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Northstar Facebook Posts

21 hours ago

This black 2024 colt is really going to be special. He's extremely loving, super pretty, and is sure put together.
His information is on page 4 of our site. ... See MoreSee Less

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Northstar Livestock

4 days ago

One of our foals from the summer before last. ... See MoreSee Less

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Northstar Livestock

5 days ago

Story time -
First Horse

When I was in my early teens I wanted a horse very badly. Bill -a cousin of mine who I have always considered to be my best friend as well as my cousin let me ride his horses but I wanted my own horse. I bought a push-type lawnmower with some help from my grandmother and started cutting lawns for people around town. I earned $2-3 a lawn, less the fuel and repairs to my lawnmower. I hoarded this money away until I figured I had enough to buy a horse. When I asked my Dad if I could have a horse he turned me down flat, the answer was a definitely NO! I was really disappointed, at $2-3 a lawn it had taken a lot of work to earn the $200 I figured I needed to buy a ‘not too high priced horse.’ I made up my mind that this wasn’t going to be the last word on the matter - I was going to get a horse.

I looked at any horse that was for sale for miles around. Most were more money than I had and others that I checked out were as old as the hills if they were in my price range but I finally found a mare that I thought would work for me. It was late fall and this mare was thin and had long hair and her feet needed to be trimmed. She was a long ways from being ready for the show ring. She was young though, and a nice size, and I figured all the basics were there. She was a black mare and I always did like a black horse. My cousin Bill knew every horse in the country and I asked him about this mare. He said that she was sound but that he didn’t know how much training she had had on her. The man who owned the mare assured me that she was broke so I went ahead and bought her on his say-so. I found out pretty quick that his word was about as valuable as bird shit on a pump handle. Anyway, I bought her and I thought I had the world by the tail on a downhill slide.

I rented a stall at the racetrack and got her hauled in. I put in a supply of hay, straw, and grain. I had my horse but I somehow forgot to mention my horse deal to my dad and I thought for the time being that it was maybe best left that way. The first time I got on my ‘broke horse’ she threw me over the racetrack fence. I couldn’t afford to buy the horse and a saddle to so I was trying to ride her bareback with little success. As fast as I would get on she would throw me back off again. Needless to say I wasn’t getting much riding done. Cousin Bill came to my rescue and lent me a heavy stock saddle until I could save enough money to buy my own. I could stick with her then and I was some happy to finally be able to ride my own horse.

I got her feet trimmed, treated her for parasites, and was underway to getting my mare in shape. I would get up very early in the morning and run across town to the racetrack, do chores, and run home again. I then had my breakfast and walked to school on the other side of town (this is starting to sound like the guy who said when he was a boy he had to walk five miles to school and back each day, and it was all uphill both ways). Mom and Dad knew I was up early but I was always an early riser so they didn’t pay much attention to the fact that I was always up in the morning before them. When school was finally over for the day I’d hurry home, change out of my school clothes and head back to the track again. I wanted to get my mare really looking sharp so I started fitting her up. It had started to snow early that year and we got a lot of it and there was 2 ½ - 3 feet of snow on the track. It was a half mile track and I would put her around the track twice through the snow. With the snow that deep it was a pretty good workout for her and it didn’t take long for her to muscle up. I’d take her back to the barn, cool her out some, blanket her, and give her a good feed of grain. As an extra, I’d mix three eggs into her grain at each feeding. We could get cracked eggs from the creamery for nothing and they sure would make a haircoat shine. I’d brush her and go over her legs with absorbine. She looked pretty good if I do say so myself (and I do). She filled out, muscled up, and you could almost see your face in her haircoat. I was some proud of that mare.

I was riding her down the street one day and Dad passed me in the car and I saw him looking over my mare pretty well on his way by. That night at the supper table he said, “That was a pretty sharp horse that you were riding. Is that one of Bills?” meaning my cousin Bill. I said, “Yes, it’s Bill’s alright – Bill Irwin’s.” He was in pretty ugly humor due to the fact that I had bought the horse when he said I couldn’t and I was sure glad to get away from the supper table that night. Things were kind of dicey around home for a few days but when it came right down to the nitty-gritty of it I had the horse for a few months and he didn’t even know that I had it so he really couldn’t say a whole lot. After a while things settled back down and got back to normal. I had my horse, everything was out in the open, and I was happy as a clam. About 55 or 56 years later as I tell you this tale we still have horses, we farm with two of our sons (Jason and Adam) and at any one time we will usually run around 50 head, we’re horse dealers and we buy and sell horses all over Canada and the US and some into Mexico. We’ve learned a little more about the horse business since then. I also like to think that I’m not quite as naive as I was when I bought my first horse. ... See MoreSee Less

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