IN THIS ISSUE

Matt Shiflet Stables Photos provided by Doug Shiflet & Sarah Bennett

Randolph County and Asheboro have been home to some of the best American Saddlebred horses in the world since the 1950s. At the end of Old

Lexington Road lies Matt Shiflet Stables, 20 acres of breeding, training, and sales facilities with customers from all over the United States, and even South Africa. The location of Matt’s current farm was once part of

Mountain View Farm, a vast 236-acre parcel owned by W.

P. Harvelle, a local textile manufacturer. Over the years, several parcels have been sold off to build the Asheboro Country Club, the County Club Estates subdivision, and another parcel owned by Don & Phyllis Brookshire, who are longtime customers of Matt’s facility and also lease their pastures to Matt Shiflet Stables. His grandparents Claude and Alice Shiflet bought the property in 1972 and started Claude Shiflet Stables. His grandparents were from Virginia and his grandfather had visited Asheboro as a teenager. When the barn and parcel became available, they bought it and moved their family to Asheboro. Matt’s parents, Harrison, and Beverly

Shiflet grew up training and operating the family business in Asheboro until opening Harrison Shiflet Stables in the early 2000s in Tryon, NC. They now reside in Asheboro and Matt’s brother, Grant and his wife Missy own and operate Shiflet Stables in Tryon, NC. Riding and showing horses is a family affair for the Shiflet’s. Matt, his brother, Grant, and his sister, Taylor, are also accomplished equestrians who were taught to ride by their parents, Beverly, and Harrison. It is quite a family affair as both of Matt’s uncles Doug Shiflet and Shane

Shiflet are top professional horse show photographers, and Shane’s wife Suzy runs a show barn with some of the country’s top American Saddlebreds, all living and operating in Asheboro NC. Matt grew up working with his dad and grandfather in the barns. He learned from some of the best trainers in the business, and in 2000 when he graduated from school he relocated to West Virginia and opened his own business. He moved it to Kentucky before moving back to Asheboro in 2007 and leasing part of the facility from his grandfather, before he retired, and Matt purchased the stables from him. Developing horses and putting the right owner with the right horse is a talent that Matt has honed over the years. He attends one or two sales per year, including one in Kentucky. It differs year to year, some years they may have as many as 14 horses to sell and others they may have just one or two. Matt’s wife Whitney is from Bluefield, Virginia and they met through the world of horses. They were married in 2012 and have two children, Clayton and

Eliza, who are growing up with a love and appreciation of horses as well. Matt is quick to acknowledge that they could not do it without their assistant trainer, Drew Taylor Hewitt, and the rest of their incredible team of

The American Saddlebred is a horse breed descended from horses bred in the late 1700s around the time of the American Revolution. The American Saddlebred’s ancestors include the Narragansett Pacer, Canadian Pacer, Morgan, and Thoroughbreds. Saddlebreds are mainly known for their performance in the show ring, as well as being used as a pleasure riding horse. In competition, American Saddlebreds compete around the country in five primary divisions: FiveGaited, Three-Gaited, Fine Harness, Park and Pleasure. In these divisions they are judged on performance, manners, presence, quality, and conformation.

caretakers: Enrique Jimenez, Alonso Jimenez, Alejandro Jimenez, Agustin Banuelos, Refugio Banuelos, Manuel Arellano, and Sage Schweickert. Some of their team members have been with them a long time and in Matt’s opinion are the best in the business. They travel all over the country attending shows during the year in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and Florida. “We couldn’t do this if we didn’t have a great team, from the trainers and caretakers, the veterinarian and blacksmith, right down to the haulers who get our horses safely from one place to another, they all contribute to the success of our business.”

Matt and his team get everything ready for the show for their owners and riders. They spend months or even years training the horse for competition, they get them “show ready” and all an owner has to do is show up in their outfit and they are ready to compete. Sometimes an owner prefers to have Matt, Whitney or Drew Taylor show the horse. They have 10 to 15 clients, and some own multiple horses at the barn. They train over 50 horses a year to show and have 100 to 120 living on the farm in any given year. It is a full-time job, 24/7, 365 days a year. They also stand one of the nation’s top stallions and Whitney foals out close to 20 mares a year and handles all of the breeding division of the farm ,You do not get to take a day off when you are responsible for that many beautiful creatures. You have to love what you do because you live, breathe and sleep horses. A typical American Saddlebred show season starts in March and runs through October. This year was anything but typical. They had just returned from the Spring Horse Show in Tampa, Florida when the world shutdown due to the coronavirus. Unable to travel and show during that time, they spent the extra hours, days, weeks, and months training the horses, and it showed. The next time they were able to show their horses was in June at the Bonnie Blue National Horse Show in Lexington, Virginia.

In August Matt Shiflet Stables attended the World Championship Horse Show in Louisville, KY. This eight-day event is akin to the Super Bowl for American Saddlebreds. While there, the Matt Shiflet Stables team amassed seven World Champions, three World Champion of Champions, four Reserve World Champions,

CH Honey Badger is a twelve-year-old American Saddlebred owned by Chris Athanasuleas from Alabama. He was ridden by Nissa Sultan and won the Juvenile 5 Gaited Qualifier and Championship. This was the 10th World Championship title for him, and he is an all-time favorite horse.

one Reserve World Champion of Champions and one World Grand Champion. This show attracts competitors from around the world and includes over 2,000 horses competing for more than $1.3 million in prizes.

World Grand Champion I’m Lookin at You is an eightyear-old American Saddlebred gelding. After receiving a phone call from his uncle Shane telling Matt that he thinks he saw a great horse at a show he was shooting in Louisiana, Matt and Whitney jumped on a plane to Texas to see the horse work and purchased him for the Sultan family in Florida for their daughter to ride. After Matt started working with him, he realized the horse had so much power that he was a professional’s horse and would not make a good horse for a juvenile rider. It took three years of patient work to harness all of that energy into a Championship horse, but it paid off. Last year, he was the Reserve World Champion, meaning he came in 2nd place and he won the NC State Championship. In 2020, he won all three shows: Bonnie Blue National Horse Show in Lexington, KY, Asheville Summer Fun in Asheville, NC and the World Championship Horse Show in Louisville, KY. His two wins at the World Championship show, the fivegaited gelding class and the Five-Gaited World Grand Championship earned him the most highly sought-after

title in the sport, the title of Worlds Grand Champion.

Tua is a four-year-old American

Saddlebred owned by Margaret McNeese and John Cummins from Texas/Kentucky and ridden by Matt

Shiflet to win the ASR 4-Year-Old 5 Gaited Sweepstakes Qualifier and Championship.

Holy Tequila is owned by Barbour Childress and Bambi Bollin from Hilton Head, South Carolina and shown by Bambi

Bollin. She won the Adult Country Pleasure Qualifier and Championship.

I’m Looking Expensive is a beautiful American Saddlebred mare owned by Ray and Nancy Hawley out of Winston Salem, North Carolina. Shown by Matt Shiflet she won the 5 Gaited Mare Class.

CH Warriors Carumba is owned by Sam and Janet Kellett from Atlanta, Georgia and is shown by Janet. She won the Adult Show Pleasure Qualifier.

Macho Camacho is owned and shown by Nissa Sultan. He won his qualifier and won Reserve (2nd place) in his Championship.

Four other horses won Reserve World Champion this year:

Citation is a four-year old American Saddlebred owned by Sam & Janet Kellett and he won Reserve World Champion for the 4-Year-Old Fine Harness division.

Reedann’s Royal Gossip is owned by Don & Phyllis Brookshire of Asheboro and shown by Phyllis. She won the Adult Show Pleasure Reserve World Championship.

My Beau and Arrow is a six-month old colt owned by Sharon Anderson from Welcome, North Carolina. My Beau and Arrow won the Reserve Amateur Weanling division.

Daydream’s Best Man owned by Scott Hagan in Louisville; KY won Ladies 5 Gaited Gelding Reserve World Championship shown by Drew Taylor Hewitt.

Check out their Facebook Page www.facebook. com/mattshifletstables or follow their Instagram for more updates on how they finish 2020. As of publication, they were loading up the horses and gear and heading to Raleigh for the North Carolina State Championship Horse Show.

Pictured L to R: Matt, Eliza, Whitney & Clayton Shiflet