BY SARAH WELK BAYNUM
Joanne Crowe is the owner of Crowe’s Nest Farm, and while she has been involved with horses for many years, she started out in a much different part of the horse industry.
“My horse background and where I grew up is in Ohio, where I showed and bred Quarter Horses. Breeding horses is my passion—I love the breeding aspect of raising babies” Crowe said.
Crowe moved to Ocala in 1993 and was still working with Quarter Horses at the time.
“A friend in Ocala came out and saw my Quarter Horse babies, and told me I need to get into Thoroughbreds. I had always watched the Triple Crown races and the other big races, but Ohio was all Quarter Horses. When I came to Florida, I was introduced to the Thoroughbreds, but it’s a whole different thing that you need to learn,” Crowe said.
Little by little, Crowe started getting into the Thoroughbred industry instead of Quarter Horses.
“I had fulfilled all the things that I wanted to do in the Quarter Horse world, and I wanted something where it was more like a business. I advertised that I do foaling and breeding prep, and the next thing you know, I started getting Thoroughbred people wanting me to be involved in their breeding prep,” Crowe said.
A friend invited Crowe to the Ocala Breeders’ Sales January sale where they each planned to buy a yearling.
“It was supposed to be for a pinhook that I was going to sell in the fall. However, the horse I bought did not sell as a fall yearling and I ended up keeping her. I put her into training and she ended up running and doing really well. She was a stakes placed horse, and all of a sudden, I was hooked. Next thing you know I was buying broodmares and trying to learn everything I possibly could about the Thoroughbred industry, like studying breeding for commercial versus racing, etc,” Crow said.
Crowe later took some consignment horses over to OBS and had a few successful sales there.
“Then, I was really hooked. I used to show halter horses, so I already knew how to prep the babies and make them look good—it’s a very similar thing.”
Crowe enjoyed doing that for a few years before also adding layups to her services.
“I did the breeding, sales prep, and selling on a small scale, and I started getting some requests for doing layups. I’m also a registered nurse of over 30 years. So, now I get horses that are recovering from injuries or coming from veterinary clinics following surgeries. I enjoy getting these horses back to what they love to do. I also do geriatric boarding, which there’s a huge need for. After the horses have done their thing, their owners now want them to have a nice place to stay,” says Crowe.
She has also had success lately with some of her foals that are registered Florida-breds.
“Some have been sold and then they raced in Florida for the Breeders awards. I look more at having babies that are Florida-breds because the Florida Owners and Breeders’ Association have more and more incentives for the Florida-breds. I’m behind it 100%, because as small breeders, that kind of stuff is important to us. If you can get those babies to where they’re running and able to get breeders awards, then that helps out a lot. I appreciate the FTBOA for doing things for Florida-breds and making it sustainable in order to keep breeding profitable for us small breeders,” Crowe said.
One of the best horses Crowe ever bred was when she was partnered with trainer Joe Pickerell.
“Joe is also from Ohio and he moved down here to come to work for me and he worked for me for a couple of years until he went out on his own. We partnered on a colt named Big Changes who was a multiple stakes horse. He went on to win two John Henry stakes, too. He was the best horse that I ever bred, and when you breed a stakes horse, that’s always special,” Crowe said.
More recently, she bred a colt by The Big Beast, that has gone on to have a long and successful career.
“The colt was named Yes I’m A Beast. He ran here in Florida, both at Gulfstream and Tampa. I got more breeders awards from that horse than probably any of my other ones. He’s still running and he’s now coming up on 6-years-old.”
Crowe also currently has a broodmare at her farm named It’s Me Mom, whose foal she is excited about.
“It’s Me Mom still holds the six-furlong [track] record down at Tampa Bay Downs. She’s a multiple stakes winner and won half a million dollars. The mare’s owner contacted me asking if I wanted to lease her as a broodmare. We bred her to Win Win Win over at Ocala Stud, who’s a sprinter and this mare is also sprinter. She’s due in March—we’re very excited about this foal.”
“I cannot remember a time when horses were not part of my life. Being introduced to the Thoroughbred industry even with its highs and lows has been one of the best experiences in my life. My only wish is that it would have happened sooner. I can feel their energy, their love, and desire to run while I watch them play in the pasture even as babies,” adds Crowe.
Return to the December 26 issue of Wire to Wire
