Our Program
SMALL BY DESIGN. BUILT ONE GENERATION AT A TIME.
At Hitchcock Quarter Horses in Fort Shaw, Montana, our family-run Quarter Horse breeding program is intentionally small. We’re not trying to raise more horses - we’re trying to raise better ones: good-minded, capable horses we would be proud to keep ourselves - and equally proud to send home with someone else.
We are intentional about the horses we keep, the crosses we make, and the qualities we carry forward. Our goal is to reproduce the horses we enjoy being around, want to ride ourselves, and look forward to saddling.
Quite simply, we don’t breed horses we don’t enjoy.
A REGISTERED CATTLE BREEDER’S APPROACH TO HORSES
Because our horse program operates alongside Skogen GK Angus - Tanya’s family’s multi-generational registered Angus operation - we tend to look at horses through a livestock breeder’s eyes. Structure, disposition, maternal ability, fertility, longevity, and consistency across generations all matter.
We spend a lot of time talking about broodmares and mare families. We watch what those families produce, retain daughters from mares we believe in, and repeat crosses that work.
We’re working toward an entire foal crop that looks like it belongs together - in structure, substance, disposition, athletic ability, and usefulness. That takes time, honest evaluation, and thinking at least one generation ahead.
The species changes. The principles don’t.
PROVEN MATTERS
“Proven” isn’t a buzzword around here. It’s a lesson we paid for.
There are no guarantees in breeding horses. But we believe proven individuals and consistent horse families improve the odds of raising usable, trainable, dependable horses.
Before a horse earns a lasting place in our breeding program, we want meaningful evidence of who that horse is. That proof may come through ranch work, performance training, the show pen, a previous program, or a combination of those experiences. The path may vary, but the horse still has to demonstrate a willing mind, rideability, physical ability, and real-world usefulness.
A pedigree may get our attention. The horse still has to back it up.
WHAT WE SELECT FOR
Mind, Disposition & Trainability
Disposition is one of the most important things we evaluate. We want horses that are kind, willing, level-headed, responsive, trainable, and enjoyable to be around.
We want horses that can learn, handle pressure, and stay willing when the job changes or the day gets long. Riding and working with a horse tells us things we cannot learn from its papers or a photograph.
Talent never gets a free pass for a bad mind.
We want to raise the kind of horses people look forward to catching and saddling - not ones they dread dealing with.
Structure, Feet, Bone & Useful Size
Soundness starts with structure.
We prioritize horses that are balanced and structurally correct, with good feet, solid bone, useful size, adequate substance, and the physical foundation to hold up to the work we ask of them.
Mike spent years as a professional horseshoer and saw firsthand how feet, structure, and conformation affect a horse over time. That experience is one reason we pay so much attention to what stands underneath one.
And yes… we’re suckers for a big hip and a good hind end! But the rest of the horse has to go with it. We appreciate balance, expression, eye appeal, and a horse that makes you look twice. Color and good looks are icing on the cake when the useful parts come with them.
A horse can have an impressive pedigree, but if the structure and physical capability aren’t there, it does not fit our program.
Athletic Ability, Durability & Ranch Usefulness
A good horse has to be able to move - and use itself well.
Our horses work in Montana country where terrain, footing, livestock, weather, and distance can all change what the day asks of them. We value coordination, body control, cow sense, sure-footedness, and the stamina to handle long days and changing conditions.
Athletic ability matters whether a horse’s future is on the ranch, in the arena, or both. But ability alone is not enough if the horse does not have the physical foundation to keep doing the job.
Athletic ability without durability is useless. Durability without athletic ability is limiting. We expect both.
Pedigrees, Genetic Testing & Overall Quality
We study pedigrees to understand the families behind our horses - their minds, cow sense, athletic ability, structure, and what they have consistently produced.
We love the newer performance genetics we’re bringing into our program, but we’ve never stopped believing in the proven ranch-horse and foundation bloodlines that helped build it. There’s a reason those old names keep showing up behind good horses: good genetics don’t have an expiration date.
Our goal is to blend the two thoughtfully - using recognizable performance genetics to complement the substance, dependable minds, cow sense, and ranch usefulness already at the heart of our program.
Performance genetics are meant to add to ranch usefulness - not replace it.
We use available genetic testing to help manage known risks and guide responsible breeding decisions. Test results are an important tool, but only one part of evaluating the whole horse. They do not replace individual quality, structure, disposition, riding history, or production.
Marketability matters, too. Recognizable bloodlines, color, eye appeal, and performance potential can add value and create opportunities - but none of them earn a horse a place in our program if the horse itself does not measure up.
EVERY CROSS HAS A PURPOSE
Choosing a cross starts with the individual mare: what we love about her, what she brings to the program, what we would like to strengthen, and which stallion might complement her best.
We think an awful lot of these mares. We want a stallion who brings as much to the cross as she does.
When a cross consistently gives us the kind of horses we enjoy, we are happy to repeat it. We also make room for carefully chosen new crosses when they fit the mare and the long-term direction of our program.
Consistency is not a lack of imagination. It is the result of finding something that works.
HOW HORSES EARN THEIR PLACE
Stallions earn their keep. Mares earn their promotion. Program Horses earn their place.
Stallions: Useful First
Our working studs at the ranch do not get a separate rulebook. Breeding is only one part of their job. They are expected to stay useful, rideable, and manageable - to leave the breeding pasture, go back to work, and be good citizens.
If one also succeeds in the arena, we’re proud of it, but a show record will never replace ranch usefulness. Our young stallions are given time and education to develop toward those expectations.
Broodmares: A Promotion, Not a Fallback
A place in our broodmare band is not a fallback job for a mare we did not enjoy riding or did not know what else to do with. It is a promotion - earned through ability, rideability, disposition, and the qualities we want to reproduce.
We’ve personally ridden most of our mares. Meaningful riding experience from previous owners or performance programs matters, too.
We also look for sensible, attentive mothers who milk well and take care of their foals. As young mares begin producing, we learn about that side of them as well.
Program Horses: Time to Prove Themselves
Our Program Horses are still working on their résumés. They are given time, handling, and work suited to their age and readiness so they can show us who they are and where they may fit best.
Some will stay, and others may become available as our program’s needs change. Either way, they are brought along with the same purpose: to become useful, enjoyable horses.
THE LONG GAME
We want to build families of horses, not simply produce unrelated individuals. We are not trying to raise one superstar surrounded by inconsistency. We are working toward entire foal crops that carry the same kind of structure, substance, disposition, athletic ability, and usefulness forward.
We don’t want to simply put foals on the ground. We want each one to create the same problem:
“But we don’t WANT to sell that one!”
Take a look through our stallions, broodmares, and Program Horses to meet the horses behind these decisions, or see the horses we currently have available.
We’re always happy to visit about our program, our breeding decisions, and what you may be looking for.