SEPTEMBER 2019 69
PREVIOUS SPREAD: Valor Farm. LEFT: Gunners
Special Nite works on an underwater treadmill
at Tom McCutcheon Reining Horses. ABOVE,
FROM TOP: Yearlings at Valor Farm; bridles at
Tom McCutcheon Reining Horses.
“One collection can impregnate up to
several mares,” Breeding Manager Kelse
Clark-Fernandez points out. Semen can
be shipped anywhere. That’s why you
see FedEx trucks driving around horse
country, the tour guides explain with
unembarrassed candor: They’re ferrying
stallion semen to DFW Airport for deliv-
ery all over the world.Horses on a Hill
In the rolling countryside of Pilot Point,
you’ll find Valor Farm. From the looks of
the place, it could be a resort. Set on land
that might be mistaken for a Kentucky
thoroughbred farm, this is strictly a
breeding ranch. Every bus tour
incorporates Valor Farm, at least for a
drive-through, if not a full behind-the-
scenes visit.
It’s easy to see why this place is a
crown jewel. The wrought-iron gates
open to a tree-lined drive, and immacu-
late wood fencing extends in orderly fash-
ion across some 400 rolling acres punc-
tuated by oak trees. Clarence and Dorothy
Scharbauer bought the land in 1991.
Within two years, the former president of
the American Quarter Horse Association
and his wife, who owned racehorses from
a young age, had built the barns and 18
miles of fencing. Today, both have passed
on, and Valor Farm is owned by their son
Douglas Scharbauer.
The offices sit in red-brick majesty at
the top of a hill, presiding over a stal-
lion barn, a breeding barn, and a mare
barn. Valor Farm has hosted some of theThe facilities treat
their horses like the
sports professionalsthey are, using tools
like underwater
treadmills andhydrotherapy.