These alumni boast an affinity for Clydesdales

Seven years ago, while still working full time as a veterinarian, Rob Bell heard that the World Clydesdale Show was going to be in Madison, Wisconsin, and inquired of his wife’s interest in watching the powerful draft horses showcase their talents.

“I told her, ‘This looks like fun. Do you want to go?’” he said. “Of course, being a horse girl, she’s like ‘Hell, yeah.’’’

That fun trip sparked another venture a few months later, this one for a horse sale in northern Indiana. This trip left the Bells a little emptier in their pockets, but with a trailer filled with their future.

Rob and Robin Bell simply couldn’t hold back the reins on their enthusiasm, purchasing two Clydesdale mares – named Monga and Harley – and ultimately starting Misfit Manor, a Clydesdale and donkey breeding enterprise on their beautiful 100-acre property in rural Penhook, Virginia, about 30 minutes southeast of Roanoke.

Today, they have 13 Clydesdales – 10 mares and three stallions – along with three other horses of different breeds and three donkeys. As fledglings in the horse breeding business, they find themselves saddled with a little more responsibility than maybe they originally expected.

But such is the sacrifice when one has unbridled passion for horses.

“I will say I always liked draft horses, and I always kind of wanted some,” Rob Bell said. “When I first started at Tech in 1982, a friend of mine was going to Ferrum College, and every year, they have the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, and they have a draft horse pull to see which one can pull the most weight.

“I’m just like, ‘Man, these things are neat.’ Just huge horses pulling tons and tons of rock. But I never thought I’d get any because I had all my other hobbies, and then we got this farm, and I was like, ‘I guess we can get a couple.’”

Originally from Scotland, Clydesdales have been become an American icon, mainly because of their association with Anheuser-Busch brewery. But early settlers brought them to America for more practical purposes – logging, farming, and hauling coal.

Part of the Bells’ reasoning for breeding Clydesdales centers on the breed’s lack of prominence in Virginia, where they say Percherons and Belgian draughts are more prevalent.

The other part of their reasoning?

“I’ve got to be different,” Bell said. “Then they just kind of accumulated.”

“Yeah, we sit back now and go, ‘Holy hell, we have 13 horses,’” Robin Bell added, laughing. “But that’s how it all started. We went to the show on a whim and then we went to the sale, and we bought two awesome horses.”

The two of them tag-team all the everyday farm chores, such as feeding, cleaning water troughs, and repairing fences. Robin mostly handles the farrier work, while Rob takes care of any veterinary needs. They also train their horses, with Rob teaching certain Clydesdales how to pull a cart and Robin training others on equitation events for future competitions.

Their venture has come with challenges. A disappointment came when a Clydesdale mare named Elite, pregnant with twins when they bought her, lost both. One was stillborn, and the other lived a few hours before dying. But Monga eventually delivered a filly that they named Charm – as in the third time is the charm.

They say they’ve never shied from challenges anyway, particularly Rob, who graduated in 1986 with a degree in forestry, and three years later, added a master’s degree in natural resource management and economics, both from the College of Natural Resources and Environment.

In 2003, he quit his job in the forestry industry after 13 years to pursue a veterinary degree from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. He was 40 at the time, nearly 20 years older than his fellow classmates.

He jokingly said he had a midlife crisis.

“It was really one of the few things in my life that I didn’t achieve, so it was like, ‘Let me see if I can do this,’” Bell said of going to veterinary school. “I had wanted to be a veterinarian [when he first enrolled at Virginia Tech], but my grades weren’t going to get me into that school, and I was realistic enough to say that plan B is the plan.

“In 2003, I decided to apply. It wasn’t that hard for me because I didn’t have a family. I was single at that time. I was financially secure. In my mind, it was like, ‘I’ll just keep applying until they let me in or I retire, whichever comes first.’ I applied the first time and didn’t get in. The second time, they let me in.”

Then he added, with a smile, “I was happy I went, but I don’t recommend waiting till you’re 40 to go to vet school.”

While there, he met Robin, who graduated with a degree in animal science from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2003 and later worked as a licensed veterinary technician at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

After graduating in 2007, Rob Bell spent the next 15 years working as a veterinarian. In 2011, he founded Log Cabin Vet Inc., living in Franklin County, Virginia, and working as a relief veterinarian, filling in for veterinarians out for a few days or a week for vacations, medical reasons, family situations, and such. He did this for 11 years before retiring in 2022.

Now, his version of retirement looks different than most people’s. It looks like … well … work.

Not that the Bells mind, however. They love working and training their Clydesdales, driving them in a cart around the farm or down the country road where they live. Rob even got to show off his efforts when the college invited him to bring a couple of Clydesdales to Blacksburg and drive a cart in the Homecoming Parade last fall.

“They [the horses] were absolutely great, and it was a lot of fun,” Bell said. “Frankly, I was the X-factor, not ever having driven in a parade or anything. I was like, ‘Well, let’s do it,’ and it was complete faith in my horses, and they didn’t let me down.

“I wouldn’t mind performing at competitions at some point, but if I don’t, that’s fine, too. You know, I just enjoy driving on them. If the most I do is the Homecoming parade, that’s fine by me.”

The Bells also brought four of their Clydesdales to an open house put on by the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine this past spring, a fun event designed to educate the public and spark curiosity among children. The Bells enjoyed the event, too, part of their desire to continue a relationship with Virginia Tech.

As for their business, they admit that they are a little behind partly because of bad luck and bad timing, and they know making a stable income with horses is always an uncertainty. Yet the Bells remain convinced that Southwest Virginia is a good market given the lack of breeders of Clydesdales and an increasing interest in this versatile breed as a trail horse.

And even if they don’t make a lot of money, the Bells are perfectly fine horsing around with their Clydesdales.

“We were going to do carts and play and maybe get a foal or two,” Rob Bell said. “Then, we were like, ‘Well, I guess we could make a little money breeding.’

“Now, I just have a lot of fun with them. I love showing them off. They’re so fun to drive. Robin loves riding them. I mean, it is the iconic draft breed. Everybody knows what the Clydesdale is.”