18 minute read
Cutting Edge: In the Buff
IN THE BUFF
When it comes to training cutting horses, buffalo can be better than beef.
BY JENNIFER HORTON
Photo by Bar H Photography
The word “bu alo” conjures up visions of the old west, when giant herds of the creatures roamed the plains. As romantic as those images seem in the movies, today’s cutting horse industry has found bu alo to be practical tools in horse training programs.
Randy Chartier, of Millsap, Texas, has spent 20 years as the “Buffalo Whisperer.” While he laughs at that title, the NCHA Open Riders Hall of Fame trainer has built a successful program training and providing buffalo to cutting horse operations across the country.
“It’s a secret that’s not a secret,” said Chartier. “‘Buffalo’ sounds too brave, too fast, too wild. A lot of trainers, even if they use buffalo, don’t really talk about it much, but we’re not a secret society. We talk about it in our inner trainer circle, but no one walks around shouting about their buffalo.”
No one, except Chartier.
Building his cutting horse business in Michigan back in the 1980s, Chartier found the availability and cost of cattle were obstacles without many options.
“My wife and I figured out we were showing and training just to pay our cow bill,” said Chartier.
It wasn’t as easy as the young trainer imagined. He struggled with working the buffalo out of his small herd but kept at it. When the Michigan weather forced him to his indoor arena for the winter, the limited space meant Chartier could only work one buffalo at a time. He didn’t love it but didn’t dislike it either.
When spring came, and he returned outside to his round pen, Chartier found he had the nicest set of broke buffalo anyone could ever want.
“That’s when the light came on,” Chartier said. “I discovered I had to break these buffalo one at a time to get them comfortable being alone and working alone, because they are very herd-ish. When I stumbled on how to do that, it was the most wonderful thing. It made my place happy. We were all happy…I always say, ‘Work smarter not harder,’ and this was it. I was able to get more done in a shorter amount of time and do a better job. I was all in.”
When Chartier relocated to Texas, he found familiar difficulty getting cattle to use in his horse training business. Another light came on. Chartier began training buffalo for others to use in their cutting horse training.
With his good friend Rob Foster as a partner, the Double R Buffalo Boyz was born. The venture started more as a hobby.
“I knew if I got these buffalo to people…It would change their business (financially) and help their horses,” said Chartier.
Chartier trains and sells about 150 head per year, primarily heifers, who are more reliable and more active than bulls. He’s able to stage his buffalo inventory to have 25 to 30 on-hand, rotating in new batches as he sells from his trained stock.
Chartier’s buffalo should work for at least 12 months on average, although people have been known to keep them for three to four years. Their size can become an intimidating factor in their end of service.
Randy Chartier
“Training buffalo is time-consuming,” said Chartier. “I do six to eight at a time. It’s not like you can do a group of eight today and a different group tomorrow. You’ve got to work these things about six days per week. Depending on how they’ve been handled to that point, it takes me around 30 days to get one exactly how I want it.”
Buffalo are highly herd-oriented. Chartier found getting them weaned from each other is necessary to begin their training. He has separate pens where they can’t see each other, so they get accustomed to being and working alone. Once they are comfortable alone, they can return to their group.
“Most trainers that buy buffalo from me don’t have the time I have [to train their own buffalo],” said Chartier. “We ride a lot of horses, but I take the buffalo thing seriously. Every buffalo you train is a little bit different and, after you’ve had them a while, you learn what they like to do and what they don’t.”
Chartier finds that predictability is helpful to match his horses to the buffalo he works. For example, if he wants to get a horse to free up while traveling, he’ll pick the buffalo that likes to go long on the ends.
It’s not a template training process. Knowing his customers helps Chartier tailor his training to fit their program. If they can’t come to his place to select their buffalo, he sends them videos showcasing the varying abilities and options.
The current market price of Chartier’s trained buffalo is in the $1,600 to $1,900 range, which includes his $500 training fee. He even leases a few each year. The lease agreement is currently $100 per month with a six-month minimum.
“Buffalo love repetition and habit. If you get the one you like, they’ll play every day,” Chartier said.
Trainers in the reined cow horse discipline have discovered the benefits of working with buffalo, too. They seem to prefer quiet animals for their programs, so Chartier has been able to send seasoned buffalo that have already been used in cutting programs. Two-year-old trainers also find more docile buffalo work best when starting colts.
Chartier has found health maintenance on buffalo comparable to cattle, although simply having smaller herds is one way to decrease sickness. Keeping them dewormed and watching for parasites is important.
Other than having stout, buffaloproof receiving pens, they don’t require special facility. Hand-feeding his buffalo encourages cooperation.
“Once they’re trained, buffalo are actually easier on fencing than cows,” Chartier said. “When my ranger comes out with grain,
The confidence Classic Is Cool gained from Chartier’s training program with buffalo carried the mare to a very successful world finals campaign last year.
they follow it into the pen where I can shut the gate. You could lead my trained buffalo down Weatherford Highway as long as you’ve got feed in the back.”
Chartier sees a clear benefit to training horses on buffalo over cows.
It’s not feasible for most trainers to only work a cow one time, so the cattle get used repeatedly - good or bad. You have to keep them healthy and put weight on them to have a chance at selling for a profit. Not everyone can make a cow herd fit into a business plan.
Voluntary movement is the primary benefit buffalo offer over cows. Their consistent pattern creates a more controlled situation. You get what you want every day.
That voluntary movement allows you to work a horse without turnback help, or at the least make the days easier on your turnback horse. Chartier doesn’t use turnback help at home.
“Some people like their buffalo where they can have someone on top, but even that turnback person does so much less, their horse can last all day long,” Chartier said. “If you are working cows all day, you could go through three turnback horses. Cows get hot fast, but you can work three or four horses on one buffalo.”
If Amateur and Non-Pro cutters have any trepidation about working buffalo, it’s quickly dispelled.
Chartier was unsure how his Non-Pro riders would take to working buffalo, but it didn’t take long for them to be on board.
“It was a hot day,” LeBlanc recalled. “Tallen [Flores], Chartier’s assistant, had just finished working a horse, and told me to work that same buffalo. It had been running around and just looked hot, with its tongue hanging out. You could never have worked a cow that hot. I wasn’t nervous about working a buffalo, but I wondered how my horse would react as he’d never seen one before. It was amazing. I loved it.”
After riding with Chartier for three years now, LeBlanc is quite comfortable working buffalo on her own.
Chartier dismisses the concern that horses may have difficulty transitioning from working buffalo at home to cows at the shows. The cutting maneuvers are the same regardless of the dance partner.
“I think it gives us a serious advantage.” — Marcelle LeBlanc, customer of Randy Chartier
“People ask if I work cows before I go to show,” Chartier said. “Absolutely not. Why would I? When I go to a horse show, my horses are correct and they like the game as much as anybody.
Chartier believes his trained buffalo can be a good option for experienced Non-Pro cutters who maintain their own horses at home.
Cutting requires a horse to have athletic ability and intelligence. Chartier describes training cutting horses as cultivating their talent, and having the ability to bring out the best in each individual horse.
“We all know horsepower is horsepower,” Chartier said. “Some have more than others. You’re not going to take an average horse and make it have more ability just because you’re working buffalo. I’m able to cultivate what I have so much better and so much easier [with buffalo] …The key is trained buffalo.”
Chartier is convinced that his buffalo made all the difference to the mare he showed in the 2021 NCHA Open World Finals. Classic Is Cool (Hottish x Classical CD x CD Olena) is a 2015 mare, bred and owned by Dottie St. Clair Hill.
Working the mare on his trained buffalo gave Chartier the control and consistency the mare needed to gain confidence, and he was able to develop her potential. The results speak for themselves. The sorrel mare earned the reserve Open world champion title with $70,942 in earnings.
Trainer’s Magic Bullet
As a Non-Pro in Iowa, Michael Schreck found buffalo to be a cost-effective alternative to cattle for training his own horses.
“I would go through 30 head of cattle in about two weeks,” Schreck said. “It takes a lot of cattle to train a horse.”
Six buffalo heifers would last him a year and a half. He found a local source that made buying young buffalo easy, so he was able to get them in the 400 to 450-pound range and sell them back when they reached 900 pounds.
Schreck didn’t have special accommodations for his buffalo. They ran in the pasture with his cows. He could bring them into his arena to work and send them back out.
“They don’t seem to eat much actually,” Schreck said. “You’ll see cows graze all day, but the buffalo seem to lay down most of the time. They did good on just grass.”
Schreck agreed the success of buffalo truly depends on how they’re handled as youngsters and trained. He patterned them using his turnback horse.
“They’re easier to use alone,” Schreck said. “They keep moving and you can’t really wear them out, so you can work multiple horses on the same buffalo. Cows get rude when they’re tired, and either run you over or just won’t move.”
Rick Williams began using buffalo to train his cutting horses in the late 1990s. Prior to that, he was getting a load of cattle every 30 days. When that supplier went from yearlings to a cow-calf operation, Williams lost his endless supply of cattle, and turned to buffalo.
“We’d expect to use three loads of cattle to get through spring, summer, and fall,” Williams said. “Five buffalo take up a lot less space than 30 head of cows, and they do well on pasture and hay.”
For his small family operation in southwest Iowa, Williams sees the financial benefit to buffalo over cows. Using a fairly local source, he’s able to consistently keep five or six buffalo, with a deal to trade a couple each year for fresh turnover.
He found the breaking-in and training process critical to the success of his buffalo. Williams buys them as short yearlings. He starts them all individually, spending 30 to 45 days getting them trained and patterned before he considers them finished.
Like Chartier, Williams sees an easy transition for his horses from training on buffalo to showing on cows.
“Actually, I felt it made my horses sharper and crisper on cows,” Williams said. “I’ve had horses in the Top 15 that never saw a cow until I was on the road [showing].”
Working on his own, the ability to work horses without the help of a turnback rider is a benefit to him.
“They’re very smart, curious, unique animals,” Williams said. “That’s part of what makes them work. They’ll stop and look at the horse. If you train them correctly, they’ll turn into the horse, which holds your horse in the ground.”
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TO ALL NCHA MEMBERS ZERO TOLERANCE
The National Cutting Horse Association is increasingly aware of the sensitivity of its members and the general public in assuring that its activities show the utmost respect for the cutting horse as an animal and that any perception of inhumane treatment is avoided. The Executive Committee, upon the recommendation of the Judges’ Rules Committee, other standing committees and many members has instructed the staff that a “zero tolerance” policy must be followed in connection with the enforcement of Rule 35.A.
35.A. Zero Tolerance Policy
Inhumane treatment or excessive training of a horse in any manner is strictly prohibited. Both owner and rider of any horse entered in an NCHA approved or sponsored event, by said entry, consents to the implementation of any action allowed by this
Zero Tolerance Policy (Rule 35.A) by either show management or judge. This includes any act which the general public would perceive to constitute inhumane treatment or excessive training of a horse. Any act of inhumane treatment, mistreatment or intent to mistreat a horse will be dealt with in the strongest possible manner as provided for in this Standing Rule. This Zero Tolerance Policy covers acts occurring not only in the show arena, but also those occurring anywhere on the show grounds–the warm-up area, practice pen or any other location.
The “ Zero Tolerance” policy encompasses all of the following acts:
Excessive Training: Excessive Training includes: excessive jerking; cueing; whipping; use of lip wire or similar device; slapping or hitting a horse on the head, or any other part of the body, one time or more than one time, in any manner, either with the rider’s hands, reins or any other object; using a bit in such a way that a horse is caused to bleed from its mouth or face; using any object held in the rider’s hand to hit a horse; or any other act which may cause trauma or injury to a horse. Inhumane treatment: Inhumane Treatment is the exhibition of a lame or injured horse, or a horse that appears lame or injured, or a horse with any other health abnormality, which could thereby result in the horse’s undue discomfort or distress.
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Your cooperation in promoting the welfare of our cutting horse athletes through enforcement of our rules is appreciated and absolutely essential to the ongoing success of the NCHA and its affiliates. Very Truly Yours,
Ted Sokol Jr. Ted Sokol Jr. NCHA President
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