.
As I drove away from the farm that day, I left my window down awhile, savoring the feeling of riding in the buggy and noticing several other miniature horse farms between Patillo and the Cutting Horse Capital of the World. Variety, indeed, is the spice of life.
Karen Mitchell Smith is a freelance writer and photographer living in Weatherford, Texas. She can be reached for comment at ksmith517@gmail.com. Her Internet home is www.topshelfphotos.com.
