By 1987, and after a long search we had found our foundation
mare, Kaiyete (Kaiyoum X Lady Eter). Galen Greer wanted way too
much money for this mare so we negotiated a lease option to buy
deal. Feb. 1988, we were off to Scottsdale to pick a stallion
and purchase a breeding for our newly leased/acquired mare. It
was then we met Dick Adams and history was set in motion. He
seemed pretty tough and a good businessman, when he said I'll
sell you a breeding tomorrow for 4K cash we took him literally
and arrived the next day with cash in hand to purchase our first
breeding. We sent Kaiyete to Savannah Farms and many people
just disregarded her as a broodmare, we kept the faith. In Feb.
1989, she foaled the most exquisite gray filly, Fames Fax. One
of the first people to ever lay eyes on her was Steve
Heathcott's dad and he asked his son to come see the filly. It
was my intention to breed and produce a beautiful WP mare and
did not really ever think about halter. Steve encouraged us to
show the filly halter and he was undefeated in the state of
California and won the three y/o Cal Bred Futurities with her
In fact, Fax as a 2 y/o was the only mare to ever defeat Gaishea,
bred by Dan and Robin Gainey. She was then handed off to
Michael Byatt who showed her to her National wins and Scottsdale
Supreme Championship. Fax was laid to rest in March 2004.
Kaiyete is now 22 y/o and permanently a part of our family, she
has never let us down and gave us 4 embryos this year!
The next breeding we did was with Don Heathcott
and their Kaiyoum daughter which resulted in the two
time Brazilian Reserve National Champion Stallion, Ffamess. Don passed away when the colt was a yearling
but I do believe if he was still alive we would have
never sold the colt to Brazil! Ffamess is the sire of
Sir Fames (sire of Semper Fie, Scottsdale Supreme Show
Champion) who is currently owned by The North
Arabians.
The greatest thing about being associated with
the Fame VF group is that Dick Adams is supportive of
each and every breeder. Over the last 19 years we
have bred our mares to many different stallions and
not one owner ever followed up after the foal was
born. They just take the stud fee and you're on your
own, not true with Dick. If we had more responsible
stallion owners like Dick the business would be so
much more fun. He gave you incentive to show your
horses, he re-bred the mares in a timely fashion, and
he tried hard to market your horse as well. The
wonderful memories of Fames Fax is the primary
reason we're still in the business. If you can't have
fun then why do it? They say every chain has a weak
link but this is not true with the Fame VF group, Dick
does not allow for any weak links, he is rock solid
and so is the Fame VF breeding program.
Respectively submitted by Tara Clark- River Ridge
Arabians
