The Tommy Manion Ranch is located in “Horse Country USA” (Pilot Point, Texas). You can’t drive up Highway 377 without noticing the beautiful Spanish style home on the hill and the infamous stallion names listed at their front gate. Tommy Manion began his career showing American Quarter Horses in various events including halter, western pleasure, western riding and reining. When their son, Kyle, was born he and his wife, Chris, began to focus more on breeding horses rather than showing them which allowed them to spend more time at home as a family. Their vision of becoming a world class breeding operation came to light as they narrowed their focus to breeding the best and most prominent cutting horse stallions in the industry.
One of the most influential stallions in the cutting horse industry, Smart Little Lena (Doc Olena x Smart Peppy) spent his life at the Tommy Manion Ranch until his passing. He is only 1 of 3 horses to ever win the Triple Crown of Cutting (Futurity, Super Stakes and Derby). In his show career he earned $743,000.00 and to date his offspring have earned more than $39 million.
The Tommy Manion Ranch also manages the breedings of Smart Lil Richochet a 1994 son of Smart Little Lena who breeds only via frozen semen processed by Select Breeders Southwest. His offspring include World Champions and have earned $3.4 million.
Currently standing at the ranch are the Smooth As A Cat (2005 NCHA Horse of the Year; High Brow Cat x Shes Pretty Smooth), and Im Countin Checks (2008 Reserve NCHA Horse of the Year; Smart Lil Ricochet x Autumn Boon). During their show careers each stallion earned more than $500,000 each. Smooth As A Cat’s offspring have earned $5.6 million while Im Countin Checks’ offspring have only recently entered the show pen.
Select Breeders Southwest has worked closely with the Tommy Manion Ranch to assist and advise them on how best to preserve the genetics of their world famous stallions. When asked why they chose to utilize SBS, Kyle said:
“We use SBS because of their knowledge and unsurpassed reputation in the field of freezing semen. They are always there to assist us with processing frozen semen and knowing the various protocols for the different countries where we ship semen.”
With a vision to provide the best and most prominent bloodlines in the cutting horse industry you could say the Manions are living their dream. With more than 41 World Championships between the three of the them and Tommy and Kyle being NCHA Hall of Fame Inductees you can expect the Manion name to continue to play a prominent role in improving the cutting horse industry for many years to come.
For more information visit their website: www.manionranch.com
The photo shows from left to right, Im Countin Checks with Kyle Manion, Smooth As A Cat with Chris Manion and Smart Little Lena with Tommy Manion.
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