A long road begins with the first step. It was in 1995, during the Pecom Auction at the Sociedad Rural Argentina in Palermo, that Alberto Casasco acquires his first Quarter Horse mares and the dream of breeding the best reining horses in Argentina and Latin America began.
These first horses travelled to the city of Tandil, Province of Buenos Aires, where a well-known stud farm of Thoroughbreds, founded in 1949, was transformed to welcome Quarter Horses. Surrounded by a dreamlike landscape, with a pleasant climate and excellent pastures, HARAS MARYLAND Quarter Horses started taking shape.
Looking for a stallion for the ranch Alberto traveled to the USA where, under the advice of Kenny Knowlton, he met “Shiners Sonita” (by Shinning Spark), a Top Ten Open Futurity NRHA Oklahoma. He was dazzled by the beauty and functionality of the palomino and decided to incorporate him to the ranch along with two mares Taris Lanzana and Brave Miss Lynn. The latter would become one of the best breeders in Argentina, daughter of the legendary Smart Chic Olena.
Over the years with a constant incorporation of top international level genetics and the best trainers, Haras Maryland products dazzled on the show pens of Argentina and the world. In February 2014 Meradas Shining travelled from Tandil to the US to compete in her first show with Eduardo Salgado, where she won the Level 4 Open, as well as Level 3 and 2 in her first show at the Tulsa Reining Classic. She was a finalist in the Oklahoma Futurity becoming one of the mares with the highest accumulated prize money in the US. We are really proud that “la Meradas” is the only mare born, raised, tamed and trained in Argentina to ever win one of the most important reining competitions in the world.
Agustín Casasco with the first mares from Haras Maryland.Together with the work carried out in Argentina, Alberto adds AC Quarter Horses in the US where he acquires the stallions Whiz Gata Prize, son of the NRHA Hall of Famer Top Sail Whiz; and Oops Itsa Spook, son of the famous Spook Gotta Gun, both of whom competed and won at Oklahoma, Carolina, and Williamstone.
Alberto was very passionate about reining horses, always seeking excellence and investing in top-level international genetics. A member of Criadores Argentinos de Caballos Cuarto de Milla, he collaborated to develop competitions in Argentina. His enthusiasm for the quarter horses and especially for reining was reflected in the predisposition to generate knowledge, proof of it is the number of international trainers and riders who passed through Haras Maryland.
Alberto’s initial dream of breeding excellent reining horses in Argentina is today reflected in facts, finding studs from Haras Maryland in different countries, in almost all Argentine reining facilities and ranches, and in most competitions. His work philosophy combining top-level genetics with excellence in breeding and training is today renewed by Agustín Casasco, who has been in charge of Haras Maryland since 2019 after Alberto’s passing.
Alberto Casasco in Haras Maryland (2017).Haras Maryland has an interdisciplinary team made up of top-level professionals, tamers, trainers, riders, veterinarians and farriers work every day to guarantee excellent attention and care for the horses, from the inseminations carried out in the ranch’s laboratory to the presentation on the show pen.
Four stallions and a large group of mares with excellent genetics guarantee the beauty and functionality of the horses bred at Haras Maryland, a path that began almost thirty years ago and continues with an unlimited future.
