Don Beard
Cheyenne, WY

Vivian (wife); Erin (daughter); Tyler and Jace (sons)

My wife and I run a small training center specializing in both halter and performance horses. I also now do Construction Management Services for a local engineering firm.

Friendship with Founding Members and the development of standards for the assessment of halter horses.

No horse in particular at todays level. I appreciate the breeding horses, both sires and dams, and the outcome of those crosses. Its always interesting to see the quality being shown at the futurities and World shows for the young horses. The training and fitting of theses youngsters to excel at a precise time for the big shows is remarkable.

World shows in general for all stock horse breeds.

Impressive. Even though we deal with the HYPP issue, you find him standing down the pedigree line of most of the great ones.

My wife and I have been involved with over 20 World and Reserve World champions.

It takes the same amount of feed for a good one as an average one. Seek out quality in everything you do.

I appreciate the fact that the WCHA continues to work with all stock horse breeds, to secure the selection of high quality conformation horses place within those associations.

Probably my wife, Vivian; our operation has always been a family affair. She has reminded me through the years that “good is not good enough; we have to strive for excellence”.

Our children. They understand the effort required for success through helping in our operation and the commitment required to succeed.

Started in halter and worked into all-around horses.

The ability to recognize quality early on in a young horse and develop a strategy to emphasize that based on correct conformation.

Fair assessment of all individuals presented that day.