Horses on the Circle Y

By Michael Burgess

The Circle Y has had horse herd since 1937. The herd at times numbered close to two hundred. Horses were used on the ranch for riding and driving. Many stories have been told of just getting a team working nicely and having my grandfather sending them off to Ontario to be sold. In the fifties my Grandfather bought a couple of carloads of Shetland ponies. They were raised and shipped east.

In 1961 my father bought our first registered Quarter horse stallion. His name was Bear Trap P-115,573 a son of Bear Cat from the Birdtail Ranch of Simms, Montana.

In 1964 the first 4 purebred mares were purchased in Moose Jaw from Royal Burrows of Midnapore, Alberta. They had foals at side off of Alberta Jack and were bred back to Poco Sunday. These were the horses that were the foundation of the Circle Y herd with only a few more mares purchased over the years.

Our next stallion was Que T Hush #446471 a son of B Wood a half brother to LEO.

We bought and used an aged stallion Sonny Bar Showdown that had Wimpy P-1, Blondy’s Dude and Sonny Dee Bar on his papers.

For four years we used the double bred Peppy San stallion Solanos Double San.

In 2002 we purchased our current stallion the buckskin Holiday Compadre 3926839.

Many of our mares carry the influence of Bear Trap and Que T Hush.

True to the heritage of the quarter horse our horses have been very versatile. They have competed in the rodeo arena and the show ring. They are used for ranch work at home as well as play. The kids have done gymkana and we have gone team penning. Lane enjoys getting out and covering some ground during hunting season.

We have horses for sale at most times. Britt has horse in various stages of training . The foals are kept up close in the winter and caught and fed oats daily. She has two and three year olds working under saddle.

We are excited about the foals off of Holiday Compadre as we have been getting lots of buckskins, duns and even a couple of palominos.