Spotlight on Our Member!
George Kimball, Leitchfield, Kentucky
I'm going to back right up to the beginning so you don't miss anything important…I was born to a farming family in rural New Hampshire. Now my family raised dairy cows, sheep and chickens but my Grandfather raised those huge Belgian draft horses.
From the time I was knee-high it seemed like I was always out trying to do something with the horses. One funny little quirk my Grandfather had was peeling the chestnuts off those big old horses' legs. I guess I picked it up from him because I'll catch myself, even today, peeling them off anything that will stand still for it. I even catch myself doing it to other people's horses before I realize what I'm doing! Thanks Grandpa. Anyway, seems I always wanted to ride something, anything. When I was nine years old I even taught one of our Guernsey cows to lie down so I could crawl up on her back, then she'd stand back up and we'd go out in the field to round up the other cows at milking time. Though that was one of my first regular riding experiences I'll make the comment that I wouldn't do it again today being that milk cows sure do have a hellacious set of withers on 'em…I don't know if young'uns are tougher or this tender wisdom comes with the aging process. Well, I have been asked to tell the story of my life so...
Early on in my young days as a 4-H member I learned how to compete showing dairy cattle, winning numerous county and state shows and developing a great love for showing and competition.
During my trucking days in the 80's I decided I had more money than sense and needed some time out for myself so to speak. So in 1984 I purchased my first horse, line-bred Skipper stallion, Skipsters Copy. He was a gorgeous palomino sired by AQHA Champion, World Record Holder and World Champion Producer, Skipsters Bid. . Heck, Copy even had his own American Express Card, which he allowed me to use for him on business trips. I hired a trainer and traveled west to Kentucky seeking a future site for a show barn and breeding facility. I found one that suited me in October 1985, and proceeded to go to the Tattersalls Sale in November of that year and purchased eleven head and, oh boy, I was in the horse business!
To make a long story short, my "trainer" took me for a bundle and taught me some valuable lessons. He actually even took me to finishing school after he put me through college and then I eventually got a degree, or would you call it "the shaft"? Anyway, instead of knocking me down it just made me more determined so I went out and learned how to do it all myself and ended up showing the Honor Roll Senior Halter Gelding in 1986. He was a 16-2, 1427 lb. big ole boy who had been shown as a Youth Horse so all I had
In 1987 I went on to show a son of Color Me Skip and won the Reserve Honor Roll Gelding that year. At the same time I also had the Honor Roll Jr. Western Pleasure Horse. I think that the funny thing is I didn't know a whole lot about the Skipper line at this time although these experiences with them had been very rewarding. Between playing the politics and doing a lot of advertising by the time I went to the AQHA Convention I was pretty well known. Soon after that, sometime in 1987, I got a call from a well-known Skipper breeder, the renowned Clayton Benker of IN. At this time Clayton, who had owned Skipsters Lad, an AQHA Champion and also had another horse by the name of Skipster. He always said that Skipster had "the look of eagles." Well anyway, during this phone call Clayton proceeded to brag on my Skipsters Copy horse until I was all puffed up with pride and full of myself. Then he asked me to come and visit him. Well, of course I did and completely fell in love with those Skipster horses. I bought a foal at seven days old for a very large amount and showed her that same year at the Palomino World where we stood 5th in her class. Not too bad considering she was only 94 days old at the time. Funny thing is she is STILL here on the farm in our broodmare band today.
I continued to buy horses from Clayton up until his death in 1988. These top mares are some of the nucleus of my breeding program now. I like to tell the story of how I compare Clayton to one of the greatest fly fishermen I've ever met…he would lay that fine line gently and magically across the water and wait for the fish (me in this instance) to bite, then set the hook and reel 'em in. I swear he could sell ice to Eskimos and have them happy and coming back for more. That was the kind of salesman he was. The best part of it all was that you loved being hooked and never regretted being reeled in! Clayton would tell many stories about he going to Hank's and buying the old cripple or non-producing mares, taking them home to IN and nursing them back to health, then raising babies out of them. These results produced some of the best breeding stock of that time and these were horses that normally would never have been offered for sale by Hank. When Clayton passed on he left such an impression on me and it was due to his coaching that I have developed and stuck to the pure line-breeding program that I have in place today. In an interesting twist of fate, in 1995 I was able to acquire the great AQHA Champion stallion, Skipsters Bid, who was bred by Clayton. He is still in great shape and breeding here at the farm today.
In July of 1988 I had a tragic loss when Skipsters Copy died mysteriously at the age of four. I had such a strong bond with this stallion that when I lost him I went into a deep depression. It was as if I had lost a family member. This caused such pain within me that I couldn't find any further interest in the horses. I separated myself from the farm and set up business back in Rhode Island. I stayed completely away from the horses for a year, then, in 1989 a young palomino son of Skipsters Copy was born to Pilot's Skipstress, a granddaughter of the great Skipster horse, whose mother was out of a daughter of Nick W. At four months of age my Farm Manager in Kentucky sent me pictures of this young stallion. I couldn't resist it and went to KY to take a look for myself and fell in love all over again as soon as I set eyes on him. What a stallion prospect he was! He had it all; color, conformation and all the class you could ask for. Even better than his daddy. This time I decided I just needed to close all business ties in Rhode Island completely and move back to Kentucky to do what I wanted to do most…raise Skipper horses.
In September 1990 I did just that. I closed it all down and with two of my daughters moved back to the farm and home where I still live today. In college I had studied genetics and had applied them to the dairy industry in the 60's and 70's. I decided that it should all be about the same thing, just different animals. I also had the valuable advise that Clayton had instilled into my head years ago, he said "George, you will do just fine if you always remember and never forget to focus, focus, and then focus again. Get a picture of what you want to have in a horse. You will be tempted to stray from true line-breeding but you have to stay on track". Well, he was right. I was doing quite well with my young stallion who I had named Skips Copy K Shadow. I showed him as a yearling and he stood Reserve Grand at his first show. He was put into my breeding program as a three year old and his offspring started making a tremendous impact on the show circuit.
About then is when hard times hit me again. I had a severe automobile accident that broke my back in 22 places and my hip in 5 places. Nine of those in my back were re-breaks from a fall off a windmill I took when I was working for Doris Duke years before. After dying on the operating table but managing to survive somewhat in pieces, I arrived back home after 23 days in the hospital. I wasn't very mobile but wearing a "turtle-shell body cast" and with a walker managed to get to the barn my second day home to see
