What started as a joking conversation between actor Wilford Brimley and one of his friends has led to one of the newest and largest horse training, boarding and breeding facilities in the nation.
According to Sammy Greene, owner of A.S. Greene Inc./Chris Barter Arabians, she kidded Brimley about the possibility of his selling his 10-acre ranch, 8865 W. 8800 North, to her."I told him, `Let me buy the ranch,' and much to my surprise, he asked me how much I was offering," Greene said, and the deal - for an undisclosed sum - was sealed last spring.
She said that at the time, she was also considering moving from her Mapleton home. "A 10,000-square-foot home seemed kind of ridiculous for just myself and two dogs." The deal precipitated a move to Lehi; since then, she has taken over one of the two houses on the property.
After buying the ranch, Greene recruited one of the foremost horse trainers and breeders in the country, Chris Barter, who had worked with some of Greene's horses previously. Barter and his wife, Cherise, left their Arizona home and moved to Lehi.
Greene remodeled the indoor roping facilities and added on a new show barn that could conceivable hold more than 60 horses, bringing the facility's capacity to more than 100 horses at one time and more than doubling her original investment in the deal. That work was completed last November, and Greene and Barter held an open house to showcase the facilities in December. From there, horse owners throughout the country have been taking their animals to the facility for breeding and/or training.
Though Barter was off with 10 champion horses in training for an upcoming competition in Scottsdale, Ariz., office manager George Merrill provided a tour of the show barn. He said the facility houses such animals as champion pinto producer Modern Creation, half-Arabian champion Modern Sensation, multi-champion stallion Muscateer and champion stallion D'Artagnan, as well as Big Tom, a 2,700-pound Clydesdale that Greene bought from Anheuser-Busch.
"There's big money to be made in raising, training and breeding these animals," Merrill said. "And Chris is one of the best around. Now we've got great facilities for him to work with."
The facilities prominently feature photos of both Greene and Barter with many of the champion animals, as well as displaying Barter's motto: "Let us build you a performance winner."
The staff includes three trainers and three maintenance workers, in addition to Merrill and Barter, who is company vice president, lead trainer and operating officer. The facility enables horse owners to breed and/-or train their animals in the best and safest environment available, Merrill said.
"One of the big troubles with these animals is that you've got to be careful so they don't get hurt," Merrill said. "These are state-of-the-art facilities - most of the pens have been specially designed, as have the breeding rooms, so we eliminate the risk of harming the animals. We've also got the show arena designed for that purpose as well."
Trainers exercise the animals daily in the show arena, which supplants Brimley's indoor roping arena. The arena includes pens for running and treadmill work. Merrill said the trainers also groom and bathe the animals daily.