Second to his love for horses was a love for athletics. Darrel received a scholarship to play basketball at Southeastern Community College. He later earned a Bachelor's Degree from Northern Iowa University, and a Master's Degree from Northeast Missouri State. While in college, he purchased his first hackney from Roy Sutton.
Darrel
first started showing ponies in the early 1960's. Partnered
with his brothers Gary and Dean, they had only three broodmares. They
began showing their foals at small shows in the midwest. The
Kolkman brothers made their first showing at the Illinois
State Fair in 1966 when they showed a pony named Mr. Prairie
Flower. Darrel would continue to showing ponies at
the Illinois State Fair each and every year.
It was very evident that there are two ways to obtain the best stock, buy it or raise it Knowing that he could not afford to purchased top hackney blood, Darrel began the long quest to raise it, an effort that would take decades to complete. Countless hours were spent year in and year out reading through old show magazines and stud books, trying to learn as much about the best bloodlines available in the Hackney breed. During the 1970's, Darrel and wife Sandy, managed raising three children, teaching, coaching, and raising and showing ponies.
During the 1980's Darrel's herd began to grow in numbers, reaching around ninety head. He decided to add the Heartland prefix to his stock and began experiencing consistent success in the show ring at a national level. Mainly focusing on ponies shown in hand, the farm was very successful at the Mid-West, National, Michigan, and Mid-America Futurities. During the 1990's the farm's numbers grew steadily to where they stand today - approximately 375 head.
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Staying
active on both the athletic and equine fronts, Darrel became
a college basketball coach at the same local community college
where he had played a few years before. Being on the
coaching staff, his teamed finished as National Runner-Up. He
then considered a graduate assistant coaching position at
Kansas State University. His decision was monumental
- pursue a career in coaching college basketball, or stay
near family and relatives where he could also pursue his
love for horses. He chose the latter and got a job
coaching and teaching at a local school.
As
his brothers had now moved on to other pursuits, Darrel's
herd of ponies in the 1970's stood at about a dozen. In
1978 he showed at the Kentucky State Fair for the first time
when he made the trip to Louisville with a weanling filly,
Sweet Echo.