Hello and welcome to the first of hopefully many Sterling Oaks Farm newsletters! We wanted to start writing these letters to stay connected with our community by sharing updates on what is happening around the barn and with SOF horses.
We would like to officially introduce ourselves and share Sterling Oaks Farm’s story. Our parents, and founders, Lyle and Kathy Wonderlich, were involved with horses their whole lives. Lyle grew up on his parents’ large AQHA and APHA breeding business, RoseAcre Farm, and later became a veterinarian through Colorado State University. Kathy grew up riding both English and Western and rode her horse Ginger on the Stanford Equestrian Team during college.
Lyle was both an AQHA and APHA judge and, together, Lyle and Kathy showed 2 APHA Supreme Champions, 2 Superior All-Around horses, 1 Performance Versatility Horse, 23 APHA/AQHA Champions, and 20 Superior Halter and Performance horses and bred APHA Superior Pleasure and Halter horses, an APHA Champion, and multiple AQHA World Champion Halter horses.
Lyle and Kathy worked hard to produce outstanding AQHA and APHA all-around show and breeding prospects with excellent and versatile pedigrees. Our horses’ pedigrees to this day include sires Zippo Pine Bar, Mighty Tink, Radical Rodder, Paint Me Zippo, Gallant Ghost, Invitation Only, Zipped Up Sensation, Sacred Assets, Mister Zipper, and many other greats.
The past couple years were particularly difficult for us. Lyle passed away from cancer in 2018, and Kathy unexpectedly passed away in 2020. Our cousin, Naomi, brought both her horse and marketing skills to help us manage the property and find good homes for many SOF horses. Thanks to family and friends, we went from around 50 horses in 2018 to 22 at the start of 2020. Now at 13 horses (including a couple sales in progress), we are able to focus again on breeding and selling APHA show and breeding prospects.
We have really enjoyed staying in touch with and hearing updates from both new and old SOF horse owners. Just the horses we sold in 2020 are in training or already showing in events across all disciplines: halter, showmanship, trail riding, western pleasure, English pleasure, ranch pleasure, dressage, and showjumping. We welcomed two beautiful and talented fillies into the world in May and June of 2020. Wanting to honor Lyle and Kathy, we named the fillies KC (for Kathy Clayton) and Lyla (for Lyle). We are working hard to find good lifelong show homes for them and are looking forward to breeding a couple of our mares to have foals again in 2022!
We are already planning our next newsletter, but please find us on Facebook and Instagram (@sterling.oaks.farm) for more frequent updates. You may also reach out to us over email at sterlingoaksfarm@gmail.com.
Best Wishes!
Naomi, Jason, Brian, and John