Horse Power
Danele Durham, center, stands with Soft Music and (from left), Katherine, Caroline, Jackson, holding Weldon, and Jackon’s wife, Amy.(NTC/Juan Guajardo)
A small farm owned by a family deeply rooted in the Diocese of Fort Worth has pulled a David
and Goliath feat by winning three major awards from the Texas Thoroughbred Association (TTA).
The journey to such an achievement has been two decades in the making, and the road Danele Durham and her children, Jackson, Katherine, and Caroline, have traveled along has been one of faith.
The Durhams breed and raise racehorses in Richland Hills, a few miles from their home parish of St. John the Apostle. They have three broodmares led by Soft Music, whose daughter, Too Much Kiki, was named the Texas-bred Horse of the Year for 2024. The achievement in turn lifted Soft Music to Broodmare of the Year honors from the TTA and also led the state’s breed registry to name Durham its Breeder of the Year.
The odds of a small farm sweeping such awards against some of the vast breeding operations in Texas were long — and the Durhams did it with a mare purchased at an Oklahoma City auction for just $1,700.
God’s Providence
Soft Music was bought in 2015 under improbable circumstances, falling right in line with Durham’s lifelong devotion to St. Jude.
“I had actually gone to look at another mare who had recently been retired, to acquire her as a broodmare prospect,” said Durham, who also trains racehorses. “I stayed for the sale. The mare went out of my budget, and I was preparing to leave.”
A fellow trainer suggested Durham stick around and see what another mare from the same seller might bring at the auction.
“I said, ‘She’ll go completely out of the budget — you saw what the other one brought,’” Durham recalled. “I stayed. The bidding started and it was [slow], and I bought her for $1,700. I literally was numb. I was just in shock. I shipped her to the house and that was the beginning of this great legacy.
“I think animals are almost just a reflection of how we have to be, and that’s to rely 100 percent on the Lord,” Durham said. “Just like the horses rely 100 percent on us to give them their morning feeding, give them their afternoon feeding, give them their evening feeding, we, too, have to rely on God to give us what we need, be it spiritually, monetarily, health-wise.
“You almost have to be like the birds of the sky and know that everything we have comes from God. And I think that there’s no better way to teach my children that than through working with animals.”
The miracle of life
Katherine has seen how raising racehorses has contributed to her faith journey.
She said, “I think those unique circumstances have allowed me to really see God’s will and His grace for my family. Through all of that, it teaches some virtues of discipline and patience and gratitude, I’d say, because if you’re not getting up and mucking stalls every morning, then you’re not going to have horses for very long. You’re not going to have much of a farm.”
Jackson said the activities on the farm strengthened his faith during the years of COVID-19.
“It was a dark time in the world and whenever these little babies were born in the backyard, and we’re seeing this new, beautiful life, it just restored my faith in the world,” he said. “God is watching over us. There really are good things in the world and we’ve got to embrace this. Knowing that God is in control and He is going to take care of you at the end of the day is kind of what I saw in these little beautiful horses come to life. There are things that happen that are just so incredible and that’s not a man-made thing. That’s God stepping in and taking control.
“The horse industry as a whole, there’s definitely highs and lows,” Jackson continued. “I think our faith is just as strong in the high times as the low. There were some times when things were tight. It’s incredible to me in those down times, where you are struggling, and you just pray to God for help, and as long as you’re doing whatever you can do, God always gets you over the hump.”
The next generation
Soft Music was shipped to Kentucky in February to be bred to the promising young stallion Annapolis. The gestation period is 11 months, and next year the Durhams will look forward to welcoming a new resident to the family farm.
“You trust in God and wait for the next one,” said Durham.
It’s a lesson taken to heart, said Katherine.
“I’m really proud of my mom,” she said. “She’s instilled so much of my faith in me because of how strong and resilient and confident she is, and I know that only comes from her own faith. And so there’s a pretty strong connection between the faith and how we’ve gotten here.”