Big Shoe Stables: A passion for draft horses

As people watch the famous Clydesdales horses hitched up to a wagon during a parade or in a Budweiser advertisement little do they know of the connection they have to Meeker.

Don and Vonda Langille own and operate the Big Shoe Stables on the west side of this small town located in southern Lincoln County. They breed and raise Clydesdales and also train other draft horses.

Don is from Nova Scotia and Vonda was raised and grew up right where she and husband breed and train the horses. Don said he came to Oklahoma in 1998 and was hired by Bob Funk of Express Ranches.

“Bob wanted to put together a Clydesdale Hitch Team. And I was the original manager and I stayed with them until 2005,” Don said.

That was the year he and Vonda began Big Shoe Stables.

“We started training various draft horses that included the Clydesdales,” Don noted. “We were married in 2000.”

Don is a fifth generation of the draft horse industry. His dad, Lloyd Vangille, trained horses all of his life, “right up until the day he died,” Don related. His dad was 85 when he passed away.

He says his mother still lives on the family farm in Nova Scotia.

Don says he’s bred and trained horses all of his life.

Vonda mentioned, “He’s actually won the best driver award at the World and National Clydesdales Show more than a dozen times. He breeds and trains Clydesdales for people all over the world,” she said.

While they train other draft horse breeds, they only breed Clydesdales, Vonda emphasized.

Don said he’s trained, shown and sold horses to people in 40 states and provinces.

He pointed to the reason for his affection to the Clydesdales. “They’re always happy to see you. The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person,” Don believes.

Earlier this year, Don and Vonda had four Belgian horses staying at their stables for him to train.

“He was training them for the upcoming show season,” Vonda stated.

Don pointed to one Belgian horse in particular named Rebel. “He weighs about a ton right now and will gain another 200 pounds and grow more than an inch,” he explained.

He came off an Amish farm in Indiana. “He’s easy to train because this horse has some brains,” Don said.

Don commented, “There are more Belgian breeders than any other breed.”

Vonda remarked, “We actually got our name from one of the horse shoes of the Clydesdales.”

Don says that in addition to the grown Clydesdales, they currently have five foals. “Their names are Gus, Gambler, Gianna, Gertie and Goochie,”Vonda noted.

Vonda explained, “When we first started the breeding operation, we would name the foal after its mother. After we ran out of names, we started with the alphabet and now we are at G.”

Don pointed to Gus. “He’s the first one we’ve had that doesn’t have a white face.”

He says the mares start having their foals from January to May. “You don’t want them born later than that he said, because they are born fuzzy. Any later than that, you have to trim them because they’ll get too hot.”

Vonda pointed to a 20-year-old mare named Sparkle who is Gus’s mother. “It’s highly unusual that a mare that old will foal,” she stated. She added, “Sparkle will be here until she dies.”

They have one stallion, an eight-year-old named Maverick. “We breed him to all our mares,” she said.

Some of the foals will be sold as yearlings, others as two-year-olds and they keep some, Don related.

Vonda pointed out, “We have sold Clydesdales to the Budweiser Hitch Team that travels all over America.”

Don said he sold two full brothers to the Budweiser Hitch Team.

The hitch team lays over at Vonda and Don’s Big Shoe Stables three or four times a year, Don explained, as they travel from St. Louis, Mo., to various places. He pointed to Meeker’s central location in the United States.

“They drive three semi tractor trailers, there are 10 horses, one Dalmation and a crew of seven,” he noted. “They only use an eight-team hitch, but they have two other Clydesdales in case they need them.

“One time, they stayed three successive Mondays as they traveled back and forth,” Don said.

“The crew stays in Shawnee and the horses here.”

Don and Vonda’s daughter, Mesha, helps out when she can. She’s a full-time nurse at Prague hospital.

“We’re raising about 80 mama cows, Herefords and Brahmas, and Mesha assists with that as she has time.”

And Mesha’s five-year-old daughter Avah, loves the horses as well.

“In addition to horses, we train people,” Don said. “We trained them CH from one-horse hitches to six-horse hitches.”

He’s even trained one who drove the Budweiser Hitch Team, Don said.

He estimates throughout his career he’s trained 30 to 40 people, maybe more.

Normally, Don participates in around six horse shows a year, sometimes as many as 10. The Ohio State Fair notified him that the fair was canceled last year due to the Coronavirus.

He was supposed to judge the Calgary Stampede last July but in April they canceled it.”

Due to the virus, Don says, “Nobody is buying horses right now. They’re not even looking.

“People just don’t know what’s going to happen,” Don said.

To contact Don and K Vonda, call 405-760-4165 or email them at bigshoestables.com.