Erda quarter horse breeder shares what goes into buying a good horse

Shamus Haws’ life revolves around horses.

Each day, he uses horses to run the 200 head of horses — not counting the foals — on more than 30,000 acres in the Oquirrh Mountains and on his Erda ranch. As the owner and operator of Running U Livestock, Haws and his wife, Jolyn, raise and breed quarter horses, many of which come from famous bloodlines. Haws is proud of his herd and each year shares that with the public during their annual Running U Livestock show/sale, which was held at the Deseret Peak Complex last Saturday.

“In my opinion, why these horses stand above others is that they are foundation bred quarter horses,” Haws said. “They come from the foundation of the original breed horses and they are mountain raised. A lot of our bloodlines are rare in our area.”

Many of their horses are from the Hancock lineage. Some of those bloodlines are Cee Booger Red, Smart Little Lena, Mr. Gun Smoke, King-234, Doc O Lena and Blondy’s Dude, which are foundation quarter horse legends.

Running U Livestock was originally started by Haws’ in-laws several years ago, although Haws isn’t quite sure how many. Haws and his wife took over the business 12 years ago and with the help of their four daughters have been running the company ever since.

“It started as a small operation with a few horses and it’s turned into one of the state’s largest breeders,” Haws said. “I hope to pass it on for coming generations.”

Despite their success, Haws wants Running U Livestock to continue growing so it could eventually become the largest breeder in the state.

“I would like to someday bring the world to Tooele County to buy our horses,” he said. “We have a great reputation in the Western U.S. People are impressed with our product.”

Haws breeds about 100 horses a year and is confident in his claim that they are the largest breeders in Tooele County. He also believes Running U Livestock is one of the top five breeders in Utah.

“The ranch hands and I ride the [horses] we sell on a daily basis,” Haws said. “We use a traditional method to preserve the cowboy tradition. That means something to some people.”

Haws purchases many of his horses from Haythorn Land and Cattle near Ogallala, Neb., which is one of the oldest and largest quarter horse ranches in the United States. Haws says he purchases his horses from the one of the best ranches so he can have the best horses.

When Haws goes to buy a horse he looks for very specific details of the horse’s appearance. The first thing he looks for is a confirmation and disposition of good bone structure. He also looks for good whither — the bone on the shoulders where the saddle rides and stays in place — and a good attitude.

During Saturday’s production sale, Haws planned to sell all of their horses and held no reserve — meaning they would sell for any price — for their horses.

“We want the public to buy horses to get them out and let people see what we have,” Haws said. “I’d rather do that than reserve and be stingy. I’d rather see people take and enjoy them.”

At last year’s sale, the auctioneer, who has been auctioning horses for years, told Haws that his herd was some of the best he’d seen.

“It’s one of the most talked about shows in the Intermountain West,” Haws said.

In fact, Running U Livestock has received inquiries for catalogues — which tells what kinds of horses they breed, bloodlines, etc. — from all over the United States, from as far away as Florida, as well as inquiries from Canada. One of the reasons for their popularity according to Haws is that people like that the horses are ranch owned and raised and are of a foundation bloodline.

“Foundation bloodlines aren’t so rare,” Haws said. “But it is rare for [horses] working with ranch hands where motorized vehicles have taken over.”

On average, Running U Livestock sells horses for $1,000. If a buyer offered as little as $100 for the horse, Haws would sell it.

“In today’s market I would say [$1,000] is good,” Haws said. “In a normal market, that’s very poor.”

Haws said he just wants to sell all the horses to get them into the public eye.

Like other facets of the economy, Running U Livestock is affected by the high price of fuel and hay. Those who do purchase horses from Haws tend to use them for trail riding or rodeo events. Very few are then used for other ranching.

“People don’t want to spend their money on livestock,” he said. “This is my livelihood; this is all I do for a living.”

Missy Thompson: missy@tooeletranscript.com