Triangle Horse Sales is proud to welcome Matt Miller, Tarin Rice and Kody Porterfield into its ownership, bringing three accomplished horsemen to the team with a shared understanding of the people, horses and everyday decisions that make up the performance horse industry.
Each comes to Triangle with a different background, but all three have built their lives and careers around horses. They have raised them, trained them, shown them, bought them and sold them. They understand what it means to put years into making a horse, and what it means to trust someone to help find the right fit for one.
For Triangle, that experience means more horsemen available to help the people on both sides of the sale.
“Triangle serves a lot of different people with a lot of different kinds of horses, and we want every one of them to feel like they have somebody they can call,” said Jeremy Barwick. “Bringing Matt, Tarin and Kody into the ownership gives our customers three more good horsemen in their corner. They know horses, they know this industry and they understand the responsibility that comes with representing somebody’s horse or helping somebody find the right one.”
As the performance horse market continues to grow, the partnership expands the knowledge, relationships and resources available to Triangle consignors and buyers while keeping the experience personal.
“The sale business has always drawn my interest,” Miller said. “I love being able to help pair somebody with a great horse. When someone trusts you with a horse they have raised, trained or invested in, or trusts you to help them find one that fits, you want to take care of them. That’s what I’m looking forward to doing at Triangle.”
Rice has spent his life in the horse business. The son of Boyd and Halee Rice, he grew up in a family whose livelihood and daily life revolved around horses before establishing his own training operation in 2012. Alongside his wife, Katie, he is now raising another generation around the same industry. Rice became the youngest open trainer in history to win the NCHA Open Futurity and has earned more than $4.2 million throughout his career.
“This is an industry where relationships matter,” Rice said. “You show together, you raise horses together, you do business together and you see the same people year after year. Triangle gives us another opportunity to be there for those people and help however we can.”
Porterfield found his way into the horse industry from a different beginning and built his career from the ground up, learning from horsemen who gave him opportunities early on and developing a reputation for making talented young horses. He and his wife, Cheyenne, now operate Porterfield Performance Horses, and Porterfield has surpassed $1 million in lifetime earnings.
“I had people take the time to help me when I was coming up, and that has always stuck with me,” Porterfield said. “I’m excited to be another person our customers can call, whether they are trying to sell a horse, looking for one or just need somebody to help them sort through it.”
The Triangle name, its sales and its commitment to consignors and buyers remain the same. What changes is the number of experienced horsemen behind them: more eyes on the horses, more people answering the phone and more resources available when a customer needs them.
For Barwick, that is ultimately what the partnership is about.
“There are plenty of ways to grow a business,” he said. “For us, adding good horsemen who care about the people we serve is the right way to do it.”
More hands, more horsemen and more people here to help. That is the next chapter for Triangle Horse Sales.
