Oak Haven Farms

Oak Haven fa r m s

Oak Haven Farms

Jason Krohn and RGT The Boss (Afires Heir x Styling Time).

A

rabian horses have a way of weaving themselves into the fabric of the families who love them. And when the right family comes along, a special alchemy occurs. The Krohn family’s multi-generational passion for Arabian horses has created an extraordinarily

successful family business from humble beginnings, and they may just be getting started.

by Gary Dearth

Long before Jason Krohn won his first national championship, his ancestors were deeply involved with Arabian horses. His mother, Genna Purvine Krohn, explains, “My grandparents, Glenn and Ruth Purvine, and my father, Bruce Purvine, all had Arabian horses. My grandfather founded the Southern California Half-Arabian Horse Association in 1947. And my father and his sister, Doris, rode Arabians in the Rose Parade in 1951, the first year Arabian horses were allowed. My grandfather and Earl Hurlbutt helped found the International Arabian Horse Association. Earl and his wife were my grandparents’ best friends.” Growing up in a military family, Genna moved regularly, but Arabian horses were a constant for her. “After my father was transferred to Washington, we were looking for a western saddle. He saw one advertised for sale at BruMarBa Arabians. So, my first introductions in the Arabian horse business were Bruce Clark and Gerry Alexander of BruMarBa. We went there to buy a saddle and ended up with a gelding. That took me into the Arabian show world. I rode that horse in every class. We won in everything and had a good time.” Jason’s father, Blake, said of his introduction to Arabian horses, “When I was twelve I got to go to a horse camp.

We lived in Dayton, Ohio. After that camp, all I could think about was horses. A couple years later my family moved to a rural area. Every day when we would drive out to check the house my parents were building, we passed by Jim Clinton’s pastures full of Arabian mares and foals. Something called to me every time we drove by that farm. I decided that when we moved out there I was going to get on my bike and ride over there and get a job. And that’s what I did. I cleaned stalls for him and later progressed to amateur trainer.”

While in college, Blake became good friends with Brian Miller, the son of Bud and Nola Miller who owned Emkay Arabians. “When we got home from school for the summer after the second year, Brian called me and said their trainer quit and asked if I wanted to show horses for the summer,” 2 b OAK HAVEN FARMS b WORLD

Facing page, clockwise from top right: Jason was totally bitten by the Arabian show bug when he showed Tosk-A-Fire (Cytosk x Cassels Bruseema) to his first win at the 1994 Youth National Championships. ✶ Genna Krohn’s father, Bruce Purvine, rode Arabian horses with Frank McCoy in the 1951 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, the first year Arabians were allowed. ✶Jason and Khamii (Mi Tosk x Khalabria) at the 1999 Youth National Championships.

Top: Jason aboard MX Bayfire (Safire x MX Confetti) with his dad, Blake, in 1997.

Bottom: Blake and Jason Krohn aboard the Half-Arabians Starfire OH (Toskabi x Why Not Diamonds) and KRA Im On Fire (KRA Afire Works x Dorian Vogue).

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Above: Jason with SD Graceland (Vegaz x Empress Of Bask).

Facing page: Jason and CSP Hennessy (DS Mick Jagger x MHR Martinna).

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says Blake. “I told him I’d be there in a couple of hours. I intended to just show for the summer, but I ended up staying seven years. After three years, they built a new farm in Tucson and we moved there.

That’s when I met Ira Morris who had Oak Haven Arabians.”

Genna met Blake at an Arabian show in Springfield, when Blake’s family was in Ohio. “We dated long distance for awhile,” she says. “And then my family moved to Albuquerque when my father was transferred there. I convinced my parents that I should go to college at the University of Arizona in Tucson, since that’s where Blake was working, and within a year we got married.”

Still in Tucson and newly married, the Krohns were about to make a life change that would help shape their family’s destiny. “One day, Ira asked me to come to his ranch in Texas to pick out a couple of horses to train for his grandson to show,” says Blake. “While I was there, he offered me a job.”

The couple moved to Texas in the summer of 1983, and when Ira decided to get out of the business in 1992, they purchased the farm from him. “At that time, we had five children, Dane, Jason, Jayne, Susan, and John,” says Genna. “We started working for ourselves without realizing what an adventure that was going to be. Later we had Grant and Matthew, both after failed vasectomies. It was God’s plan.”

While the other Krohn children were active in Arabian horses, it was Jason, their second born, who was obsessed from the time he was little. “I was in the barn every day, but I was most interested in riding,” he says. “At first, I didn’t care about showing — I just wanted to go out in the field and pretend that I was the guy in ‘The Man from Snowy River.’ I insisted on getting my own horses ready and I wanted to do it all. But when I got to show a good horse that a customer owned, ToskA-Fire (Cytosk x Cassels Bruseema), with a borrowed suit that Joel Gangi got for me that didn’t fit, I was bitten by the bug. The picture from that win is hysterical. After that, all I wanted was to show, and I wanted to be good. I remember asking Dad what it took to succeed and what I needed to do.

I would harass him on a daily basis about who I was going to show next.”

Blake laughs when he recalls, “The thing that’s wrong with Jason is that he always wanted to go to the horse shows, so I would take him with me. Genna was home running the farm and taking 5 b OAK HAVEN FARMS b WORLD

care of the other six kids, so at the shows Jason was on his own. I never knew where he was. I’m pretty sure that Joel Gangi raised him, because every time I’d find him he’d be at Joel’s stalls. Joel really has tried to do right by Jason, but he won’t listen. Joel told him that if he would go back to college and finish his degree, he would pay for it. And he was dead serious. Joel was a diligent foster parent.”

When Jason was about eleven, after he’d watched his dad break many horses to drive with the wooden sled, he decided that he would break his hunter/western/trail horse to drive. “Dad told me that I had to teach him to line drive first, so, I did,” says Jason.

“Dad tells me that at about three days into it he was sitting in the house having lunch and I came blazing across the front yard. My horse had his head between his knees and he was trotting as fast as he could with me on the sled behind him. It hadn’t occurred to me that I should be using a bridle with blinders. My dad came running outside and yells, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, you need blinders on that horse. Next time put blinders on him,’ and I said, ‘Maybe that’s why I couldn’t get him to walk in a straight line. He kept turning around and looking at me.’

By the time I was thirteen, I wanted to train my own horses and I wanted to know how to do it. I was at the barn every single day after school. I was in the barn from sunup to sundown all summer, every summer. I wanted to do everything from loading the trailer to putting up the drapes at the shows. At that point, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life.”

Jason’s thirst for horse knowledge extended to their farrier. “Our longtime farrier, Terry Bradshaw, likes to say that he was sure that the reason Blake would send Jason out to be with him was so that he could finally get some horses worked,” says Genna. “Jason would ask Terry a million questions. ‘Why did you put that shoe on that horse? Why didn’t you put that on the other horse?’

And on and on. Jason was always learning.”

After an extraordinarily successful youth career, Jason demonstrated his growing significance as a professional horseman when he showed OH Toskafire (Afire Bey V x Tosk Bey) to the 2010 6 b OAK HAVEN FARMS b WORLD

Above: Jason and KRA Im On Fire (KRA Afire Works x Dorian Vogue).

Facing page: Cassie Banks aboard Wicked Fire (Baske Afire x Calloways Carioca).

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Above: Jason’s fiancee Lauren Gabski and Noble Honour (IXL Noble Express x Hidee Afire).

Facing page, left: Lauren and Caydence (Prye Thyme x WCA Perfectiming).

Facing page, right: Cassie Banks and DB Wouldn’t It Be Nice (Sundance Kid V x CBS Rahz) .

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U.S. and Canadian National Champion Country English Pleasure Junior Horse titles. He hasn’t looked back since. Jason excels in all areas of saddleseat English training. There have been many national winners in English pleasure, country English pleasure, pleasure driving, and park over the last decade. And as successful as Jason has been personally, his amateur riders have been a force themselves. “As much as I enjoy showing and competing,” says Jason, “I get even greater satisfaction when our youth and amateur rides are successful.”

Because of the size and scope of the Oak Haven training operation, Jason has assembled an outstanding group of dedicated individuals. “Lauren and I couldn’t do this without Cassie Banks,” he said. “She is an integral part of all we do, and she brings a background and skill set that is different and complementary to mine.” Cassie adds, “Jason has been a really good mentor and it has been great to learn from him. And I have tried to teach him some things. One of our strengths is we all learn things from each other. I love doing what I’m doing and I really enjoy working with the babies.

And I’ve gotten to show a lot of great horses. I would love to do more saddleseat English over time because I came into this with more of a hunter/western background.”

These days, there’s another important member of the Oak Haven family — Jason’s fiancé, Lauren Grabski, whose mother, Martha McCollough, bought her first Arabian from Blake when Lauren was ten. “One day, when I was twelve, she insisted that I go out to Oak Haven, and that’s when I rode an Arabian horse for the first time,” says Lauren. “I was hooked. I started showing, and it was always me and my mom. We did it for quite a few years as clients. When I was about sixteen, I decided that I wanted to train a horse from scratch, so Jason found a just-started three-year-old for me. As soon as I began doing that on my own, I knew that was what I wanted to do for a living.

Jason and I were always like brother and sister. We fought like cats and dogs. We didn’t get along at all. I didn’t like him some of the time, but I loved him like a brother. But as we got older and matured and spent a lot of time together, suddenly one day it was much more. We started dating about three years ago, and we got engaged in December.

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“My mother is very involved and loves the horses, especially the babies,” continues Lauren. “She loves the breeding, but more than anything she loves the animals themselves. She is super supportive of Jason and me and what we want to do.”

For Jason, Oak Haven is a precious and important family business, one that he would like to build upon. “Dad bought the business from Ira Morris and he has put his life and soul into it,” Jason says. “We feel it is a household name in this business, and we have worked extremely hard for it. I want to keep it going to honor my parents. It was important to me to have their blessing and support as we move forward. We bought the name and the business so we could take it with us. The new business is called Oak Haven Farms. When we move to our facility, it will adjoin the 600 acres of Oak Haven South in Bullard, Texas — I want it to still feel like a family business, with family values.

When someone calls, they will always get a family member to answer their questions.” That’s why Genna will continue to run the business side. “I have been running the office ever since we took over the business from Ira Morris,” Genna says. “I will keep doing that for Jason after he moves to the new facility so there is absolute continuity. They will change locations, but other than that everything will be the same.”

“The house where Jason and I will live is a 110-year-old historical home that we have remodeled a little, including an addition with a master suite,” says Lauren. “The original part of the house is charming and unique, so we didn’t want to change it too much.”

One hour east of Dallas and barely south of Tyler, Texas, the new Oak Haven Farms is taking shape. Every detail of the facility is state of the art. “We have a 125´ x 225´ indoor arena with twenty-two 12´ x 8´ roll-up glass doors that allow us to keep it buttoned up during the winter with unlimited natural light, or we can open the doors in the summer for maximum ventilation,” says Jason. “Three ‘Big Ass’ fans in the arena provide additional air movement when necessary. The arena is also fully insulated. We also have a 20´ x 50´ air-conditioned lounge with a big outside viewing deck, so our clients can enjoy the best of both.”

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Above: Special Thyme (Pryme Thyme x Chance To Dazzle).

Facing page, top: Lauren aboard Prryme Example (Rrapture x Exousia).

Facing page, bottom: Jason with James Brown (Mamage x Watch My Success).

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One hour east of Dallas and just south of Tyler, Texas, the new Oak Haven Farms is taking shape. Every detail of the facility is state-of-the-art.

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Oak Haven Farms has used the design and manufacturing talent of Dwayne and Kevin Job, System Fencing, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “Their company is building all 124 of our stalls, each of which features a back window, yoke in the stall door so the horses can hang their heads out, and bars between the stalls so that every horse can see and visit with its neighbor,” says Jason. “And each stall and groom bay has a Schaefer circulation fan. I met the Jobs because of their ‘Odyssey Horse Exerciser.’ It is the finest and safest ‘exerciser’ on the market today. We will have the 60´ six-horse model. Fully programmable, it stays at a constant walking speed while the horses are being loaded and then builds up to a long trot. After slowing to a walk and providing the same workout the other direction, it automatically cools the horses out. Any workout you can dream up can be programmed.

It was their ‘exerciser’ that introduced me to them, but I soon discovered that their design skills and products were going to play a big part in what we built. The two System Fencing 55´ round pens are unique in their design. Each section is curved so that they are completely round with the tongue and groove siding placed vertically with no gaps between the panels. Even the doors are curved. In addition, there is a big shop to house all farm vehicles, eight groom bays with recessed rubber pavers, and a huge tack room. The vet and farrier have their own work areas, both in and outdoor, that are adjacent but out of the way from the groom stalls and indoor arena. Essentially, everything is under one roof, because it is all attached. That way, everyone stays dry getting from one place to another.

“Another important innovation is the use of a completely recycled product called Eco Green Grid. It is used in all the stalls. Placed over a stone base, it allows the stalls to drain, virtually eliminating ammonia build up. This product is also the base under four inches of footing in the exerciser and will keep the surface level and even.

“We will continue to use my parents’ farm for the breeding because my mom does all the breeding; she is awesome at it. She collects all the stallions and she inseminates all the mares. She does everything except the embryo transfers. Mom and Dad will continue to foal out all the mares and do all the breeding. Once the mares have foaled and been rebred, they will come back down to our pastures to grow up.”

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The Krohn family, Christmas 2015.

Everyone in the Oak Haven family is committed to breeding outstanding Arabian and HalfArabian horses. “I am so fired up that we will continue to keep the farm and continue breeding. I love raising horses. I have thirteen mares in foal for next year,” said Blake. And Jason adds, “I want to breed good mares to good stallions and produce great horses. I want my clients to breed great horses.

There is not enough breeding going on right now, and I want customers to be involved in wanting to do that. That keeps new and exciting young horses coming into the barn.”

The breeding side of things is important to Lauren, too. “My mother is very involved,” she says. “Over the years we have acquired some awesome English-bred mares. I like the breeding side of things more than Jason. He likes the outcome, but the actual process doesn’t interest him that much.

He likes when they are three. Having good young ones coming up is important to what we are doing long term. It will benefit us, and our training program. Having access to those really good horses before anyone else does will give us an edge. We are hoping to average eighteen to twenty foals a year.

About seventy-five percent purebreds and about twenty-five percent Half-Arabians. We do quite a bit of embryo transfer on the great mares so we can get more than one foal a year.”

Clearly Jason has great admiration for his father and his training skills, and knows how lucky he was to get a leg up. “My dad was awesome and taught me everything I know. He gave me a lot of opportunities to show great horses that he was gracious enough to share with me. He was an excellent teacher. And eventually he handed me his clientele on a platter. He stepped back when he didn’t have to so that I could show the best horses. I wouldn’t be where I am today if he wasn’t so humble and generous.”

Arabian horses have always been a great family activity. Many of us became involved with them because our parents recognized that. For a few of us, the passion that developed would become a livelihood. But family businesses are a challenge, and a horse business presents an additional set of difficulties. To succeed requires enormous talent and incredible drive and persistence. Jason Krohn and the extended Krohn family possess those qualities in abundance. When you couple that with their over seventy years of family history in Arabian horses, it is easy to imagine the enormous impact that the Krohns will have on the Arabian breed in the next seventy years.

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Top: Jason and Lauren with the Half-Arabian All Chazzed Up (MCA Chazz x Why Not Diamonds).

Bottom: Jason and Lauren.

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Jason and James Brown.

Oak Haven Farms 2885 FM 2137 · Bullard · TX 75757 903.539.3812 Jason Krohn 903.245.0757 Lauren Grabski

Special thanks to our sponsors who are helping to make this new facility a reality!

Oak Haven Farms 2885 FM 2137 · Bullard · TX 75757 903.539.3812 Jason Krohn 903.245.0757 Lauren Grabski

Designed and produced by Arabian Horse World · 09/17