Marci and Billy Laye are the owners of Laye Ranch and LDS Unleashed, the first ranch and stallion to be featured in this Rodeoclassifieds.com ranch and stallion series. Their ranch is located near Bashaw, Alberta and we are excited to start this series by learning more about their operation. We have asked a group of questions to each ranch owner and are proud to feature their operation here on on the blog. Let’s get started.
| How long have you been breeding Quarter Horses, tell us about the history of your ranch. | |
| Since the early 90’s. We started with a little black stallion that I competed on, named Gaydoc Pablito. He was a son of Docs Royal Lancer and out of a daughter of Gay Bar King. We ran a cow/calf herd, but the fall before the first real bout of BSE hit, we had sold all our cows, with the thought of buying bred heifers in the spring. With prices bottomed out we never got back into the cows. By then we had also sold Pablo and so we decided to get back into the breeding business with the purchase of LDS Unleashed in October of 2004. | |
| What is your ultimate goal for your breeding program? |
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| To breed horses specific to barrel racing. | |
| What keeps you going during the hard days? | |
| The breeding business takes years to develop and so you must have a real love for it. So when the calls, texts, e-mails start coming in from happy clients, those long days disappear. | |
| Tell us about your stallion(s) and what made you pick him to promote | |
 In 2001 I was going to a few futurities in the states. I was seeing these colts that caught my eye, sired by Dash Ta Fame. Fame Fox Kirk, who was owned and ridden by Annie Rose and later by Ed and Martha Wright, went on to win over $200,000.00 was on of them. It was then we bred to Dash Ta Fame twice and both times we got a filly. We decide to shop for a stud prospect. It proved to be harder than we thought. Not a lot of Dash Ta Fame’s colts were being left colts, but with the help of Lance Graves, Annie Rose, Danyelle Campbell and Sue Smith we had a few prospects to look at. Sue had hauled Unleashed for his owner Donna King down to the track in Hurricane Utah, for her daughter, race horse trainer Stacey Vickery to train. Of all the prospects we had to look at LDS Unleashed had great proven bloodlines top and bottom.  We were looking for a Dash Ta Fame prospect that’s bottom side was equally as impressive as his top side. By Dash Ta Fame and out of a daughter of Streakin Dash, by Streakin Six and Merridoc on the bottom of that, we seen the proven barrel horse names we were looking for! But something that really caught my eye, was the fact he was double bred Tiny’s Gay! Tiny’s Gay has a long history of producing barrel horses. When we went down to look at him, we were not disappointed. We loved his conformation, his disposition and when they turned him loose in the arena, you couldn’t help but love his athleticism! He was the full meal deal we were looking for! We brought him home, and he was the first son of Dash Ta Fame to stand in Canada. |
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| Tell us about some successful offspring from your stallion or breeding program. | |
 Hopes Unleashed Our first Unleashed offspring, was named such. First Star Unleashed was purchased from us by Niki Makofka. They have gone on to 1D wins and placing’s. Unleashed Ta Fly, was purchased by Wendy Young. Wendy has won and placed at several Lakeland rodeos. This year we watched in excitement as Kandi Horn and her standout 5 year old Unleash Bentley won 1D jackpots and won and placed at his first rodeos! They also ran the fastest time at the Farm Fair a Futurity in Edmonton this fall.  Savannah Blue Fame Savannah Blue Fame is owned by Suzanne DePaoli and ridden by Veronica Swales. In the last two years they have won over $10,000.00 in futurity/derby and open barrel races. They won the Rocky Mountain futurity and the Badlands Derby.  Unleashed Ta Speed standings, thanks to the placings of Hopes Unleashed, Unleashed Ta Speed Promise To Unleash, Savannah Blue Fame, Unleashedtabeslicker (owned by Gina Volansky) and Bitofchickunleashed (owned by Mackenzie Braithwaite). |
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| What is your favorite part of standing a stallion to the public? | |
| THE RESULTS!!! Like I said, a breeding business takes years to develop, so when the calls start coming in from satisfied customers, the wait feels well worth it! We get such tremendous joy watching others enjoy their Unleashed babies. |
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| If applicable, tell us about the mare power on your ranch. | |
| When we sold our cows, we also downsized on our land, so we only have a few mares. She’s Not A Lady, aka Annie, is a daughter of War Easy Jet, by Easy Jet. She’s out of a AAA daughter of Jet Of Honor. We purchased Annie from Greg and Maria Butterfield. Maria had taken Annie, to a couple of jackpots where she won the 2D in her first out and was in the 1D her next. Planning on going to the futurities, Maria was disappointed when Annie suffered a career ending injury. Annie has produced money winning colts, Unleashed Ta Speed, Unleash A Lady’s Man and Two Jets Unleashed. Flys Dash, aka Dash, is the product of our first breeding program. We raised her sire Pabs San Fly, by Gaydocs Pablito and out of money winning mare Rock San Star, by Gasahol. Dash is Unleashed Ta Flys dam. Winnie My Cash, aka Winnie, is by Judge Cash and goes back to Grey Dancer and Kitaman on the bottom. Winnie is a proven 1D winner and pro rodeo money earner. To date we have to beautiful fillies, one yearling and one weanling. Sweephart, aka Sweet, is by Zumo Dat Dash, and out of a daughter of Bar Hemp. She is a proven 1D winner and pro rodeo money earner. She is the dam of Unleashed Ta Dream, 1D winner and Unleashed Ta Move, 1D money earner. Next year we are excited as we’ve added two young mares, Dazzling Prissy and LDS Geter Dun to our herd. |
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| What would be one tip you could offer to owners shopping for stallion services? | |
| Know yourself well! Today’s bloodlines are so fine tuned, that styles and traits are getting easy to distinguish. Know your riding style and what you fit. Know where you want to go, jackpots, rodeo and to what level and find a stallion who fit those goals. | |
| Could you offer any advice to someone considering getting into the breeding business? | |
| Be ready to be in it for the long haul. I’ll say it again, It takes years to build. Be in it because you love it, because it doesn’t happen over night ! | |
Learn more about Laye Ranch by visiting their stallion ad here on RodeoClassifieds.com, by going to their website or visiting Laye Ranch on their Facebook page.
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