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WILLIAMSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Jack Ashman always wanted to breed horses.
"My father was opposed to it. He thought it was a rich man's thing to do," said Ashman, who owns Jana Quarter Horse Farm with his wife, Nancy.
Ashman's dream came true, and in 2016 Jana Quarter Horse Farm will be honored by the American Quarter Horse Association as a 50-year cumulative breeder, said spokeswoman Sarah Davisson. Cumulative breeders are those who have registered at least one foal for 50 years cumulatively.
"It was a goal of mine to reach that, so few people receive that award," Ashman said.
Born in Reading, Ashman and his family moved to the Altoona area in 1941. His father — John Sr. — who traveled throughout the West to saddle break wild horses, bought Jack his first horse when he was 12 years old.
His father rented a place to stable the horses at then Del Delight Park in Hollidaysburg.
"We showed horses a lot. They had to be trained for showing. Dad taught me how to show the horses. There were a lot of weekend horse shows. Dad was a founding father of the Central Pennsylvania Horseman's Association. They had about 22-25 shows a year from May through October; now it is down to about a half dozen shows," Ashman told the Altoona Mirror (http://bit.ly/1MIqRtT).
Ashman graduated from Hollidaysburg Area High School in 1953.
"My father urged me to go to college; he had dropped out of school in sixth grade," Ashman said.
After finishing a tour of duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, Ashman enrolled at Penn State's Altoona Campus. He graduated from Penn State with a bachelor's degree in social sciences in 1960 and later earned his master's degree from Syracuse University.
"I didn't know what to do. I was influenced by my high school teachers so I enrolled in education," Ashman said.
Ashman started teaching at Spring Cove Junior High School in 1961 before moving to Williamsburg High School in the fall of 1967. He retired from teaching in 1996.
"I had great kids. I loved them. I was trying to impact lives. I miss teaching, but I don't miss the system. That is why I stayed with horses. Horses allowed us to have friends outside of the community," Ashman said.
In the meantime, Jack and Nancy started breeding horses on his father's farm near Hollidaysburg and in 1969 bought the Harry Ickes farm along Clover Creek Road, south of Williamsburg, and established Jana Quarter Horse Farm, which is one of the oldest family operated quarter horse breeding programs in the East.
"We started breeding 50 years ago with one stud and four mares. I loved to breed them and show them. You would take a critter who was nothing, and when I was finished with him, he was a winner," Ashman said.
Over the years, the Jana Quarter Horse Farm breeding program has produced more than 1,000 quarter horses, including foals from customers' mares.
Each year the Ashmans expected an improvement in their foal crop.
"We did this by selectively breeding and removing any stallion that gave us two unsatisfactory foal crops. While our foal crops display a variety of eye-catching colors, color was the least important characteristic to us. Over the years, we elected not to breed the modern event-specific quarter horse simply because we, along with equine geneticists, believe event-specific breeding reduces the overall quality of the horse," Ashman said. "Our concept of a good, versatile horse was formulated by years of showing, training, judging and breeding the American quarter horse."
The Ashmans sold quarter horses all over the country but beginning in 2005 started production sales at the farm.
One of the Ashmans' top customers has been Jeff Shipe of Paxinos, near Lewisburg.
"We met Jack and Nancy 17 years ago. We found out about him in Quarter Horse Journal. We didn't like to travel to see horses, but we made a trip to the farm. Once we met them, we went crazy; we were so impressed with the stock he was producing. We have bought eight or nine horses from them over the years. We currently own six horses of theirs," Shipe said.
Shipe said his family and the Ashmans developed a friendship over the years.
"Jack has so much knowledge of the horse industry and always shares something that will help us when we get back home. Nancy is very gracious and a wonderful cook. It has been a great relationship," Shipe said.
The Ashmans always have provided top quality horses.
"When breeding horses, he has always tried to produce a better animal. He is very knowledgeable about the bloodlines. His mantra is he wants to produce a horse that has good qualities that is up to today's standards," Shipe said.
Ashman said raising horses has been helpful health-wise.
"Horses have given me the exercise to help me keep my weight down. We get tremendous psychic income; we have met so many good people through horses. Physical and mental exercise is important to us. This has helped us to maintain our health and develop friendships," Ashman said.
Now 80, Ashman said he plans to wind down the business.
"Health is a factor. Handling a horse is a young man's deal. We are starting to scale down. Right now we have 17 horses here. We used to have about 50. We will stay here as long as we can. We have good neighbors; they are willing to help us out. If someone is interested, we would consider an offer for the business," Ashman said.
Ashman credits Nancy with helping to make the business such a success.
"She is a strong adviser. She is the organizer. She handles so much more than I do. She handles the photography. I don't know how this place would function without her; we are a very compatible team,"Ashman said.
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Information from: Altoona Mirror, http://www.altoonamirror.com
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