K4 Ranch

The Kieckhefer family bought the K4 Ranch, 35 miles north of Prescott, in 1941 and will celebrate 83 years of ownership in 2024. Over the years the family has supplemented its holdings with property in California and southern Arizona. The cattle operations now total over 185,000 acres, running 3,000 mother cows.

Wanting to improve the quality of the K4 ranch horses, Robert (Bob) H. Kieckhefer began raising Quarter Horses in the 1940s, registering the first of them in 1943, just three years after the formation of the American Quarter Horse Association. Some of the first horses he bought were the reputable RO branded horses from the neighboring Greene Cattle Company. K4 Ranch has consecutively registered horses for over 80 years with the AQHA.

Within a decade of starting its horse program, the ranch was producing horses that were winning championships at racetracks and in show rings all over the West, in addition to raising good using horses. Bob was very active in AQHA, serving as president in 1976, and being inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1994.

One of the K4's early stallions was Hank Will, a son of Tonto Bars Hank purchased from Walter Merrick. Hank Will went on to become Arizona’s first AQHA Supreme Champion, earning points in Racing, Halter, Tie Down Roping, Heading, Heeling, Hunter Under Saddle, Working Cow Horse, Reining, Pole Bending and Western Pleasure.

Chuck Sheppard went to work for the K4 as manager in 1959 and greatly influenced the quality of the K4 horse program. A top hand, World Champion Team Roper and Pro Rodeo Hall Of Fame Inductee , he continued to spread his knowledge for over 42 years, training, showing, and racing many champions. The Sheppard and Kieckhefer families merged when Chuck’s daughter, Lynda married Bob Kieckhefer’s son John in 1970.

In 1963 Chuck and John were instrumental in purchasing the great stallion Driftwood Ike, the most famous son of AQHA foundation sire Driftwood. He stood at the ranch for 17 years and had a tremendous influence on the ranch’s breeding program. His colts were sought after by many rodeo cowboys throughout the years, and several of the mares being bred at K4 today still have Driftwood Ike on their papers.

In 1997 Cee Booger Red breeding was introduced into the program, and the line has crossed very well on the Driftwood bred mares. Quick learners and very athletic, Cee Booger Red horses are highly sought after by ropers and barrel racers. Other stallions in the program include sons of Popular Resortfigure (the 2002 AQHA Superhorse and son of Dual Pep), and Fiesta Royale (son of Royal Shakem, who is the sire of many racing and barrel racing champions).

K4 Ranch now runs 40 broodmares with the bloodlines of Driftwood Ike, Tuffy Ike, Orphan Drift, Drifts Vaquero, Ike’s Last, Harlan, Oklahoma Star, Colonel Freckles, Cee Booger Red, Valiant Hero, and Sunfrost.

Today Rick and Sarah Kieckhefer manage the K4 horse program. Rick is a National Finals Rodeo qualifier in calf roping, and Sarah is a 24 time Turquoise Circuit qualifier in barrel racing.

K4 horses have been some of the most successful arena performance horses in the country, and today the ranch continues to strive to produce top all around ranch horses, rope horses, and barrel horses.

Diamond A Ranch

The Diamond A Ranch also known as The Big Boquillas is the largest cattle ranch in Arizona. The ranch covers 750,000 acres and stretches 75 miles beginning at the town of Seligman and ending at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. In 1982 Harvey Dietrich and then partner Richard Rudnick took over the Diamond A Ranch from Victorio Cattle Company. They operated under the name Cholla Livestock and in 1995 Rudnick sold out to Dietrich. For the next 22 years Harvey Dietrich operated Cholla Livestock and the Diamond A Ranch and in 2018 at the age of 83, Dietrich took on a new partner at Cholla Livestock with Rick Kieckhefer of the K4 Ranch, deeply rooting Cholla Livestock’s operation of the Diamond A ranch for years to come. The ranch has an extensive cattle operation running 6,000 head of mother cows and when the grass allows a seasonal herd of steers are grazed on the ranch. The Diamond A prides itself on producing high quality cattle to be marketed as natural beef to consumers across the country.  

There are 10 full time camp cowboys employed by the ranch to look after the 7 ranch camps and additional cowboys are taken on for the spring and fall wagons. Most pastures on the Diamond A are larger than your average ranch so the importance of strong working horses is a high priority. The size of the pastures of the ranch and their remote locations demand the use of horses that are both athletic and tough enough to be able to withstand the rigors of a typical day of work. These horses are used to brand calves, gather cattle, sorting cattle in the corrals as well as outside in a herd, check fence, gather horses, halter break weanling foals, doctor cattle and cover a whole lot of miles through all different kinds of country.  These horses are hearty and live almost their whole lives out in pastures making a living.

The Diamond A currently runs a remuda of 75 working saddle horses, 35 broodmares, 6 stallions, and 35 young geldings and fillies. All the horses are run outside in the same tough country they work in. The blood lines of the ranch are mostly from cow and ranch horse stock and include PopularResort Figure, Metallic Cat, Tanquery Gin, Doc O’Lena, Colonel Freckles, Peppy San Badger, Bueno Chex, Driftwood, Zan Parr Bar, PlayGun, Easy Jet, and Doc Tom Tucker. 

The horses and cowboys of the Diamond A are part of an old cowboy tradition that continues to live on throughout the southwest and with a strong dedication to people, cattle, and horses the Diamond A strives to continue as a leader in the industry.