In the 1950's Alex Ogilvie began raising Quarter Horses with this purpose. Alex is one of the last of the old time cowboys and he knows the value of a tough horse. He was born and raised in Cohagen, Montana when it was common to ride 60 miles to go dancing. A cowboy needed a horse that was stout, strong and willing.

Alex and his first wife and daughters trained and rode barrel horses. They were very successful, competing and winning at rodeos around Montana.

Alex married Claudia Whiting in 1976. Claudia's life revolved around horses. A thirst for knowledge impelled her to work many different facets of the horse business. She has ridden dressage horses, been a movie stunt person, and a gallop girl at racetracks.

 Claudia worked for many ranches moving, sorting, and artificially inseminating cattle. She was one of the first cowgirls to compete in all-girl rodeos. She won the women's saddlebronc riding at the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale in 1976 and won the bullriding at the "Mama of 'em all," Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1977. In the 80's she began training reined cow horses and competing at snaffle bit futurities.

Together, Alex and Claudia were raising quarter horses, crossing foundation type stallions on foundation/running quarter horse mares. The later imported and stood two Australian-bred Doc Bar/Sugar Bar stallions.

Claudia began training barrel horses in 1986. She preferred the quickness and rate inherent in cow-bred quarter horses, but realized most barrel racers want the speed of a running horse. With this in mind Alex and Claudia began to look for a stallion that could be a serious barrel horse in his own right as well as a successful sire of barrel horses. In 1996 they found Missin Freckle and true to their purpose, this stallion became a all-purpose saddle horse and a money winning barrel horse.

The second generation of Ogilvies to ride are Skye and Blue. They were raised at horse sales and rodeos, riding ponies and barrel horses. Skye, the oldest girl, prefers to ride outside the arena, working for ranches and starting colts. She enjoys working cattle, discovering new country, and showing at hunter/jumper competitions. Skye has learned it is not wise to ride broncs at the Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City, nor is it a good idea to rope a large cow on a small horse.

                          

Blue, the youngest girl, had a strong high school rodeo career and received a scholarship to the University of Montana. While maintaining an "A" average she worked her way to the CNFR three times. She was an all-around cowgirl, competing in barrels, goat tying, breakaway roping, and working both ends team roping. She married Cory Borton in 2004 and is now living in Hot Springs, South Dakota where she continues to train horses, run barrels, and rope. Cory and Blue work for a ranch that runs over a thousand mother cows. They ride their horses daily on the ranch. Cory and Blue rope in the pasture and arena on all their horses. Blue is continuing to train several barrel horses a year. If you want a solid horse check out the For Sale page. 

On March 23, 2008 we said goodbye to a great cowboy when Alex passed away. It truly is the end of an era. We proudly carry on with the bay stud he bought, Missin Freckle. On the way to look at Missin Freckle, Claudia said that he had to be pretty and Alex said that they would not buy him if he had any white feet. He didn't want a horse with feet you had to worry about. He told a good friend a few years ago that "the stud" would take care of his girls when he was gone. Alex was right. Missin Freckle and his colts have taken good care of us.

The whole Ogilvie family is proud of the program and are eager to see what Missin Freckle's offspring will accomplish in the future.