Western Horseman September 2019

The Ultimate How to Handle The Voice of ✦ ✦ All-Around Horse Backcountry Mishaps Cowtown Rodeo

Feet on the Ground

Helping a Horse that Sets Back

Western Attire You Can Wear Anywhere

September 2019

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FEATURES

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New York’s Emmy Awardwinning PRCA announcer Dusty Cleveland reflects on a lifetime in the rodeo business.

By KATIE NAVARRA

Haidaseeker Playboy shows that one gelding is all you need to take a cow down the fence, ride 20 backcountry miles or canter a dressage pirouette.

By CHRISTINE HAMILTON

Whether riding, roping or working around the barn, horse people appreciate functional and stylish clothing.

By KATHRYN BARKEY and ROSS HECOX

Voice of Cowtown

Plain Brown Package

Western Wearable

Setting Back Solutions A horse that sets back when tied is dangerous to itself and others. Avoid this panic response with three simple groundwork exercises with Jon Ensign.

By KATIE FRANK

KATIE FRANK

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SEPTEMBER 2019

VOLUME 84 / NUMBER 9

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contents 38

26

44

20 34

ride west 24 Bit Basics

16 Ranching

26 Backcountry

Dust and sunlight combine to create a hazy silhouette of hardworking cowboys in New Mexico.

Bringing the cows home from mountain pasture is a family affair every fall.

18 Women of the West

Living in Nebraska, 84-yearold cowgirl Ethel Miner’s life is decidedly Western.

20 Horsemanship

New Mexico horseman Rudy Lara uses techniques from working equitation and traditional Spanish riding.

The eggbutt snaffle offers lateral action that works well on young horses.

A horse rescue offers a reminder of the importance of fit horses and the ability to handle emergencies.

30 Arenas

38 Culture

Linda Ballantine-Brown is at home in Florida’s cattle country, where she finds creative inspiration.

44 Western Stops

Horsemen Lodge in Arizona is a favorite restaurant among both locals and visitors.

Two veteran event producers share their advice on putting on successful and exhibitorfriendly shows.

46 What’s It Worth?

36 Rodeo

48 Cowboy Tastes

Canadian bareback rider Orin Larsen is poised to make rodeo history in the United States.

A pair of unusual Buermann spurs prove its value at a major Western auction.

Peach Bacon Jam is both sweet and savory, and perfect for cream cheese or toast.

in every issue 8 Leading Off / 10 Feedback 94 Dale Brisby / 96 Baxter Black

On The Cover: Horseback on Coldwater Ranch by Jason Rich. Read more about the art and the artist on page 93.

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clockwise from TOP left: Kate bradley byars, ross hecox, jennifer denison, jennifer denison

12 Opening Shot

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Family Owned & Operated Since 1965 • 82 Stores in 11 States • Cavenders.com

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nline SEPTEMBER westernhorseman.com

Publisher: Ernie King Editor in Chief: Ross Hecox Editor: Christine Hamilton Managing Editor: Susan Morrison Senior Editor: Jennifer Denison Digital Editor: Katie Frank Contributing Editor: Kate Bradley Byars Art Director: Ron Bonge Fort Worth Production Manager: Sherry Brown Production Assistant: Emily Trupiano Director of Production: Karen Fralick Production Service Manager: Cher Wheeler Digital Imaging Manager: Erik Lewis Senior Digital Strategist: Sonny Williams Marketing Manager: Lizzie Iwersen Digital Content Manager: Dani Licklider Business Manager: Tonya Ward Ambassador-at-Large: Butch Morgan Warehouse Manager: Tim Gelnaw

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Western Horseman BOOKS/PRODUCTS: 800-874-6774 To purchase back Issues: 706-823-3526, westernhorseman.com

HORSEMANSHIP: Rudy Lara demonstrates a doma vaquera exercise and a dance with his horse using the garrocha.

SALES DEPARTMENT Senior Account Manager: Rayanne Engel-Currin: Western Tack,

Feed Manufacturers, Auto Aftermarket, Tractors, Farm & Ranch Equipment, Buildings & Barns, UTV/ATV rayanne.engel@westernhorseman.com 209-759-3395 Senior Account Manager: Kami Peterson: Western Apparel & Boots, Breed Associations, Equine Events & Rodeos, Western Lifestyle Events, Retail Stores, Food kami.peterson@westernhorseman.com 719-651-3394 Bobbie Cook: Horse Health, Breeders & Ranches, Horse Sales, Insurance, Education, Horse Expos, Grooming, Fencing bobbie.cook@westernhorseman.com 817-569-7161 Jenn Sanders: Trailers, Supplements, Western Clinicians, Trailer Aftermarket, Real Estate, Automotive, Packing & Camping, Dude Ranches, Horse Health jennifer.sanders@westernhorseman.com 940-627-3399 Kathryn Barkey: Art & Museums, Travel & Destinations kathryn.barkey@cowboypublishing.com 970-554-2032

HOW-TO: Jon Ensign softens

and bends his horses through groundwork to discourage them from setting back when tied.

Advertising Customer Service:

REAL LIFE RANCH WIFE:

Laugh along with blogger Jolyn Young as she shares what it’s like to be a ranch wife and mom.

Nancy Hughes 817-569-7107

Nancy Hughes nancy.hughes@cowboypublishing.com 817-569-7107

Western Horseman Offices, 2112 Montgomery St., Fort Worth, TX 76107, 817-737-6397, FAX: 817-737-9266, advertising@westernhorseman.com

Photos: View exclusive Western Horseman

A Publication of MCC Magazines, LLC a division of Morris Communications Company, LLC 735 Broad St., Augusta, GA 30901

images such as those in Editor in Chief Ross Hecox’s Photo Blog.

Newsletter: Sign up to get a first look at the latest posts on the Western Horseman website.

Road Stories: Find the latest stories from Western Horseman staff as they travel on assignment.

Shop: Customize your hat box,

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Classified Advertising:

Regional Vice President Patty Tiberg director of circulation

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Morris Communications Company, LLC

chairman

coffee mug, cooler and more with It’s Cool to be Cowboy Western Horseman stickers, only $5 for three stickers.

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Scott Ferguson

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VOLUME 84 / NUMBER 9 Western Horseman (ISSN 0043-3837) is published monthly by MCC Magazines, LLC, 735 Broad St, Augusta, GA 30901. Subscription rate is $24 for one year, $46 for two years. Canadian subscriptions add $20 per year (U.S. funds only). All other foreign subscriptions add $40 per year (U.S. funds only). Editorial and Advertising Main Offices: 2112 Montgomery St., Fort Worth, TX 76107. Periodicals Postage paid at Augusta, GA, and additional offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Western Horseman, PO Box 433237, Palm Coast, FL 32143-9616.

Submission of freelance articles and photographs is welcomed. For complete editorial guidelines go to westernhorseman. com or email edit@westernhorseman.com. No faxed materials accepted. Articles that appear in Western Horseman do not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of Western Horseman or MCC Magazines, LLC. Western Horseman does not endorse and is not responsible for the ­contents of any advertisement in this publication. No material from Western Horseman can be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or otherwise used without express written permission.

© 2019 by MCC Magazines, LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

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leading off

Taking a Step Back

Whether in the roundpen or in the trailer, horses can learn good and bad habits. That’s why good horsemanship applies to trainers and horse owners alike.

While teaching my young mare to back out of the trailer, I got in too much of a hurry and forced her to step out.

Fritzi was already worried about that big step, and my impatience only heightened the tension.

When she finally reached back with her right hind leg, her hoof landed slightly underneath the trailer, and she scraped her pastern when she abruptly stepped back into the trailer. Now she was convinced that backing out of a trailer was a terrible idea, and for months I had to lead her out instead.

One day I came up with an idea: butt the trailer firmly into a rise in the ground so that stepping out didn’t mean stepping down. We spent more than an hour in

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the trailer, with me trying to be more patient but firm. I released pressure and patted her any time she moved backward or even thought of stepping in reverse. Finally, Fritzi reached back and her right hind hoof landed on soft ground level with the trailer floor. I let her step back inside, but then asked again. Slowly, she gained confidence, and now years later she backs out of the trailer easily.

I was reminded of this while reading “Setting Back Solutions,” which appears on page 58. Montana horseman Jon Ensign shares tips for helping horses that panic and set back while tied. In the article, he points out that a horse that habitually sets back is not a lost cause.

Sound horsemanship can be a turning point for a confused or troubled horse.

I’m pleased to see that this issue contains a wealth of advice for riders and horse owners. On page 20, Rudy Lara shares his approach to starting colts using Spanish horsemanship principles. On page 24, we continue the monthly series Bit Basics, in which horseman Richard Winters outlines the function, design and application of a variety of bits.

Check out a gallery of photos by Ross Hecox at westernhorseman.com.

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ROSS HECOX

I

thought I had ruined her forever.

In the article “Plain Brown Package,” beginning on page 74, amateur competitor Andrea Caudill explains how she and her ultimate allaround horse, “Matt,” have earned honors in dressage, competitive trail riding and reined cow horse competition. Caudill has handled most of the training since she purchased her gelding when he was a 3-year-old.

Not everyone has the skills or determination to train and show their own horse in multiple events; however, all horse owners can pursue good horsemanship. Whether competing, starting colts, tying a horse to a post or backing one out of the trailer, all of us play some role in training our horses.

And if we make a mistake, there’s a way to undo the damage. We just need to consult wise, experienced horsemen, such as those featured in this magazine, to get us—and our horses—back on level ground.

—Ross Hecox, editor in chief

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feedback

Memory Lapses

I just finished reading Baxter Black’s “The Gift” article [On the Edge of Common Sense, June]. I identify with this memory lapse completely.

I have been riding most my life and pushing trails for a local outfit for 15 years, and I still cannot remember one horse from another. Names and faces are a complete mystery to me.

At times a barn hand will inform me that I have the wrong horse, not the one I have been riding for the last year. I was so pleased when I had an Appaloosa gelding as my guide horse. It was the only Appaloosa in the line. Then they threw me a curve ball and acquired two more Appaloosas. I started getting mixed up again.

It’s not that I am feeble-minded. I remember dates and incidents, work projects and every thing that has happened in my life. I just do not remember people and names.

For the last six years I’m riding a 19-year-old sorrel Quarter Horse. Sorrels are very common. At least this one is easy to identify, since every time I open the box stall if she tries to bite me I know I have the right horse.

When I am pushing trails I will have a line of people behind me. Out of politeness I introduce myself and ask their names in return. Before I face forward I have already forgotten every name told to me, even if I have only one person in the line.

Lately I simply apologize to all my riders, explaining that I will forget their names immediately and that it is not personal.

Thank you, Baxter Black, for not having me feel like the only one out there like this!

—KEITH MAZZARELLO, New York

Recognizing Youth

I just read your article “Millennial Cowboys” [July]. It is

excellent. Just excellent.

There is far too much criticism of today’s young people and not enough recognition of their strengths and potential.

Your article was refreshing and inspiring. I hope you get a Pulitzer Prize or the cowboy equivalent.

—BILL HESTIR, South Carolina

Building Partnerships

Thank you for such great topics! As a longtime reader,

“Coming Unraveled” [July] was one of the best-written articles I’ve read. Partnering with horses with respect, safe boundaries, trust building and love makes more of a difference than attempting to dominate. It is amazing what can happen when horse and human meet like this.

Keep up the great work.

—CINDY BUNNER, Pennsylvania

I suspect other people may have commented on

“Coming Unraveled.” During my practice career, I was three times presented with “head tossers.” The owners blamed the flies, but I could see the behavior was abnormal. I suggested a neurological factor, but could not make a diagnosis.

Then, after I retired, I read a scientific paper on head shaking caused by irritation to the trigeminal nerve [that is

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responsible for sensation in the face, and functions such as biting and chewing] by intense sunlight.

Ultimately, my wife’s current gelding developed the problem in the summer when sunlight is most intense. A simple black head net (to screen against flies) ended the problem by providing shade. The trigeminal nerve is one of the 10 vital cranial nerves, and diminishing the sun’s rays eliminated the behavior. I thought this would interest you.

—ROBERT M. MILLER, DVM, California

Super Puncher

These Super Puncher cartoons are out-of-the-box dumb!

The funny little cartoons every couple of pages were much better! No cartoons would be better than Super Puncher.

—KENT TORKELSON, Wyoming

This is funny. The guy is a clown and is a welcome read once a month. Better to be a wannabe than not. I manage a big cattle stud in South Australia and have a Quarter Horse mare and a Standardbred mare. I have been a reader of your magazine for over 30 years. I look forward to it every month. Thanks.

—DALE JUNER, Australia

Western Horseman welcomes feedback from readers. To submit a letter for Feedback, email edit@westernhorseman.com.

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OPENING SHOT

Golden Dust

SPARSE RAINFALL, THORNY VEGETATION and erratic weather patterns would seem to make the American West an inhospitable environment for raising livestock. Ironically, some of the most celebrated cattle operations are located in the Great Basin and the Southwest.

Moving cattle through dry, rugged landscapes can be challenging, and photographing it is no walk in the park. Photographer Emily McCartney has captured cowboy images throughout the West, and dealing with the heat, dust and long hours pays off when the right image materializes.

“This was shot at the McNeill Ranch near Hobbs, New Mexico,” she says.

“The gather had come together and we were approaching the pens. We battled dust storm conditions, but it made for this gorgeous, hazy silhouette later that morning.”

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Animals speak louder than words.

TM

If there’s greatness on the inside, it shows on the outside. purinamills.com/horse

Š 2018 Purina Animal Nutrition LLC. All rights reserved.

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The Erickson family brings cattle down from mountain pastures every fall, driving them about 50 miles to their home ranch.

RANCHING

Down from the High Country

Come fall in the Sierra Nevada, it’s time to saddle a stout horse and drive cattle from mountain grazing to lower country.

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Story by CHRISTINE HAMILTON Photography by ANDRA ERICKSON

VERY SEPTEMBER, the Erickson family of Groveland, California, gathers cattle in the Sierra Nevada mountain pastures where they have grazed all summer. The horseback job takes more than a month. The family then trails the cows 50 miles back down to the home ranch in the Central Valley.

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Dan and Andra Erickson are the fourth generation of the family to make the annual drive, working the ranch alongside Dan’s parents, Tim and Bette Ann. “Everyone looks forward to the gather in the mountains,” Andra says. “It’s gone on for a long time in the family, and each next generation has wanted to continue it. Dan’s great-grandfather started moving cows back and forth. When they were building the dam up there that made Hetch Hetchy Reservoir [in the 1920s] he supplied beef to the workers there, and that’s how it started.”

During the summer, the cattle graze approximately 200,000 acres on a combination of deeded and leased mountain pastures and United States Forest Service allotments in the Stanislaus National Forest, adjacent to the northwestern edge

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of Yosemite National Park. Established in 1897, it’s one of the oldest national forests in the United States.

“Some of the cows have been up there for so many years they know where the meadows are and where to water,” she says. “It’s nice to have cattle that have been there, so when we send in our replacement heifers, they follow them in and learn where to go, and then it’s easier to gather, too.”

The Ericksons have a cabin at 4,500 feet “on private ground” where they base their crew of family and about five cowboys.

They saddle up each day before dawn to gather different allotments and push cattle to a central pasture. The weather varies, beginning with warm days and then changing to jacket weather, with snow expected in the fall. The crew gathers five days a week, and then heads home on the weekends to give everyone a break.

The high country is thick with pine trees and brush. The cattle mostly “browse feed” the brush—deer brush is the best—and graze the occasional grassy meadow.

“In 2013, there was a big fire that cleared a lot of the brush,” Andra says.

“That made it easier to gather in the years following, and it made a lot of good feed for our cattle. It’s a little brushier now. Sometimes the guys have to pack saws on their saddles and cut brush to get through.”

They use several Catahoula and curcross dogs to ferret cattle out of the brush.

“The dogs can ‘wind’ them—smell the cattle—and go down into a canyon, bay them up and hold the cattle until the guys can get there horseback and drive them out,” she explains. “That’s a big help when it’s so thick you can’t get through to the cattle.”

The Ericksons calve in November and December, taking pairs into the mountains late the following spring, so by early fall the calves are almost yearlings. Once gathered, the calves are weaned and shipped down by truck, and then the cows are driven down horseback. All stock must be out by October 15, the family’s “off date” with the Forest Service.

It takes dedication from the family and hired hands, and horses that can handle the job.

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“For the horses, you want something that’s tough, and big and stout enough to rope a yearling. A lot of the yearlings coming off the mountains can weigh anywhere from 600 to 700 pounds,” Andra says. “You want a good-boned horse that’s got some endurance and that will hold up to all-day riding. It can be a 12-hour day going up and down hills.

“You want something good-minded, because you can get into some tight spots, like on the edge of a cliff, and you want something that keeps his head about him.”

The Ericksons use mares and geldings, and each hand brings three or four horses; they like to give each horse a day or two off between workdays. They don’t take 3-year-olds into the mountains, “because it’s too hard on them,” and wait until a horse is at least 4.

“Using horses in the mountains does help them mature fairly quickly,” Andra adds. “If one tends to have too much ‘go’ first thing in the morning, they learn to pace themselves after a week or two of long days traveling up and down the hills.”

It takes five days to trail the cows down to the home ranch.

“In the spring, going in, it can be slow going when you worry about calves getting hot walking uphill. Sometimes we’ll let them rest a day or two,” Andra says. “But coming home in the fall with just the cows, it’s a pretty easy drive. It’s cooler and they’re going downhill.”

She adds, “A lot of people ask why do we still drive. It’s a little hard to get trucks up there on those mountain roads, and it’s also cost-effective for us.”

The cabin life and then the drive is like stepping back in time, Andra says, adding that it’s nice for their children—daughter Alissa and son Logan—to live the old-fashioned way for a while.

“There’s no electricity in the cabin. It has spring-fed water,” she says. “We do have a propane heater so we don’t have to take cold showers! There are no cell phones, no TV or computer. I homeschool so they get their schoolwork done.

We keep a fire going.

“There aren’t too many ranching operations these days that have an annual cattle drive like this, that’s real work. It’s a good time.”

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in control, and do all transitions smoothly.

WOMEN OF THE WEST

Ethel Miner

Living in the Midwest where farming and ranching coexist, this 84-year-old cowgirl is decidedly Western.

Interview and photography by MELISSA HEMKEN ETHEL MINER’S HOME outside of O’Neill, Nebraska, rests in a region where eastern farmland begins transitioning to cattle country to the west.

Here, the ratio of tilled fields to cow-calf herd size determines whether operations are considered ranches or farms.

Since the time Ethel attended country school near Palmer, Nebraska—she and her brothers rode a horse bareback to get there—she’s preferred the Western lifestyle, especially riding horses.

In 1960, Ethel married Russ Miner, and together they raised both crops and cattle.

Her late husband loved rodeo, and they mounted their three children on good horses and spent years hauling them to compete.

Ethel now spends her retirement competing in reining, boxing and ranch riding. She reluctantly admits that she is often one of the oldest competitors, but age doesn’t affect her outlook. Her living room shelves are filled with plaques and trophies, including awards for winning Central Plains Reining Horse Association events, and ranch riding and reining classes at the American Quarter Horse Association Regional Championships. She also qualified for the finals in boxing at the AQHA Select World Championship Show in 2016.

Despite her many titles, Ethel says she is still learning how to ride.

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My sister, Judy, and I raced up and down the hills growing up, and played cowboys and Indians in the pasture. I didn’t learn how to correctly ride until I was an adult. My feet were always back toward the flank, kind of like the Indians, I think.

my reining family.

No matter what you do with horses, when you connect with horse people you create common ground. I never thought I’d make so many friends at horse shows. They’re now my support group.

I’m not a roper. I so wish I was. Everybody in the family roped except me. I never learned how because somebody had to push the calves out of the chute when the kids practiced roping.

I’ve gone to the Adequan AQHA Select World Championship Show, which is for people age 50 and over, for the last eight years. Fifty seems young to me now.

When we rodeoed with our kids in the 1970s and early 1980s, living-quarters trailers were just invented.

We only had a topper on the back of the pickup, and a mattress.

I didn’t compete [in horse shows] until the kids left home. I chose reining as I was getting older and felt it was safer at my age.

The first horse that I used for reining, Sparkin Bonnie, I purchased from [my daughter] Jill Lane. Neither [of us] knew what we were doing. I made a lot of mistakes on her, but bless her heart, I had a lot of fun with Bonnie. She’s one of my special ones.

When I joined the Central Plains Reining Horse Association, I met so many great people that I now call

Three of my grandkids live close by—a pair of 4-year-old twins and one who is 6 years old. I’m trying to get them “horsified.”

Other than spending time with my grandkids, I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t do my horse thing. I don’t want to just sit back in the rocking chair when I’m able to be active. If you’re determined and willing to practice, you can still do well.

I still help move my cattle and the neighbors’ cattle horseback. But lots of people now work cattle with 4-wheelers or side-bysides. My son Jess uses them because machines can travel faster from one side of the

“Just because you’re older, you shouldn’t think you can’t do something.”

My goal is always to make the finals in one of my classes. I first made the finals two years ago in boxing. That was pretty exciting. I did it with Me Smart Tarzan, another special horse.

I like boxing the best of my three classes. Boxing never gets boring because each cow is different, and it gets your adrenaline going a little bit.

When I first looked at competing in ranch riding, I thought, “Oh, that will be easy.” But it’s very competitive. You can’t make one little boo-boo or you’re out. Your horse has to be willing, but

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field to the other. I find it frustrating to ride a horse when there are 4-wheelers, because the drivers zoom in front of me.

When I first moved up to this country, there was not as much irrigation as now.

Cattle pasture was easy to find. Now there are so many center pivots and fields tilled for row crops, pasture is scarce. I had to reduce my cow herd number.

In the winter I join my daughter, Jill, in Arizona.

She takes her young barrel prospects down there.

While she trains her horses, I ride mine.

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Rudy Lara introduces colts to the garrocha on the ground in preparation for when he gets on the horse.

HORSEMANSHIP

A Start in the Art of Garrocha

When starting colts, Rudy Lara combines traditional natural horsemanship methods with vaquero and doma vaquera techniques.

Story and photography by JENNIFER DENISON

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S

PANISH HORSEMEN have a long tradition of using doma vaquera (which translates to Western dressage) training techniques to make athletic horses that are light in the bridle and responsive to a rider’s seat and legs, allowing them to move away from cattle or fighting bulls with speed, agility and collection. The foundation for this style of riding is classical dressage, and horses are trained to gracefully perform maneuvers as though they’re doing an equestrian dance.

Through the years, doma vaquera has spread around the world and into different areas, from livestock handling to dressage and working equitation competition.

Similar techniques are also used to train reining horses.

Horseman Rudy Lara of Taos, New Mexico, began his horsemanship journey as a youngster starting colts and training horses for the public with his father, Rodolfo Lara, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and competing in charreadas (Mexican rodeo). His specialty was three-man roping events called terna and cala de caballo, an event similar to reining.

“There’s a misconception that the charro [a traditional Mexican horseman] is heavy-handed with horses,” he says, “and my dad and I tried to separate ourselves from that and started studying natural horsemanship and the vaquero way of training horses, because it’s all about doing what’s best for the horse, taking your time and making horses light in the bridle. As the Californio horsemen say, there’s always mañana.”

After working with horsemen such as Buck Brannaman and Dennis Reis and studying the methods of Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance, Lara combined the philosophies and techniques from vaquero-style horsemanship, natural horsemanship and doma vaquera into his own style that he uses to start colts and work with problem horses. He has used his methods in colt-starting competitions, and this year won first place at the Colt Starting Challenge USA events in Abilene, Texas, and Denver,

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Colorado. He also trains rescue horses in the annual Gimme Shelter Trainer’s Challenge in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Part of his doma vaquera training includes the use of a garrocha, a 13- to 14-foot wooden pole Spanish herders have used for centuries to move cattle or even lay a cow down for doctoring, rather than using a rope. While Lara doesn’t use the pole to work cattle, he does find it to be a useful tool for starting colts and to exhibit a more advanced horse’s precision, finesse and partnership with its rider in working equitation and freestyle reining classes.

“It’s really changed the way I start a colt,” he says. “I use the garrocha to work on the horse’s blind [off] side so it gets used to seeing something out of that eye, which will make it easier the first time I swing a leg over the saddle.”

Prior to introducing the garrocha, Lara works a colt on the ground with a flag, teaching it to yield its hindquarters and shoulders and sidepass in response to pressure from the flag and his body language.

“When I go to use a garrocha, I don’t want the horse coming to me,” he says. “I want him to yield to the pressure [of the pole] and back off and give me space.”

Here, he shares how he introduces the pole to a young horse and uses it to elevate a horse’s training on the ground and then in the saddle.

Garrocha from the Ground Lara first introduces the garrocha to a colt in the roundpen, where he can contain the horse’s movement. With the horse wearing a rope halter, he holds the lead rope in one hand and then slowly picks up the garrocha and holds it in the other hand horizontally under his arm with about half of it extended in front of him. Keeping the horse on a loose line, he waits for the horse to become curious and move toward the garrocha, smell it and figure out it’s not going to cause harm.

“Just like a flag or rope, the garrocha is a tool that should help build a horse’s confidence, not scare it,” he says. “I don’t get in a hurry or move it around; I just wait for the horse to come toward it.”

When the horse has checked out the garrocha and is relaxed, Lara slowly rubs it up and down the horse’s neck, down its

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Lara holds the lead rope in one hand and the garrocha under the opposite arm and shows it to the horse, allowing the horse to sniff it.

Rubbing the garrocha along the horse’s neck, back and hindquarters allows the horse to see the tip on its off side, which prepares it for when a rider swings a leg over the saddle.

The garrocha can be used to encourage a horse to move its hindquarters by tapping or holding pressure on the hip.

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shoulder and front leg, under its belly, down its leg, and up over the hip and along the back. He then repeats this on the other side of the horse.

“I’m looking for the horse to stay relaxed and not move around,” says Lara.

“If it gets bothered I slowly take away the pole and begin again at the last place the horse was comfortable with it.”

Pressing the tip of the garrocha into the horse’s side simulates the leg pressure it will feel with a rider.

Lara drives a horse forward with the garrocha and keeps it on its back while it moves in preparation for doma vaquera training.

When a colt is comfortable wearing a saddle, Lara introduces the garrocha while the horse is saddled to simulate a rider mounting.

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The Off Side One of the main purposes of the garrocha when starting colts, Lara says, is accustoming the horse to seeing and feeling something crossing over its back and on its off side. He gently places the pole on the horse’s hip, moves his body opposite the horse’s shoulders and slides the pole diagonally across the horse’s back so that it extends out on the horse’s off side and possibly in its blind spot. He also moves his body back toward the horse’s hip and slides the pole diagonally across the horse’s back so the tip extends past the withers.

“The stick simulates a rider’s leg crossing over the horse’s back when getting on,” says Lara. “That’s where a lot of colts spook and start to buck and accidents happen, because people don’t work enough on the horse’s blind spot and off side.”

At first the horse might look at the pole, pin its ears or want to move off, but Lara stays with the horse. When it stands still and accepts the pole, he removes it to release the pressure.

Basic Movement When the horse accepts the garrocha being rubbed all over its body and extended into its off side, Lara adds movement. Standing in the center of the roundpen, holding the lead rope in one hand and the garrocha in the other in the center of the pole, he aims his body and the pole toward the horse’s hip to signal the horse to walk off in a circle. As the horse walks, he moves the garrocha to the center of the horse’s back to prepare it for doma vaquera work in the saddle.

Lara also uses his body movement and the tip of the pole so the horse can learn to turn on its forehand and haunches. To move the horse’s shoulders, he walks toward the shoulders, gently pressing the

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tip of the pole into the shoulders and using pressure on the lead as necessary to get the horse to turn on the haunches and cross over in front. He can move toward the hips and gently tap or press the pole on the horse’s hips to encourage it to move its body around the forehand. These basic maneuvers are an important foundation in doma vaquera.

Lara also gently presses the tip of the garrocha into the horse’s midsection at the point where a stirrup would be to introduce a colt to the sensation of leg pressure.

“You can do a lot of things with the garrocha that prepare a colt for its first ride,” says Lara. “I used the garrocha at a colt-starting competition in Denver earlier this year and the audience had not seen one before and they were curious about it, but they saw the benefits when I got on the colt.”

Garrocha with Saddle After Lara has saddled a colt and it’s comfortable moving with the saddle, he rubs the garrocha on the saddle from both sides while the horse is standing still just as he did on the horse’s back. Then he asks the horse to move while he has the garrocha on the saddle.

“The garrocha is like a compass, and it shows you if the horse is making round circles or if it’s dropping its shoulder and cutting off the circle or drifting away from it based on the position of the garrocha,” explains Lara. “If the horse drops its shoulder, its hips swing out and the garrocha will be at a steeper angle. If the horse drifts away from the circle, the angle will get wider.”

As a colt advances to training under saddle, Lara emphasizes using his seat—rather than the reins—to signal the horse to go forward, stop, back and turn.

“I put a loosely fitted headstall with a snaffle in a colt’s mouth so it learns to carry the bit,” says Lara. “But the first 10 rides I don’t make contact with the bit, and ride with a halter and lead rope. This allows me to teach the horse to respond to my seat and legs. If I want to stop, I sit deep in the saddle on my pockets. If I want to go, I rock my hips forward, and if I want to turn, I turn my hips in the direction I want to go.”

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When Lara starts a colt he focuses on riding with an independent seat to avoid using the reins as much as possible. This allows him to ride with the reins in one hand while carrying the garrocha in the other as the horse progresses in training.

Developing what he calls an “independent seat” prepares the horse for when he holds the reins in one hand and the garrocha in the other while riding. The horse learns to respond to his body rather than the reins and that keeps the horse light as he takes it through the bridle horse transitions from hackamore to two-rein to spade bit.

“When I’m on a horse’s back I use the garrocha to see how straight the horse moves on a line or while moving laterally and how round it makes circles,” he explains. “If I’m having a hard time getting a horse to move its hips over, I’ll tap the hips [on one side] with the garrocha to encourage the horse to yield off my seat and leg pressure.”

With consistent practice, the garrocha is one way to advance your horsemanship and your horse’s precision and agility from start to finish.

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OUR EXPERT

A native of New Mexico, RUDY LARA has started colts and trained horses for the public since 2009. He started working with his father, Rodolfo Lara, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, but last year moved to Taos, New Mexico, with his wife, Aubriana, and their two sons, Joaquín and Santiago, and founded Rudy Lara Horsemanship, specializing in colt starting, problem horses, ranch roping and doma vaquera. He was selected twice to participate in Buck Brannaman’s annual colt-starting clinic, and qualified for the finals at the Brannaman Pro-Am Vaquero Roping in Santa Ynez, California. He’s also competed in several colt-starting competitions, winning the Colt Starting USA events held this year in Abilene, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, and placing twice in the Gimme Shelter Trainer’s Challenge, a benefit to help raise money and adopt out rescue horses from a shelter in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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RIDE WEST BIT BASICS

Eggbutt Snaffle This lateral-action bit works well on young horses and comes with a variety of mouthpieces.

Story and photography

by ROSS HECOX

In this monthly series, horseman Richard Winters outlines the function, design and application of a variety of bits.

This D-ring snaffle's cheekpieces apply more surface pressure to the sides of the horse's face than an O-ring snaffle.

Winters most often uses an eggbutt snaffle with a smooth mouthiece. At times he'll use a twisted wire mouthpiece (top). "If a horse has gotten kind of numb and disrespectful, and isn't paying attention to its rider, the twisted wire can soften up that horse and get it to respect the bit a little more," he says.

Richard Winters has found success as a clinician and as a competitor. He claimed a National Reined Cow Horse Association World Championship in 2005 and won the popular colt-starting competition Road to the Horse in 2009. In 2016, he authored the Western Horseman book From Rider to Horseman. He recently moved to Weatherford, Texas, and is conducting horsemanship clinics throughout the United States.

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The cheekpiece on an eggbutt has a shape between that of a D and an O. The swivel hinge makes it more stable in a horse’s mouth than a loosering snaffle.

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No more

I

n the beginning stages of training, most horsemen use a snaffle bit on their young, green-broke horses. at a time when riders stick to basic, easy-to-understand cues, one might think that there wouldn’t be so many varieties of snaffle bits. however, tack shops and bitmakers offer a seemingly endless selection of snaffles. Richard Winters, a horseman based in Weatherford, texas, says the most commonly used snaffles in Western disciplines generally fit into one of two categories: a loose ring and a swivel hinge.

The loose ring features an O-shaped cheekpiece, and it is connected to the mouthpiece with a joint that allows the mouthpiece to slide along the O-ring (see bit basics, May 2019 issue). On a swivel-hinge snaffle, such as an eggbutt or a D-ring, the cheekpiece attaches to the mouthpiece like a swinging gate to a gatepost.

There is slightly more play in an O-ring, and it offers a little more comfort and signal to the horse. a swivel hinge is slightly more precise and stable in the horse’s mouth. Winters says the difference in effectiveness is marginal, believing that personal preference plays the biggest role in choosing which to use. “i like using the eggbutt,” he says. “With a [swivel] hinge, everything gets a little more stable. and if you’re concerned about them getting pinched in the corners of the mouth with a loose-ring snaffle, there’s much less chance of pinching with the D-ring or the eggbutt.”

Winters adds that snaffle bits are lateral devices and therefore should be predominately used one rein at a time. The shape of a D-ring cheekpiece offers a straight outer surface that, when engaged by the rein on the opposite side, applies pressure against the side of the horse’s face. The eggbutt, whose cheekpiece is neither flat nor perfectly round, but shaped more like the butt of an egg, has a similar large surface-area effect.

“The more surface area it covers, the gentler it tends to be,” Winters says.

The mouthpieces available on snaffles introduce yet another area of functionality. Winters notes that smooth, round and thick designs leave less of an impression on the horse’s tongue and bars than thin, twisted or ribbed ones. in certain situations he has utilized twisted wire mouthpieces; however, he has done so with understanding and respect for the horse.

“There’s no bit that’s going to fix your problems if you don’t have good hands and good timing,” Winters says. “if you keep running down to the tack store looking for the next bit because the last one wasn’t working, eventually you’re going to run out of things to buy. You might eventually get too severe with your equipment, and horses will either go to a happy place and tune you out, or they’ll get on the fight and possibly get you hurt. so when using these tools that have the ability to make your signals more intense, you need to accept a lot more responsibility with what you’re doing.”

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7/18/19 10:54 AM 7/15/19 1:27:50 PM

RIDE WEST

Even if you’re simply going on a day ride in high elevations, avoid complications by keeping your horse properly hydrated and physically fit.

Collapse at the Mountain Pass

Helping to rescue a horse in trouble offers sound lessons in handling emergencies.

By MELISSA HEMKEN

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I

T WAS LATE AFTERNOON when a U.S. Forest Service truck roared in and parked with a jolt in front of me. I was walking across the parking lot to fetch a book to read while relaxing next to the lake, but my plans were about to change. Two men jumped out and started jerking gear from the truck bed. I asked the man in the USFS uniform, Bill, if there was an emergency.

“There’s a horse down between boulders,” he replied, “four miles in on the [mountain] pass.”

The horse was one of three carrying trail riders in the high country of Wyoming.

Fortunately one of the riders had cell phone service on the pass and had called their friend Roger, who was now with Bill. The two men were preparing to carry two rock bars to pry the boulders loose from around the horse.

“I have two horses here, and one set of pack gear,” I told them.

Bill immediately handed me a rock bar to haul in on a horse, and joked, “We’ll see who gets there first.”

RESCUE MISSION The men headed into the forest. Bill was swinging his rock bar as a hiking staff. I hurried back to the lake to inform my family where I was headed ( four miles to the pass), that I was going with Bill and Roger, when I expected to return (hopefully that evening, and if not they should contact USFS because Bill had a radio) and the animals I was taking with me (my dog Miles and horse Bailey).

I swung past our camper to pick up two quarts of water on my way to the stock corrals. I chose my mare Bailey to carry the 6-foot, 20-pound rock bar because my gelding Hondo is touchy about his hind end and would probably hop around while carrying the bar. I wanted Miles along to warn of bears in the dark. I left my elderly dog and young dog in my horse trailer, knowing they would slow me down if they came.

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ROSS HECOX

BACKCOUNTRY

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In my saddle bags, I packed extra clothing layers for the cool evening ahead; an oilskin slicker in case of rain and to serve as a warm overnight wrap; snacks; water bottles; a water purifier; an area map; and my headlamp. I didn’t want to become another backcountry rider needing rescue.

Bill carried human first-aid items in his backpack. I could not fit my full vet kit into my saddlebags, so I extracted leg wraps in case the horse had scraped legs from the boulders, and a tube of oral equine sedative to calm the horse while we pried boulders away from him. I mounted Bailey, hoisted the rock bar and headed out 25 minutes after Bill and Roger.

I trotted Bailey where terrain and boulders allowed. I switched arms often to reposition the heavy rock bar. Bailey bumped her head on the tool. It tapped her rump. I whacked trees with it when the trail cornered tightly. She was not concerned. I had picked the right horse for the job.

Eventually I caught up with Roger, slumped and panting for breath along the trail. Bill had continued on without him. I never passed Bill. He arrived at the scene shortly before I did. I introduced myself to the group perched in the scree field, and then admiringly told Bill, “You’re a fast hiker with a heavy object.”

ROSS HECOX

SLICK ROCKS AND HARD PLACES At 1 p.m. that day, three women had ridden up the pass on a day ride. Their Mustang gelding, Fiddle, slipped on a slab of slick rock. Somehow the information the USFS received was incorrect. He was not jammed between boulders; however, he had fallen on his side and refused to rise. Surprisingly, the ladies had cell service and phoned Roger for help. Two other friends, Kent and Tom, had already hiked in with ropes, slings and winches. When I arrived at 6:30 p.m., Fiddle was lying flat on his side with his legs held stiffly aloft.

It looked like rigor mortis.

We rotated Fiddle to point his head downhill, hoping that gravity would make it easier for him to stand. With a sling fixed around a secure, horse-sized

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boulder on the uphill side of the trail, we then rolled Fiddle onto his stomach. Bill and I pulled his front legs straight forward to put him into rising position. His back legs were bent under his body.

Fiddle drank from a water bottle and nibbled trailside grass. He then scrambled to get up but flopped on his side again, his back pointing downhill.

We switched the sling from the boulder to winches tied to a stout tree, 10 feet up the hill. Our theory was it would help pull Fiddle upward and forward. Tom powered the winch handle and we rolled Fiddle onto his stomach again.

Bill pulled his front legs straight. I slung a rope around Fiddle’s rump, under his tail. Kent and Tom worked the winch, Bill and two ladies pushed Fiddle forward, and I sat into the rump sling to add all my weight to help lift Fiddle’s hind end.

Fiddle stood!

We held him up to steady him as his legs began to spasm. Soon he removed his weight from us, though his entire body trembled.

Fiddle stood on a 15-foot stretch of flat trail. Behind him lay slick rock, and in front several boulder steps. We decided to let the horse rest in standing position until the shaking stopped.

Then we would attempt to step him down the rocks.

By now the setting sun had left us in the mountain’s shadow. Another horseback friend was on the way, and Roger was still hiking toward us. Knowing there would soon be plenty of help at the scene, I decided to head back.

I offered my water and food to the group, because it might be hours before they gained the trailhead. I then hefted a rock bar and pointed Bailey down the trail. I met Roger at the base of the pass. He gasped red-faced for breath. I gave him drinking water because he carried no supplies. A half-mile farther on, I met the horseback friend and relayed the status of Fiddle. I rode into the trailhead as dusk was fading to black.

ELEVATION AND HYDRATION In the trailhead parking lot, another USFS employee, Joe, waited. Bill had

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told Joe over the radio that Fiddle was walking and the whole group headed out. I handed Joe the rock bar, and then settled Bailey for the night.

From my family’s camp, I later saw the party arrive. I met them in the parking lot and learned that after walking a mile Fiddle had buckled again and refused to rise. They left him, untied and unconstrained, to rest for the night.

The next morning, Bill arrived at the trailhead before I wiggled out of my bedroll. Soon Fiddle’s owners drove in with fresh horses and rode up the trail to fetch Fiddle. My family and I ate breakfast and packed up camp. As we drove out, Fiddle walked in without any obvious discomfort. When I stopped my truck and inquired after Fiddle’s health, I learned he hadn’t

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strayed 100 feet from where he was left the night before.

I wondered what caused the horse to give out. From his owner, I learned Fiddle lives down in the valley, is ridden infrequently and rarely climbs up to 10,000 feet—the elevation at which he went down on the pass. I could see that Fiddle was quite overweight.

His rider believed Fiddle fell and couldn’t get up because of the rough terrain. But most horses scramble, thrash and stand up after they trip.

Fiddle just sank and gave up. He also stayed down for more than four hours and collapsed again while walking to the trailhead.

To me, it seems likely that Fiddle was exhausted because he wasn’t in physical condition for traveling in the mountains. His muscles cramped, and perhaps tied up. Fiddle needed water, and more than the teasing amount he was able to get from a water bottle. It’s possible that he was low on electrolytes to begin with if he didn’t have free-choice minerals in his pasture at home.

My veterinarian recommends only giving electrolytes when a horse has plenty of water available. Also, it’s best to give a horse granular electrolytes dissolved in water, instead of electrolyte paste. This is because electrolytes alone will dehydrate a horse further.

Most likely Fiddle would have recovered more quickly with just water and rest. To help him, I should have brought my collapsible water bucket to the pass. We could have emptied bottles of water into the bucket to give Fiddle a deep drink.

To prevent poor Fiddle’s emergency, his owner should have ridden him regularly in the foothills to condition him for strenuous mountain trails. This also would have lowered his weight to a healthy level. Hopefully, she does this before her next trail ride. And, in the future, I’ll bring a collapsible bucket on equine search-and-rescue missions.

MELISSA HEMKEN is a Wyoming-based freelance writer and photographer. She has logged countless miles packing into wilderness areas.

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7/18/19 11:24 AM 7/15/19 11:42:22 AM

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RIDE WEST

ARENAS

Event Experts

Two veteran event coordinators discuss the benefits of hosting a horse show at your own facility.

By KATE BRADLEY BYARS

C

OMPETING WITH HORSES has many challenges, but hosting events is a huge undertaking. There are benefits, though, to hosting an event at your home arena that range from serving a need in the community to fundraising for future equine projects. Yet, producing an equine event, be it a team roping or a versatility ranch horse show, takes much more prior planning than most competitors see on the surface.

No matter the end goal, getting ready to host an event requires lots of legwork. Rhonda Holmes of Triple J Ranch in Sarasota, Florida, and Tina McCleary, equestrian program coordinator at Still Creek Ranch in Bryan, Texas, each had good reasons to tackle the task of creating a facility suitable for a competition.

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With more than a decade of experience, Holmes hosts cow horse shows, team ropings and even hunter-jumper events. Holmes and her husband, Jay, a reined cow horse and roping trainer, live on the ranch and train from the same arena used by event lessees.

While Sarasota is not “really horse country,” according to Holmes, they were able to create a larger community where horse people are willing to haul in to their facility.

“We built everything at the facility. We knew we would host events here. There was a need to have cow horse shows here in south Florida, and reining and roping,” Holmes says. “We have been here 19 years and it was about two years before we built the indoor arena. Then, four years after we built it, we started hosting events. We put on our own team ropings and then we

W ESTER N H O R SEM A N

lease the facility out to associations to have shows at our place. Personally, Jay and I do about 10 team ropings a year.”

Sustainability was the goal for McCleary, who coordinates the equine program to benefit the Christian-based children’s home at Still Creek Ranch, which celebrated 30 years in 2019.

Hired in 2015, McCleary aimed to make the equine program self-sufficient and to build fundraising opportunities for the not-for-profit organization. By hosting ranch horse shows, open ride nights at the covered arena, and through her involvement as show secretary for South Texas Reined Cow Horse Association events, she met that goal.

“We’ve been self-sufficient for the last four years,” says McCleary. “We started off with local supporters who had equipment or the ability to send people to help us, for example, take out deep ground to make it more uniform for events. We utilized those resources we had, like sources at the nearby Texas A&M University, to figure out how best to spend our money. Real quick, we figured out the ranch horse/stock horse events were what we needed to produce here, and then we went about making them the best we could.”

ROSS HECOX

Producing a successful horse event, whether a roping or stock horse show, requires plenty of planning, from the arena ground to parking

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Whether opening your facility to small group or starting your own horse show series, there are several things to consider.

Here, Holmes and McCleary offer advice on the do’s, don’ts and must-haves for hosting a successful event at home.

having an in-depth discussion about event plans with your insurance agent.

“There are different levels, such as participant insurance or spectator insurance, but we have everything we can get,” says McCleary. “We also took steps to ensure our horses were protected from outside horses.”

Many of the 30 horses housed at Still Creek Ranch are over the age of 20.

“We consult our veterinarian and we fully vaccinate our horses,” McCleary says.

“Over 20, they’re more susceptible than younger horses so we keep them away from outside horses.”

Still Creek also employs a disinfectant regimen prior to and after events to protect horses. Synbiot is used to sterilize stalls.

“Between shows, we strip down, disinfect and re-bed,” McCleary says.

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PROTECT YOURSELF Horses often are insured, as are the vehicles used to transport them, so it makes sense to insure the facility that plays host to multiple horses. Most homeowners or barn owners already have an insurance policy in place, so Holmes says to make sure it covers just about everything.

“We have an umbrella policy over the entire place. Every time we have a show, be it one of the eight cow horse shows or the dozen dressage or jumping shows a year, [the lessees] are also responsible for carrying their own insurance for the weekend,” she says.

McCleary adds that even spectators can be covered by a policy. She suggests

H

PREPARE THE FACILITY McCleary says the first event held at Still Creek Ranch was a “merge between a

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ranch horse and a cow horse series.” The feedback received was that competitors had fun, but the ground was not good for stopping. It was one of many things needing to be addressed before McCleary could host larger events, such as STRCHA-sanctioned shows.

In order to address that critique, her smaller events became fundraisers for improvements.

“We worked to get a better drag and a more reliable cattle source for events,” McCleary says. “The ground was the biggest thing. It was terrible, which is why we are so proud of it now. We’ve held some events with a goal in mind to [raise funding] for something, like to upgrade the north parking lot where the cattle truck turns around. We had the goal to upgrade and needed $3,500, and worked a clinic up to raise that money.”

Taking ideas from the horse shows they attended and other facilities they saw that hosted events, the Holmes built 100 stalls and 25 RV hook-ups. Triple J

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Ranch can host a good-sized show that uses both the 125-by-300-foot covered arena and the smaller 100-by-125-foot cutting arena, built to meet event specific needs as outlined in association rulebooks. The cutting pen has four cattle pens under the roof, and then there are three pens and a lane that connect to the big arena, says Holmes.

Before hosting an event, the Holmeses work the ground according to its use.

Then, Holmes focuses on ensuring parking and other needs are met.

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PROVIDE AMENITIES Neither Still Creek nor Triple J ranches charges admission for spectators at their events. In fact, both facilities offer amenities to encourage non-competing visitors to attend.

McCleary has volunteers run a concession stand.

“We use local food trucks. I call and see what food truck is available to come to the event,” says Holmes. “Town is only five miles down the road, but having the food here is an added bonus to competi-

kaTe bRadley byaRS

Stock Horse World Show

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Hosting cattle events can require extra preparation, including making sure there is ample water for cattle and that they are easily moved in and out of the arena. • For McCleary, it took fundraising to add electrical and water hook-ups for living quarter trailers, but the facility has it now. Holmes’ facility has the RVs next to the stalls for easy access. • Signs direct visitors and competitors where they need to go, and are appreciated by all.

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tors and spectators. Everyone can stay on site.”

At Triple J, there is even a store for purchasing ropes, assorted tack, jewelry and show clothes. It is decked out in a Western theme. Both facilities have public restrooms, too.

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MIND “DAY-OF” DETAILS At Still Creek Ranch, the covered arena separates two parking lots, with the north having RV hook-ups and the south where haul-in/haul-out riders park. It helps with the flow of traffic to have these areas separated.

Triple J Ranch has one drive in and out, so Holmes ensures she has show-day parking assistance.

“Parking and the flow of traffic is really important,” says Holmes. “When we have a big event, I have someone parking people to try and keep the road cleared out and have everyone parking the same way. If you have a big rig stopped in the middle, it makes it very hard for people to move around, so we try to keep it simple.”

Thinking like competitors, both McCleary and Holmes ensure there is no need to make extra trips into the show office. Both arenas have an area where class draw lists and/or results are posted so riders can easily view them.

“Post information in a clear area where riders can access it without having to walk up to the office. That helps keep the show moving and the show secretary working on her jobs,” Holmes says.

In addition, signage is incredibly important. Whether the sign says where to park, where the restroom is or lists the number of a local veterinarian in case of emergency, those public notices make good impressions on visitors.

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COMMUNICATE WITH GUESTS “We have different Facebook pages or groups for our different events. I do a lot of sharing between those,” McCleary says. “I create a Facebook [event page] for everything we do, then post patterns there, announce special meals or have sign-ups for practices. We announce if we are having concessions and also post reminders about Coggins or health papers. We have a website, but for the

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Having a location where riders can ride up to view a draw is just one example of ways to reduce traffic to the horse show office.

McCleary says. “Do your research on prices for cattle and class fees, and be sure to cover your costs. Don’t bite off more than you’re ready for in an event. It is more about quality over quantity for

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us. My goal isn’t always to have a huge show, but to make sure that everybody leaves happy and had a good time. We want to keep the environment laid-back and low-stress.”

kate bradley byars

most part, our communication is through Facebook.”

In addition to online media, Holmes is sure to get her sanctioned events, such as team ropings or American Quarter Horse Association shows, into print magazines’ calendar listings, reaching a broader audience.

Following an event, gathering feedback is imperative to improving for the next show.

“The people who use your facility will be the first ones to let you know when it goes wrong,” Holmes says. “When someone says they have an electrical issue, we are lucky because Jay can go out there and fix it all.”

In the end, a horse show is most memorable when the competitors have fun. Focusing on proper preparation, ensuring there are amenities and troubleshooting during the event go a long way toward making a good impression.

“My advice is to talk to the people in the area to find out what they want,”

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RIDE WEST

RODEO

Manitoba to Nevada Canadian bareback rider Orin Larsen is poised to make U.S. rodeo history.

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By KYLE PARTAIN

ATE WOLDUM IS THE LONE CANADIAN to have won a world title in bareback riding. Don’t recognize the name? That’s because he picked up the win in 1933, back when the Rodeo Association of America still crowned world champions. It was three years before the formation of the Cowboys’ Turtle Association—the forerunner to the Rodeo Cowboys Association and today’s Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

While Canadian saddle bronc riders have etched their names extensively into the sport’s records, bareback riders from up north are virtually non-existent

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among gold buckle holders. Orin Larsen is hoping the 2019 season is the start of a historical rewrite.

The Manitoba bareback rider, who went to college at the College of Southern Idaho and then transferred to Oklahoma Panhandle State University, hangs his hat in Nebraska with his wife, Alexa, these days. But he’s still a Canadian at heart.

“Anytime I can represent my country on a big stage, I’m proud to do it,” he says. “I still want to qualify for the Canadian Finals Rodeo every year, so I make sure that I get to enough rodeos up there to qualify.”

A year ago, he was part of the first trio of brothers to qualify for the CFR

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in the same year in each of the three rough-stock events. Tyrel Larsen was there in saddle bronc riding and Kane Larsen qualified in bull riding. Orin has qualified to compete there each of the last three years, winning the average in 2018. But he’s also a four-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier and should be headed to Las Vegas for a fifth time this December.

He knows a thing or two about competing on big stages.

That experience certainly paid off in 2019, where Orin picked up big wins early in the season at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo (his second San Antonio win in the past four years) and The American. Wins in back-to-back weeks bumped the cowboy to the top spot in the PRCA World Standings at the time, and he’s been a fixture at or near the top ever since.

“Like everyone else who buys a PRCA card to start the year, my goal is to make the finals and win a gold buckle,” he says. “A couple of big wins early in the year really put me on the right track this season. I’ve been fortunate to get to the NFR the last four years, and it looks like that will continue this year.”

Orin got his start on the family’s cattle ranch, where he and his brothers rode anything they could find with four legs.

“I’d gotten on some bulls and broncs and showed an interest in barebacks,” he recalls. “When I was 14, my dad asked me if I wanted to get on a bareback horse. He got an old glove and riggin’ for me. The riggin’ was this ratty old thing from like the 1970s. I don’t know where he got it, and it probably wasn’t even legal, but it got the job done.

“Riding bucking horses is such an exciting feeling, but it’s even cooler when you’re putting your hand in the riggin’. Once I gave up riding bulls and saddle broncs, I never had a second thought about it. I just love riding bareback horses.”

MOLLY MORROW

Orin Larsen’s 88.5-point ride on Yippee Kibitz last year at the Pendleton Round-Up earned him the average title, and he’s hoping for a repeat win this year.

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MOLLY MORROW

The cowboy put that old riggin’ to use for a half-dozen rides or so before investing in a modern setup that eventually propelled him onto the national scene in college. Orin won the bareback riding at the 2013 College National Finals Rodeo while riding for Southern Idaho. A year later, he won again while riding for Panhandle State. It seems the stage is never too big for the Canadian cowboy, especially this year.

“There’s no secret to it, really,” he says.

“I’ve just been getting on good horses at the right times. One of the best teachers is experience, and I think I’ve learned a lot in the last few years that has helped me be successful.”

Orin’s experience was put to the test during the 2018 NFR. He tore the meniscus in his left knee in the last round of the CFR in early November and then had surgery to repair the tear just two weeks before the NFR began.

“The Justin Sportsmedicine Team did a great job with me,” Orin says. “I was pretty timid with it going into the NFR, but they worked on me every day before and after I rode just to help me get by.

And I prayed a lot. The first horse at the NFR was a big test for me. But once I made the whistle and the pick-up man put me on the ground, I felt like it was good to go.”

The cowboy turned in an 82.5-point ride aboard Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Imperial Beach in that round.

He didn’t place in the money, but went on to earn checks in five rounds, take eighth in both the average and the world standings.

The last time Orin won San Antonio (in 2016), he turned in his best professional season with a third-place finish in the final world standings. He’s certainly on his way to topping that in 2019. His push for a world title could take another step forward this month as he looks to repeat as champion at the Pendleton (Oregon) Round-Up, scheduled for September 11−14.

A year ago, he rode Calgary Stampede Rodeo’s Yippee Kibitz for 88.5 points in Pendleton’s short round to claim the average title by a single point over Ty Breuer and Caleb Bennett.

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“That’s one of my favorite rodeos,” he admits. “It has such a great history and it’s just such a fun rodeo to go to. You’ve always got guys there trying to win some money late in the season to qualify for the NFR or to move up in the standings. It’s always good to win a big check there.”

Chances are Orin will do just that again this year. After all, it’s one of the sport’s biggest stages, and he has proven

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he’s capable of winning in that environment. The bigger question is: Can Orin ride a great start to the season all the way to the final round in Las Vegas? And will he rewrite Canadian rodeo history in the process?

I wouldn’t bet against him.

KYLE PARTAIN is a Colorado-based freelance writer who has covered rodeo for more than 20 years.

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RIDE WEST

CULTURE

Painting Florida’s Heritage Linda Ballantine-Brown is at home in Florida’s cattle country, finding inspiration for her art among palms and mossy oaks.

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By KATE BRADLEY BYARS

WO MIXED-BREED DOGS dance around Linda Ballantine-Brown’s feet as she walks across her wooden porch to look out over her Williston, Florida, farm.

Huge oak trees tower overhead, draped with Spanish moss that sways in the morning breeze. Armed with a cup of coffee, Brown is ready for the day. She feeds her herd of horses—two Quarter Horses, two registered Florida Cracker horses and a miniature pony—before crossing the sandy path over to her large metal studio. It’s her slice of heaven.

To look at this woman, comfortable in her coveralls and cowboy hat, you wouldn’t know she wasn’t born into Florida’s agricultural industry. Hailing

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from Canada, Brown came to Florida directly from college to be with her then-future husband, the late Horace Epps Brown, on the ranch. The couple had six children before divorcing in 2000. Brown says they remained close friends until his death 10 years ago.

“It was so exciting to start ranching.

Out in the swamp, some of those cows had never really seen people,” Brown says. “You could get hooked really easy, and I got good at healing hooked horses.

It was so different—in Canada, you hunt moose in the woods. Here, it was hunting for wild cows. [Horace’s] dad had 6,800 acres with Cracker cattle. We started weeding out those cattle and bringing in Herefords, changing the bulls and

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GREAT FLORIDA CATTLE DRIVE Make plans to celebrate the earliest arrival of the cattle industry to the United States with the Great Florida Cattle Drive. The Florida Cow Culture Preservation Committee plans to honor the arrival of cattle to Florida 500 years ago with a seven-day cattle drive in central Florida, in December of 2021.

The contest selecting artists to paint the “Ponce de Leon 1521 Herd of 7” fiberglass bulls described by Linda Ballantine-Brown is just one of the many projects planned in advance of the event. Find out more at greatfloridacattledrive.org.

CHRISTINE HAMILTON

Linda Ballantine-Brown rode in the Great Florida Cattle Drive of 2016, the third such drive planned by the Florida Cow Culture Preservation Committee.

The first was in 1995, and the second in 2006.

building better fences. It was the most exciting time of my life.”

Expressing herself through art began at a young age, and Brown experimented with paints under the guidance of her grandmother, artist Grace Farley.

Primarily self-taught with oil and canvas, Brown found inspiration in her ranching lifestyle. Today, her work depicts the Florida Cracker cowboy lifestyle with several paintings of Brahma-cross cattle with hardy horses in the thick swamplands of the state.

In her studio large, 4- to 5-foot-tall canvases are filled with renderings of bull riders striving to make the whistle, horses in a variety of relaxed or athletic poses, and another side of Florida’s horse industry— horse racing.

When the economy took a downturn in 2008, Brown branched out, merging her painting with her love of fashion.

“Painting and cows have supported my life,” she says. “I started making scarves, like wildrags, and took my paintings and put them on nice silk scarves.”

That led to creating dresses from silk scarves, either custom-made or offered through boutique stores, and now she is putting her artwork on household items, such as pillows.

“There is one I also made into a pillow, called By a Nose,” she says. “There is so

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TOP: When the economic downturn of 2008 caused a decline in painting sales, Brown branched out to add her art to décor and apparel. Scarves were her first venture.

KATE BRADLEY BYARS

cENTER ANd BOTTOM: Today she enjoys adding art to household items.

Her line includes pillows, chairs and other pieces of colorful decor.

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much horse racing here, and it inspired me. Sometimes, we just win by a nose.”

Today, Brown and her three daughters—Tiffany Brown Demeck, Ivy Brown and Misty Brown Miller—run a boutique in Kissimmee, Florida, called Branded B. It is stocked with Brown’s art as well as her apparel.

“It seems my life goes so fast that sometimes, I can’t get it all done,” says Brown. “But it keeps me going. Keeps me working. I always have several projects I’m working on and excited about.”

With a variety of horse heads screen printed onto fabric covering chairs and pillows, it is easy to see that Brown’s love of pretty horses and color fuels her work. And after the light gets too bright for her to paint in the studio, Brown is at the barn, working one of her horses and finding inspiration in her daily life.

What about the ranching lifestyle inspires you to paint?

A lot of the horses in my paintings are my own. Cows, those are ones that are mine or

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belong to my friends. Who’s Your Mama? is a cow [belonging to one] of my friends. All the animals tell a story. That one, for example, is when the mamas call their babies in for the night to bed down. I like the tender interactions of cattle and horses.

What is it like being in business with your daughters?

It is fun and wild being in business with them. We go on buying trips together and get into the fashion shows. We had a show one time with one of our dusters, and I told the girls that it was a moment to savor because our dream had come to fruition. You think success is so easy, but it’s not. It’s totally not. We have had some cool moments.

What is next for your line of paintings-turned-apparel?

I’m starting a home décor line! My first design is at the manufacturer. I paint the pieces, put it together and send it off. The first is a tablecloth with napkins to coordinate. We also have pillows and bed skirts.

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How did you develop your project to celebrate 500 years of cattle in Florida?

In 1521, Ponce de Leon landed in Florida with seven bovines. In 2021, we’re celebrating 500 years of cattle in Florida and having a big cattle drive. We plan to drive 1,000 head of cattle through the Mormon Ranch in Kenansville. We’re also having a contest to paint seven life-size Cracker-style bulls. They are all ready to go. I painted the first bull to kick it off at the [Florida] Cattlemen’s Association Convention last June [in 2018].

We did a call to artists, and [with] the James Museum of Western Art in St. Petersburg, we will select artists to paint the bulls. Each bull has a sponsor, and sponsors choose an artist to paint their bull. The artist has a few months to get it done. In 2021, we will have a traveling exhibit with celebrations to showcase agriculture in Florida. At the end of the exhibit, we’ll auction them off.

For more information, visit bstudioart.com.

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RIDE WEST

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STOPS

Horsemen Lodge

Story and photography by JENNIFER DENISON

LEFT: The Bill Owen banquet room seats 30 people and is decorated with art by Owen and gear from local ranching families. RIGHT: Tables are covered with Pendleton blankets for a warm, Western touch.

Location: Flagstaff, Arizona

Don’t Miss: The Bill Owen Room, named after the legendary Arizona cowboy artist. The banquet room seats approximately 30 people and is decorated with Owen’s paintings, a circa-1980s photograph of the Cowboy Artists of America taken by Arizona photographer Jay Dusard, and chaps and cowboy hats belonging to Owen and Bill, Harvey and Vic Howell, who each managed Babbitt Ranches through the years.

Local Favorite: 22-ounce bone-in ribeye with a peppercorn and roasted garlic char crust.

Staff Pick: Applewood-smoked prime rib served every Friday and Saturday night.

Fun Fact: The back bar belonged to Bob Lupo’s greatgrandmother and has silver behind the mirror.

For more information: 928526-2655; horsemenlodge.com; and Horsemen Lodge on Facebook

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T

HE GRAND CANYON draws millions of visitors each year to northern Arizona. But Horsemen Lodge, a family-friendly restaurant just north of Flagstaff, offers them a taste of the area’s cowboy heritage and culture.

Now an eclectic college town, Flagstaff was once a rough-and-tumble community sustained by farming, ranching and logging. In 1886, brothers David and community William Babbitt of Cincinnati, Ohio, arrived in the area and established the CO Bar ranching empire that is still in the family today operating as Babbitt Ranches.

Horsemen Lodge, a full-service restaurant, bar and catering/banquet facility, is located on old farmland. On the property was a small cookhouse where local farmers and cowboys gathered for home-cooked meals. In the early 1970s, Bob Lupo, a U.S. Naval chef from Boston, Massachusetts, left his job as a chef at a resort in Colorado and came to Flagstaff. In 1975 he formed the original Horsemen Lodge in the old cookhouse, and then gradually expanded the building. Since then, the restaurant has become a landmark and a local favorite for cowboy-style comfort food.

Lupo owned and operated the business until 2013, when he sold it to the current owners, Steve Alvin and Karan Patel. The business partners began renovating the restaurant, expanding its seating capacity, developing a new menu, and reviving traditions such as “horseback valets.” They bought two horses, Bonnie and Clyde, and hired staff to ride them and direct guests to parking spaces.

“One of Bob’s signatures was having [horseback] valets greet the guests during the summer months and on special occasions,” says Alvin, who has more than 40 years of experience in the restaurant business. “It’s part Flagstaff, of the experience, letting guests interact with Arizona them. For some, it’s their first time touching a horse. Very few places in northern Arizona have held on to their cowboy heritage. Bob had faith in 4m us to keep it alive.”

Phoenix, AZ 14 Jose Alvarado, director of sales San Diego, CA 488m and marketing for the restaurant for nine years, researched most of NM 323m the art and artifacts in the Albuquerque, restaurant, and recognizes the

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Hand-cut steaks are the main draw on the menu at Horsemen Lodge.

importance of preserving and promoting local Western heritage.

“The Western culture is not as much an KENETREK MOUNTAIN BOOTS integral part of our community as it once We’re hunters first. We became boot designers to fulfill a need was,” he says, “but our foreign travelers we couldn’t find elsewhere. We built boots we can trust. Boots come here to the Southwest to experience that always feel good. And we keep hunting, testing, and the imagery of horses and cowboys advancing our designs. It’s what we do and we love doing it. they’ve seen in movies and magazines, and we allow them to connect with it.”

Alvarado says the details in the restaurant—including Pendleton blanketwesternhorseman-sep19.indd 1 tablecloths, Western art by Arizona artists such as Bill Anton and Bill Owen, Kurt Markus photographs of Arizona cowboys, brands and branding irons from local ranches, and gear scattered throughout the large cabin-style building—offer a truly Western experience, and the food and service make it even more memorable.

The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with its specialties being aged, all-natural Kobe and Black Angus steaks hand-cut at the restaurant, elk chops and bison tenderloin, all from high-quality farms and ranches that emphasize sustainable, humane, and antibiotic- and hormone-free production.

All entrees come with unlimited trips to the salad bar, which is in an old chuckwagon from Babbitt Ranches. Locals appreciate the budget-friendly $16 Plus Shipping dinner specials on Sunday through Thursday, as well as the Friday-night fish • Brown cotton front with tan fry and applewood-smoked prime rib polyester mesh back special on Friday and Saturday nights.

• Adjustable snap closure “We’re driven by quality and consistency, from the time visitors turn into CAP-MESH-BR-BP Order online at the gravel parking lot until they leave,” says Alvin.

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RIDE WEST

COLLECTIBLES

What’s It Worth?

Rare Buermann spurs prove their value at auction.

THIS PAST APRIL, Mr. Loren Hock and his wife, Jo Anne, capital “B”) and above that the word Patented. On the other came to my store and asked me to appraise his bit and side of the heel band was the word Steel. All three of those spur collection. He knew of me through this column in marks are consistent with August Buermann spurs, so there Western Horseman. was no mistake about the maker.

Loren had many nice items in various conditions of wear.

I referred to the August Buermann Mfg. Co. Star Brand He had collected many of the items 50 to 60 years ago. He Catalogue #35, published in 1923, and found the spurs brought some Crockett and some Kelly Brothers spurs, pictured and identified as No. 1411—Mexican Coin, Full Silver several pairs of Buermann spurs and a 1913 McClellan Mounted. At the time, the company touted itself as “the mule-riding saddle. He also had some very nice military bits largest wholesale bit and spur makers in America.” in nearly mint condition.

I told Loren that I could only guess at the value. I thought The main item that stood out from all of the spurs that I the spurs were quite rare and the best way to find the value usually see was a pair of Bianchi-style spurs with Mexican would be to sell them at a high-quality and high-profile coins placed over the spur strap buttons. The silver mountauction. We agreed to send them to Brian Lebel’s Cody Old ings on the heel bands and over the rowel pins were smooth West Auction, which was coming up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. with no engraving, which is what I would have expected for a The auction was held on June 22 and I am happy to say that pair of Bianchi spurs. the spurs brought $5,015 However, these were not with the buyer premium ABOUT OUR EXPERT MIKE GRAHAM and his wife, Gretchen, Bianchi spurs, but included. Loren and I own Ruxton’s Trading Post in Manitou Springs, Colorado. They specialize Buermann spurs! On one both were delighted with in collectible pieces of Western Americana. The couple wrote the book Old Cowboy Saddles and Spurs—Identifying the Craftsmen Who Made Them. For side of each heel band the outcome. more information, visit oldwestantiques.com. near the coins was the Buermann star mark AUCTION VALUE: Do you have a Western antique you’d like to know more about? (which has a capital “A” $5,015 To find out how to submit your own item to our experts, go to westernhorseman.com. superimposed over a

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RIDE WEST

COWBOY TASTES

WITH KENT & SHANNON ROLLINS

Peach Bacon Jam 20 minutes

45 minutes

2 cups

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

1 pound thick-cut bacon 1 15-ounce can sliced peaches in heavy syrup, drained 1 large Vidalia onion, finely chopped ½ cup light brown sugar 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the bacon in a single layer on a baking pan (or pans) and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until crispy. (You can also fry the bacon, but we find baking easier when cooking a large amount of bacon.)

Chop the peaches and set aside. Remove the bacon from the oven and let it cool on a paper towel or wire rack. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the grease. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it and set aside. Add the bacon grease to a large skillet, stir in the onion and cook over medium heat until it begins to caramelize and is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chopped bacon, brown sugar and peaches. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes, until the mixture reduces and thickens slightly, stirring frequently. Turn off the heat and stir in the balsamic vinegar. Let cool slightly before serving, but it’s best to serve warm. Store in a covered container and refrigerate for five to seven days.

Tip: Now, I ain’t going to tell you how to serve this dish, because there are a million different ways.

“The savory, salty flavor of bacon pairs perfectly with sweet peaches for a chunky spread that you can serve up on cream cheese or toast, or however you get creative with it.”

Cowboy cooks KENT AND SHANNON ROLLINS are based in Hollis, Oklahoma. For more information, visit kentrollins.com and enjoy their weekly cooking shows on youtube.com/CowboyKentRollins.

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ROSS HECOX

—KENT ROLLINS

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Cowboy Couture

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orking with horses and cattle requires comfortable, durable clothing to do the job well. Western clothing designers have developed garments and accessories that both look good and suit the unique cowboy lifestyle.

Cameron Baldus (pictured above) of Bowie, Texas, is the wife of performance and ranch horse trainer Ben Baldus, and she’s also a Western wear model. She offers some tips to help keep your Western attire in good condition.

Hats

After wearing your straw hat during a summer day, Baldus suggests placing it in a location where it can get airflow, to allow any sweat to dry out before wearing it again. For a felt, it’s best to store it in a hat box. She says that her husband usually sets his hat in a safe place, brim side up, which helps the hat brim keep its shape. She adds that some horsemen believe there is another good reason to leave it upside down.

“I’m not superstitious at all, but apparently there’s cowboy lore that you’re supposed to store the hat like that so that all the luck doesn’t fall out,” Baldus says.

Shirts

Baldus sends most Western shirts out for either dry cleaning or laundry with heavy starch. Even if she washes them at home, she makes sure to iron them. The most important thing is to check all the buttons to make sure they’re intact before wearing.

At a competition, Baldus keeps a Tide pen nearby, in case of stains. If you do get a stain, she recommends blotting and pre-treating—even if it’s just with a paper towel—and taking the shirt to the cleaners as quickly as possible.

You can reduce stains with some style choices, too.

“If you know you’re going to be doing some work that is dirtier, you can roll the sleeves up on your shirt or put a vest on to keep your shirt in better condition,” Baldus says.

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Jeans

To keep your jeans in good condition, Baldus suggests washing after each day of riding—maybe after two days if it’s winter and you’re not sweating.

And during the day, if you get shavings or horse sweat on your jeans, if you can, address it as it happens.

“If the hem of your jeans gets dirty while you’re cleaning stalls, I grab a stiff horse brush from the tack area, and brush off the hem throughout the day,” Baldus said. “That helps quite a bit.”

Chaps

The most important thing you can do for your chaps is to wipe off dirt and sweat and apply leather conditioner suitable for the material every couple of rides, to keep them from cracking.

Baldus also advises inspecting the hardware before use to make sure conchos haven’t come loose and strings are not broken.

“The biggest thing you can do for any of your gear is to double-check everything before you get ready to ride or show,” Baldus said. “Make sure it’s all in good working order.

That will help save a lot of stress. Inevitably that stuff breaks or falls apart, and it’s somehow at the least opportune times.”

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Boots

Your boots take a beating when working around horses and cattle. Baldus takes a bristle brush to the leather at the end of each day to remove excess grime. If they’ve gotten wet, she’ll spray on a leather conditioner and leave it overnight. Allowing the boots to dry before wearing them again is key.

“Even if you only do it once a week, if you can put your boots out to dry out completely for a day and apply condi-

tioner, that will really help them,” Baldus said. “I’ve had several bootmakers tell me you can put leather conditioner on the inside of the upper part of the boot, too, and that helps.”

Accessories

Baldus sticks to practical jewelry for riding and showing, and uses jewelry cleaner for those pieces. For sterling silver items, she cleans with a silver cleaner and frequently wipes off the dust, dirt and grime.

Bayard Serape Dress from Resistol

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Great for warm weather, Wyoming Traders’ Texas Concealed Carry Canvas Vest is made from 12-ounce top-quality cotton canvas with reinforced stitching throughout the vest and a front Western yoke shoulder design. Features include top-quality snaps with two inside adjustable holsters, four magazine clip holders and two wallet pockets with zipper closures. The front of the vest has two hand pockets at the waist and two chest pockets, all lined with polyester satin.

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Ash Cold Bloq Jacket from Resistol

The Ash Cold Bloq Jacket is a go-to option, and the perfect weight for all temperatures. This jacket will keep you warm down to freezing temperatures. It is poly filled and incredibly lightweight, and features bright red contrasting zippers to add some color in the winter months.

This jacket, along with other Resistol products, is packable and ideal for traveling. It includes a zipper inside the left chest—simply roll the jacket into the zipper pocket. It includes a small pulley at the end to hook onto traveling accessories.

Price: $84. resistol.com

The Rancher Jacket from Outback Trading Co.

The Rancher Jacket is made from vintage-inspired Canyonland fabric.

This rugged jacket is lined in fleece and accented with Western yokes, plus a Durable Water Repellant Finish (DWR) to make it water-resistant. The Rancher Jacket also features a concealment pocket to ensure your firearm stays safely close by. This is one jacket any cowboy will love for years to come. Price: $164.99. See Outback Trading Co.’s full line of Canyonland products at outbacktrading.com.

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The Willow Ultimate riding Jean from Wrangler Wrangler’s newest offering is Willow, the ultimate riding jean. Featuring a performance waist with a higher back rise and no-gap waistband, this jean provides unrestricted movement so you’ll feel at home whether you’re in the saddle or in town. Available in three styles, the ultra-flattering silhouette is fitted through the seat and thigh and finished with a riding boot-cut leg opening that creates the perfect stack. The Willow Ultimate Riding Jean is available for $59 at wrangler.com.

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The Cattleman Hat from David Morgan

The Cattleman is a rabbit fur felt hat made by Akubra, a family-owned manufacturer since 1874. A classic Australian style protecting its wearer from the sun and rain, The Cattleman’s pre-creased pinched telescope crown is 4 inches high with a 3¼-inch bound edge brim turned down in front and back. It includes a reeded roan leather sweatband. UPF rating 50+. Made in Australia. Available via davidmorgan.com for $135 plus $9 handling and in select North American dealer showrooms.

Cowboy Pac Boots from Kenetrek Boots

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Featuring removable 6mm quilted combination liners with Thinsulate insulation and wool, these boots offer warmth but not bulk. The Cowboy outsole slips in and out of standard-size stirrups with ease, thanks to the stirrup rails that surround the recessed high traction K-lugs. It also includes a spur shelf. Price: $330. Request a catalog or find a dealer near you at kenetrek.com.

American Hat Company Midnight Blue Felt Hat from the Best Hat Store

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EPIC1:53 7/18/19 7/16/19 1:42 PM ATHLETES 7/5/19 11:04 AM PERFORMANCE

Setting Back Solutions A horse that pulls and sets back when tied is dangerous to itself and others. Avoid this panic response with three simple groundwork exercises.

Story and photography

by KATIE FRANK

T

THIS PAGE: PRIMO MORALES; RIGHT: CHRISTINE HAMILTON

he sight of a horse setting back is enough to make your heart jump into your throat. The horse’s head stretches taller than you thought possible, the whites of his eyes show, and his hooves seem to be skating on ice trying to find solid ground.

The worst thing you can do when a horse sets back is to approach it, says horseman Jon Ensign. The Montana trainer holds horsemanship, stockmanship, trail and roping clinics, and runs a small boarding facility with his wife, Ada, at their home in Belgrade, at the foothills of the Bridger Range. Decades of training, combined with studying under respected horsemen such as

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Buck Brannaman and Ray Hunt, have taught Ensign how to teach horses with firm gentleness, respect and patience.

“Horses pull because they panic.

They’re claustrophobic, and they panic because they don’t know what to do.

They don’t know what part of their body to give,” he explains. “If a horse sets back, the best thing to do is to step out of the way and let it happen. Don’t run in there and try to console him or untie him, because the horse is not in the right frame of mind. Even the gentlest horse could paw you, rear up and strike, or flip over. It’s not worth hurting yourself over.”

Instead, go back to teaching a horse how to find relief from pressure, as with what he experiences while tied to a fence post and feeling the crownpiece of a halter put pressure on his poll. It is not a natural instinct, Ensign says.

“Horses in the wild go away from pressure—they don’t come to it,” he says. “If a mountain lion is at a watering hole, the horse isn’t going to go take a drink. He’s going to run away and find another watering hole.”

Ensign uses several groundwork exercises that focus on softness and body control to help a horse accept and move toward pressure to get relief.

On older horses that are halter-broke but are new to the exercises or that have a tendency to set back, he prefers the leverage he gets by using a saddle horse, instead of working afoot.

“Pulling back is a symptom of another problem, the problem being they don’t give to pressure,” he says. “If I’m thorough with these exercises, I find I don’t have any problems with a horse setting back.”

Exercise 1: The Shoulder Roll What you’ll need: rope halter, 12-foot lead rope, saddle horse What it is: A groundwork exercise that works on the horse’s body control, balance and self-carriage, and maintaining it with pressure

A horse that sets back while tied or being ponied creates a dangerous situation, but horseman Jon Ensign says it’s a fixable problem.

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ABOVE: Ensign directs his horse to the haltered horse’s flank, in a circle, until it steps its inside hind leg over the outside hind leg, and rolls its shoulders to the outside.

LEFT: Ensign uses a saddle horse to help teach horses to not set back. He dallies once around his horn so he has more grip and control if a horse decides to pull.

Why it works: “This exercise teaches a horse to give to pressure,” Ensign says. “It shows softness and willingness throughout the horse’s body.”

How to do it: On his saddle horse, Ensign holds his romal reins in one hand and the lead rope of the haltered horse in his other hand.

“The first thing I work on is the bend,” he says. “I want the poll, the shoulders and the hips to follow a straight line, while the body is bent. It tells me my horse’s feet are reaching equal distances and that he is balanced.”

To start, he offers the haltered horse a direction in which to walk by holding the lead rope out to the left or right. If the

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horse doesn’t follow the cue, he rides toward the horse’s inside flank and continues in a circle.

“The inside is the side that I’m on,” he says. “I want to see the shoulders slightly roll to the outside as I’m stepping toward the hip. I’ll continue in a circle, and once those shoulders move out of the way, the inside hind foot should immediately step over the outside hind foot.

“If he can do this while staying soft in the poll with slack in the lead, it tells me his body can stay balanced with pressure.”

He points out that the horse shouldn’t pivot only on the inside front leg.

“If the shoulders stop and he pivots on his front leg, there is ‘brace’ in the body. All his weight is on his front end, and he is going to pull back,” he says.

Ensign repeats this exercise to the left and right. He never pulls on the lead, and instead uses his saddle horse to apply pressure and encourage the horse to move toward the slack.

“Ideally, there will be slack in the lead at all times,” he says.

“With a saddle horse, if the haltered horse pulls at all, I can

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dally once and then he has the saddle horse to pull, and he’s a pretty heavy anchor,” he says.

Once the horse masters this exercise with the help of a saddle horse, Ensign will do the same thing from the ground.

“I have more influence and control on a saddle horse,” he says. “Once I get his feet, shoulders and hips moving, then I can get off and move him on the ground.”

when we do tie him up, he knows where and how to place his body to find relief,” Ensign says.

How to do it: Ensign stands by the horse’s head, which is fitted with a rope halter and lead rope. With one hand, he

Exercise 2: Thumbs Down What you’ll need: rope halter, 12-foot

lead rope

What it is: A method of testing how soft

your horse is in the poll and body, and a way to teach it to give to pressure on the noseband, poll and throatlatch Why it works: “This teaches the horse to know where to put his body, so that

RIGHT: With his thumb down, Ensign puts pressure on the noseband. The horse may resist the pressure at first and hang on the halter.

BELOW: Ensign releases pressure once the horse gives to it and breaks at the poll.

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One of the last exercises Ensign does is wrap a lead line around a secure fence rail or post and ask his horse to move his body laterally, keeping slack in the rope.

holds the lead rope where it ties to the halter with his thumb toward the ground and his pinky-pointing up.

“I’ll rock my hand back and forth because I want him to get soft,” he says, and that puts pressure on the noseband.

“I’m not asking him to back up. I want it to be uncomfortable enough that he feels pressure, looks for relief and breaks at the poll.”

Ensign says he keeps his thumb down during this exercise as a safety measure.

“If I hold the lead with my thumb up, the horse can swing his head and maybe knock into me,” he says. “With my thumb down, my forearm comes up, and if he swings his head, he’ll knock my forearm instead of my head.”

Ensign says the horse may resist the pressure you apply and stay stiff through the face. He adds that if the horse shows that type of resistance to the noseband, he’s likely to show the same brace if he sets back and feels that pressure at the poll.

The horseman encourages handlers to have patience.

“Release when he shows any give, though it might take a few times before he’s as soft as we need him to be,” he says.

Once the horse willingly gives to pressure on the noseband, Ensign goes a step further—forward and backward, that is.

“I’m going to ask for softness standing still, and then I’m going to ask him to back up and step forward,” he says. “He needs to stay soft and straight the entire time he’s backing and walking forward. It should be soft and fluid.”

Proper Halter Fit

Before attempting any groundwork exercise, Ensign properly fits his horses with a rope halter.

“How a halter fits is really important,” he says. “I don’t care where the noseband is on the face—I care more about where the throatlatch is.”

Ensign wants the throatlatch to sit snugly right behind the horse’s jaw and adjusts the crownpiece as needed. This makes sure pressure is applied evenly to the jaw and poll.

He says he commonly sees throatlatches that are too loose and cut across the outside of the jaw, which only puts pressure on the poll.

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After the horse can back in a straight line with slack in the lead, Ensign modifies the exercise by asking the horse to back a circle and serpentine for added difficulty.

He says when a horse resists being led forward or loading onto a trailer and begins to run back, he often sees people hold on and pull hard on a horse’s lead.

“If a horse starts to run backward while you’re holding him, do not pull back on him to get him to come forward,” he says.

Ensign says to instead move with the horse. When the horse stops backing, make it back for several more steps.

“Keep making him back until he doesn’t want to back,” he says, “and when you release that pressure and give him slack to walk forward, I bet he’ll go forward.”

Exercise 3: Tied and to the Side WhaT you’ll nEEd: solid fence, rope halter with 18-foot

lead rope, flag, a helper

WhaT iT iS: A way of testing the horse’s ability to be tied to

a solid object

Why iT WorkS: “I want my horses to be able to handle a

panic situation knowing that if they relax, the pressure goes away,” says Ensign. “They need to know when the heat is on, if they just settle down and relax, it all goes away.” hoW To do iT: Ensign wraps the lead rope around the rail or post of a secure fence. He makes sure there is slack in the rope, but not enough for the horse to get a leg over.

To Tie or NoT To Tie?

There comes a point in every horse’s life when he needs to be tied. Whether it’s to a fence post, at a horse trailer or in a stall, a horse ought to be able to stand calmly for a given amount of time.

But there are times when Ensign chooses not to tie his horse hard and fast.

“If it’s a panel, or something not secure, I choose to loop the lead line around the rail a couple of times, in case something were to happen,” Ensign says, adding he’s seen horses set back and take a fence panel with them, causing massive, dangerous wrecks.

“But if there is a solid place to tie my horse, I almost always tie the horse,” he adds.

In fact, throughout a regular workday, Ensign leaves most of the horses in his training string tied.

They stand tied to a pipe fence, spaced about 5 feet apart.

“It teaches them patience,” he says. “If they paw, I just leave them tied, and they’ll figure out to stop pawing. Once they show patience, we’ll put them away. Because at the end of the day, I want to be able to take them somewhere and not have them paw the hubcaps off my trailers.”

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A second person stands on the outside of the fence and holds the tail end of the rope.

Ensign waves the flag at the horse’s flank to shift his body left or right.

“The idea is to send his body down the fence a time or two and keep his head in one spot. When he starts to feel the lead rope tighten, he’ll move his shoulder toward the tension,” he explains. “The horse may take most or all of that slack out of the rope, but he should then move his body the way he learned [in Exercise 1].

“This is the ultimate test, because we have to tie the horse at some point and see how he reacts to pressure.”

Eventually, the horse becomes so sensitive that it moves its body and keeps its head still on an entirely slack line.

On the other hand, if the horse panics and sets back, the second person can let go of the line if the situation escalates.

But Ensign advises to let the horse feel that pressure for a few seconds and allow it a chance to solve the problem itself.

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“If you immediately let go of the rope, it rewards the horse at the worst possible time,” he says. “That’s why setting back is such an easy habit to develop. For example, if a lead rope snap breaks, it’s the perfect wrong timing because it gives relief and reward as the horse is actively resisting pressure. It’s why I never use metal [snaps] on my halters.”

Ensign says that’s why products developed for horses that set back, such as plastic breakaway tie rings, aren’t a good solution.

“If someone uses those things, that’s fine, but it’s a Band-Aid,” he says. “It’s not fixing the problem.”

THESE DRILLS take time, Ensign points out, but the reward makes it worthwhile.

“It does take effort and commitment to get this right,” says Ensign, “but there’s nothing better than when it’s right.”

He adds that he revisits these drills often with all of his horses, even older, seasoned horses.

W ESTER N HO R SEM A N

“I find by practicing these exercises that they stay soft and supple, and they’re respectful,” he says. “They don’t get stiff from the nose to the nail.

Sometimes folks stop doing this when their horses get older. They do it and then think, ‘Well, he was good at it, so we don’t have to work on it.’ To keep them good at it, you have to keep doing it.”

A horse that has a habit of setting back is not a lost cause. Ensign says that while that response may always linger, he trusts that a horse can learn a better, safer way to respond in a situation that previously caused him to panic if owners take time to work with the horse.

Ensign adds that a horse knowing how to be tied provides the framework for other valuable training.

“It’s my responsibility for my horse to be safe,” he says. “If he’s not, then I need to recognize that and do what I need to do to get there.”

KATIE FRANK is digital editor at Western Horseman. Send comments on this story to edit@westernhorseman.com.

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7/22/19 7/19/19 10:18 2:37 PM AM

The Voice of Cowtown New York’s Emmy Award-winning PRCA announcer Dusty Cleveland reflects on a lifetime in rodeo.

By KATIE NAVARRA

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TOP AND RIGHT: RYAN STRUCK

Dusty Cleveland checks in at the Cowtown Rodeo office on his last night to announce in 2018.

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East Coast rodeo fans get to see plenty of action in the arena at the Cowtown Rodeo in New Jersey.

Although he hasn’t retired, Cleveland finished 45 years of announcing at the Cowtown Rodeo last year.

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LEFT: Cleveland talks with riders preparing for the grand entry at a performance in the 1980s.

For decades Dusty Cleveland has livened rodeo performances for East Coast fans with his quick-witted humor. His snappy narrations—a brush with a bull is “closer than a coat of paint,” or a rider “just got knocked out colder than a mackerel”— have made him one of the region’s most beloved announcers. For more than 50 years he’s announced Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeos, including the RAM First Frontier Circuit Finals.

But Cleveland is best known as the “Voice of Cowtown.” For 45 years he served as the official announcer of the Cowtown Rodeo in Pilesgrove, New Jersey, nearly 300 miles south of his Ballston Spa, New York, home. Cowtown Rodeo started in 1929 and is the longest running weekly rodeo in the United States.

Younger rodeo contestants only know Cleveland for his work as an announcer, but his involvement started decades before he uttered his first words into the microphone.

GROWING VOICE Cleveland’s father, Harry, was a machinist, a farrier and an accomplished tie-down calf roper who was the Painted Pony Championship Rodeo champion in 1953.

Rodeos were a family affair. Born in 1942, Cleveland was roping steers in local and regional rodeos by age 9. His brother, Wayne, roped calves and steer wrestled, and his mother, Virginia, trail rode and was a timer at jackpots and rodeos. The family’s 167-acre Circle C arena, also in

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Ballston Spa, has hosted jackpot roping and barrel racing events since Cleveland’s childhood.

The family also bred rope horses and barrel racers. Their stallion Bouncy Bar (by Bouncy Mac and out of Tonto Rina

by Tonto Bars Gill) sired several regional barrel racing stars, including Bouncys May Bar, who won a futurity at the Attica, New York, rodeo grounds, and Circle C Bouncy, who qualified twice for the RAM National Finals in Pocatello, Idaho.

As a teenager, Cleveland played the lead character in Western shows at New York’s flourishing Frontier Town Theme W ESTER N H O R SEM A N

Park in the nearby Adirondack Mountains during the summer. Three times each day he wowed the crowds with roping demonstrations, and bull and bronc riding exhibitions. He wasn’t acting. He was simply showcasing his skills as an experienced calf roper and team roper who qualified for the PRCA Circuit Finals multiple times in both events. He also was ranked in the Top 5 in the PRCA First Frontier All-Around standings.

With a quick costume change between stock demonstrations, he acted out Custer’s famous last stand in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

COURTESY OF DUSTY CLEVELAND

BELOW: The Cleveland family gathers at their arena in 1967.

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KATIE NAVARRA

Rodeo fans line up on the highway to get into the Cowtown Rodeo, which was established in 1929.

“I was the only one the Custer shirt fit, so that’s how I got the role,” he says with a laugh.

Cleveland’s rodeo days were interrupted in 1960 when he volunteered for the U.S. Navy. He was stationed stateside as a corpsman at St. Alban’s Naval Hospital in Queens, one of the five boroughs comprising New York City. He married his wife, Diane, before reporting for duty, and their first daughter, Sheri, was born the same year.

In 1963, he took a brief leave of absence to attend the Worldwide College of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa, which was founded by Colonel Joe Reisch in 1933.

As a child, Cleveland attended numerous cattle sales with his grandfather and marveled over the auctioneer. When he told a buddy he was headed to auctioneer school, his friend couldn’t understand why.

“He didn’t know why I’d do a thing like that and said, ‘No you’re not,’ ” Cleveland reminisces. “We had this thing where we’d throw our hats in the air and bet $100 based on how it landed to determine the outcome.”

Cleveland tossed his hat in the air, wagering it would land crown up. It hit the ground in that position, determining his fate—he was enrolling in auctioneer S E PT E MBE R 2019

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school. He completed the program in 1964, and within a week of graduation had his first auctioneer job. His second daughter, Lorri, was born the same year. Cleveland worked weekend auctions until finishing his military service in 1966. In 1967, his youngest daughter, Jody, was born.

Little did he know, but his auctioneer skills would soon come in handy at rodeos. In 1968, Painted Pony Rodeo in Lake Luzerne, New York needed a stand-in for their regular announcer, Hub

he says. “Don ‘Wild Horse’ Baxter owned the Painted Pony Rodeo then and was ecstatic with how I did.”

After that night, Cleveland filled in anytime Hubbell was away. Baxter and Reynolds encouraged Cleveland to pursue more announcing opportunities, so when the Ballston Spa-based All American Rodeo Company opened in 1973, he signed on to announce its performances. In one week, he followed the rodeo company to events from Oil

“A young announcer was calling everybody a champion. I told him that if the rider didn’t have the gold buckle, he wasn’t a champion. It takes a lot of sacrifice to be a champion and announcers have got to get it right.”

—Dusty Cleveland

Hubbell, a rodeo star and trick roper who worked with Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Gene Autry. The rodeo’s stock contractor, Don Baxter, and helper Jeannie Reynolds asked Cleveland to fill in because of his skills behind the microphone and in-depth knowledge of the sport.

“I had a bit of stage fright and was nervous because I’d never done it before,” W ESTER N H O R SEM A N

City, Pennsylvania, to Raymond, New Hampshire, where the PRCA Top 15 competitors in the world—including champion bronc rider Monty “Hawkeye” Henson and bull rider Bob Burger—competed. Famous trick rider and roper and National Finals Rodeo performer Francisco Zamora also was part of the event.

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Cowtown Rodeo is just seven miles from the New Jersey Turnpike, the major thoroughfare connecting Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. Located in Pilesgrove, New Jersey, it’s only 25 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Cars are stopped for more than a mile in both directions waiting to enter the rodeo grounds every Saturday night from May to September.

Cowtown is the oldest weekly professional rodeo in the United States. Howard “Stoney” Harris produced his first rodeo in 1929 in conjunction with the Salem County Fair. It became an annual event until World War II broke out. In 1955, Stoney and his son Baldy, the 1954 National Intercollegiate Rodeo All-Around Champion, established the weekly rodeo. In 1978, Baldy offered his son Grant, a multiple Northeast Circuit Saddle Bronc Champion, the chance to buy the rodeo.

Grant traded life as a rodeo competitor for that of a rodeo producer. He and his wife, Betsy, produced rodeos along the East Coast from Rutland, Vermont, to Raleigh, North Carolina, while hosting a weekly rodeo at home, which includes a 4,000-seat arena. The family also raised their own rough-stock. In 1984, Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Stock Contractor Bennie Beutler bought the Harris’ bull 018 and renamed him “Cowtown.” In 1985 Cowtown was the PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year.

The Harris family no longer produces shows on the road and focuses on their rodeos at home. They raise 500 head of cattle for the rodeo and about 100 Angus beef cattle. Even though Grant gave up riding broncs four decades ago, the bucking horses are still his favorite. The rodeo maintains a herd of 150 bucking horses, many of them direct offspring of the mares who bucked in the late 1970s.

In September of 2018, Grant and Betsy turned Cowtown over to their daughter Katy, son-in-law R.J. and grandson Nate to carry the family tradition into the next generation, the fifth generation of the family to run Cowtown. Katy’s sister, Courtney, lives with her husband, Jake Morehead, and their three children at Three Hills Rodeo Company in Bernard, Iowa.

Cowtown Rodeo celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2019, but the Harris family and their connection to ranching traces back to the 1600s, when their ancestors raised beef cattle. In 1776, the family drove a herd from their homestead almost 200 miles north to Pennsylvania, to feed General George Washington’s troops at the Battle of Trenton.

Today the family owns 1,800 acres. Developers see the scenic farmland as prime real estate for amusement parks and shopping plazas. Offers to buy the land have been so high that the interest off the payment would be more money than the rodeo has ever made.

“Rodeoing has been a family business since 1929 when Grandpop Stoney got it rolling,” Grant said. “When it came my turn to open the big gate, I had to make a big decision [to give up competing]. It wasn’t easy, but it is hard to walk away from something your dad and granddad spent a lifetime building.”

For the Harris family, no sum of money is enough to quit the family business.

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RYAN STRUCK

Cowtown Rodeo

The Cowtown Rodeo is the longest running weekly rodeo in the United States.

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LEFT: Cowtown Rodeo’s final performance in 2018 drew a full house of about 4,300.

RYAN STRUCK

BELOW: Pictured in 2016, Cleveland announced Cowtown Rodeo for 45 years.

“There were people hanging out of trees to watch the New Hampshire rodeo because there weren’t any seats left,” Cleveland remembers. “We covered 4,300 miles that week working rodeos.”

In those days, Cleveland entered many of the rodeos he announced until PRCA prohibited it. He’d turn the microphone over long enough to team rope with his daughter Sheri, or they’d wait for the slack.

One Saturday night in 1973, while Cleveland waited to rope at Cowtown Rodeo, Andy Harris, the son of one of Cowtown Rodeo’s owners, drew a rank bull named Kiss Me. The bull stood on his nose and whipped up hard, knocking out Harris. Mickey Osterman, MD, was announcing that night and rushed down to care for Harris. Rodeo organizers were frantically looking for someone to fill in when fellow contestants in the stands suggested Cleveland.

“Everyone in the crowd kept motioning to [Andy’s brother] Grant that I could come up and take Mickey’s spot, but I wasn’t really paying a whole lot of attention. I was focused on Andy in the arena,” he says.

Cleveland took over until Harris was okay. After that night, whenever Cowtown’s regular announcer was away, Cleveland filled in. In 1974, the Harris family hired Cleveland as their official full-time announcer.

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Often, he’d leave his house on a Monday and travel for two or three weeks at a time. During the week, he worked as an auctioneer. On Saturday, he’d arrive in New Jersey to announce for Cowtown before starting the routine again the next week.

“For years I bounced like a yo-yo through train stations and airports, working as an auctioneer and a rodeo announcer,” he says. “A buddy of mine had his own plane and flew me on a few trips.”

During his reign as the “Voice of Cowtown,” he appeared on the local television news program SNJ Today. Each week, Cleveland was on camera before the rodeo grand entry at 7:30 p.m. and followed up with a recap after the rodeo.

“As soon as the official rodeo was over, Cleveland headed down the steps and over to the broadcast booth to do a recap of the night’s rodeo,” says Jeff Lee, a PRCA rodeo announcer from Silent Springs, Arkansas, who has announced with Cleveland. “He just never stopped.”

Cleveland’s appearances on SNJ Today earned him the Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award for Outstanding Sporting GameLive/Unedited Program category for the 2005–2006 season.

“I didn’t even know I was up for the award,” he says. “I returned home after two or three weeks on the road and there was this box at my door. It was the Emmy.

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of mail. I would have liked to have walked the red carpet.”

MASTER OF THE CRAFT Over the course of five decades in the business Cleveland has become a walking encyclopedia of rodeo trivia and performance records for generations of East Coast rodeo competitors, both human and animal.

“Cleveland does more homework for one performance than I do in a year,” says Wade Grinager, a PRCA announcer from Hanover, Minnesota, who has often announced with Cleveland.

Cleveland has memorized the PRCA Media Guide so that when he calls a contestant a champion, he’s certain the competitor has earned the title. Being sure of a rider’s accomplishments is something the 76-year-old announcer says he has “a bug about.”

“A year or two ago, a young announcer was calling everybody a champion. I told him that if the rider didn’t have the gold buckle, he wasn’t a champion,” Cleveland says. “It takes a lot of sacrifice to be a champion and announcers have got to get it right.”

Getting the facts right is as much about honoring a contestant’s accomplishments as it is about establishing trust. The PRCA Media Guide and the Internet make it easy to confirm information, he says.

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“His depth of knowledge of not only the contestants, but their moms and dads and their grandparents, is amazing,” says Lee. Milford, New Jersey, barrel racing trainer Lara DeLorenzo Sims attributes many fond childhood memories to races that Cleveland announced.

“I owned a great mare that Cleveland’s parents bred and raised. He would always tell that story as I was making my barrel racing run,” she says.

Cleveland was quick to acknowledge family connections and achievements for the contestants, but refrained from calling attention to his children, their spouses or his grandchildren despite their more than 50 collective circuit and year-end titles through the PRCA First Frontier Circuit and the American Professional Rodeo Association circuit.

He never wanted to draw away from the show and put the attention on himself.

“The number of people that come up to him and give him a hug week after week is a testament to who he is and the impact he’s had on rodeo,” Lee says.

Cleveland’s professionalism and passion have inspired a new generation of rodeo announcers. Pennsylvania cowboy Ty Miller grew up listening to Cleveland narrate his rides at the Cowtown Rodeo.

In 2015, Miller traded in an arena view for a bird’s-eye view, and credits Cleveland with the career change.

“I got started announcing by listening to him. He’s been such a big inspiration to me,” Miller says.

In 2017, Cleveland was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer, but he continued his weekly trips to Cowtown through that season and the next. At the rodeo’s closing performance in September of 2018, he retired from the Cowtown Rodeo and was honored for his decades of service.

“Without fail, without being late, without being absent for 45 years, he was one of the greatest announcers rodeo has ever seen,” says Grant Harris, who operated Cowtown Rodeo until September of 2018, when he and his wife, Betsy, passed it on to their daughter’s family.

Cleveland may have hung up his hat as the official announcer at Cowtown, but he continues to announce elsewhere. In January of 2019, he announced the PRCA First Frontier Circuit Finals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for the 19th time, the only announcer to do so. He plans to announce at local PRCA rodeos as needed through the coming summer. His fans can always catch him in his director’s chair next to the roping chutes on Tuesday nights at the family’s jackpot events back home at the Circle C arena in Ballston Spa. “Professional rodeo is the only sport to have originated on American soil in the cattle fields of this great nation. But no rodeo would be worth 5 cents if it weren’t for the rodeo fans, and I always tried to make it an experience they would remember,” Cleveland says.

“Announcing has meant everything to me and I’ve enjoyed every bit of it, especially the folks—the contestants, the rodeo fans and my own fans.”

KATIE NAVARRA is a freelance writer based in New York. Send comments on this story to edit@westernhorseman.com

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Plain Brown Package

Haidaseeker Playboy shows that one sorrel gelding is all you need to take a cow down the fence, ride 20 backcountry miles or canter a dressage pirouette.

By CHRISTINE HAMILTON

But looking at his accomplishments, it’s not simple at all. He’s competed twice at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Celebration of Champions; won six world titles through the Western Dressage Association of America; covered more than 120 competitive miles in the North American Trail Riding Conference; earned National Reining Horse Association paychecks; and competed in the United States Dressage Federation through to international level “Intermediare I.” That’s the short list.

Even more impressive, Matt and his owner, Andrea Caudill of Amarillo, Texas, have pursued all of those disciplines at the same time. It means the two might show in upper-level dressage on a Saturday and in reined cow horse on Sunday, and the next weekend cover 40 miles over two days in rough country.

“We’ve done everything simultaneously,” she says. “We always have.”

A Whole Lot of Try Caudill grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, a child of the suburbs who got her first horse at age 13, and has owned horses and competed ever since. She went to work for the Amarillo-based American Quarter Horse Association in 2002, and is currently an editor for AQHA media.

On the hunt for a new project horse in 2003, she found Matt at a sale and had to have him.

“He was put together right, stout and strong, straight-legged with a good

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short back. I went up to him and he had a kind eye,” she remembers.

“He was a grandson of Freckles Playboy and Haidas Little Pep. And that’s all I knew about him before I started bidding on him. I thought he was higher quality than my budget could handle, but it was one of those lucky deals.”

Still green, Matt had been started as a cutter and cowboyed on, and Caudill found him willing to try whatever she pointed him toward. She regularly took him riding in the rough country of Palo Duro Canyon, and started him in reining.

When local cow horse shows cropped up, she tried that, too. She tried dressage “just as a lark” because she grew up riding English. The competitive trail riding began after she covered a NATRC event on a writing assignment and thought it looked fun. By the time Matt

THIS PAGE: PRIMO MORALES; RIGHT: CHRISTINE HAMILTON

O

n the surface, it’s easy to describe Haidaseeker Playboy, aka “Matt.” He’s a 19-year-old sorrel gelding by Docs Haidas Playboy and out of Haidas Seeker by Haidas Little Pep.

ABOVE: Haidaseeker Playboy and Andrea Caudill showed at the 2013 National Reined Cow Horse Association Celebration of Champions; they also competed at the event in 2017.

RIGHT: Andrea Caudill, pictured at home in Amarillo, Texas, has owned the 19-year-old Haidaseeker Playboy since he was 3.

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MATT’S SHORT LIST

National Reined Cow Horse Association: Earned $5,141, competed twice at the Celebration of Champions, in 2013 and 2017 National Reining Horse Association: Earned $1,362 North American Trail Riding Conference: Completed more than 120 competitive miles.

United States Dressage Federation: Competed in Intermediare 1 at two USDF Regional Championships (finished 3rd in 2017, 4th in 2016); carried Caudill to earn bronze and silver rider medals; currently working toward Olympic Grand Prix level; earned several USDF AQHA All-Breed Awards from Training Level through Intermediare I Western Dressage Association of America: Competed at three championship shows at the highest levels offered, earning six world titles (two in 2014, one in 2016, three in 2018)

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turned 10 they were showing in NRHA, NRCHA, WDAA and USDF, as Caudill’s budget allowed.

Matt has no AQHA performance record. AQHA doesn’t allow employees to compete in AQHA due to conflict of interest concerns.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing. Early on, Matt launched Caudill into a cactus patch on one ride in Palo Duro Canyon.

And dealing with about 60 fellow competitors riding alongside them on their first NATRC ride made him “super nervous,” bug-eyed at that many horses out in the brush with him.

But they steadily improved and continue to do so. Caudill goes to clinics and takes lessons when she can. To gain access to dressage instruction outside the Texas Panhandle, she found a way to live-stream her riding to remote instruc-

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tors via computer, using a Bluetooth headset to hear their ongoing feedback.

“In my work, I’ve had the opportunity to be around some of the best horsemen in the world, and I have done my best to take advantage of that and just absorb a fraction of their knowledge,” she adds. “I have also found that they are exceptionally willing to share tidbits. When I ask a question, they are usually willing to discuss it. I have learned that way, too.”

Passionate about horsemanship, Caudill enjoys trying new disciplines.

“As long as Matt’s willing, I’ll try it,” she says. “If we have a reasonable amount of success that I feel like we can improve, then we’ll keep at it. There’ve been things we’ve tried and not pursued—I went to a team penning clinic and a working equitation clinic, and those just were not a good fit for me.

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“I don’t have the means to compete to the highest level [in any discipline], so I get my pleasure from challenging myself at the level that I can, and learning to be a better horseman. They all have different challenges, and I have become a better horseman for doing all of those things. “[For example,] in NATRC, you’re doing a long-distance ride. You have to monitor your horse’s condition, respiration and heart rate, and pay close attention because he’s got to stay sound for 20 miles and then do it again the next day.

Your horse better be fit.

“In cow horse, your horse has to be soft and obedient and reactive to work that cow, and to listen to your cues. And there’s a fine balance of sitting back and letting that horse do his job. But when you move to dressage, every stride has to

clockwise from left: COURTESY OF AQHA: JIM EDMONDSON: COURTESY OF ANDREA CAUDILL

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: As “Matt the Cowpony,” the gelding performs in an educational presentation about horses to hundreds of schoolchildren annually. • Caudill and Matt compete in a North American Trail Riding Conference ride at Pole Canyon Ranch, south of Quitaque, Texas. • Matt and Caudill show at Intermediare I in United States Dressage Federation competition. Their goal is to compete at the highest Grand Prix level.

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cattle and then Friday is a conditioning ride. Saturday we’ll go trail ride for seven or eight miles and take Sunday off.”

A typical ride can be anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on work.

She feels it’s better to have a short ride and work on one thing once, instead of skipping it altogether.

Matt usually has no problem shifting between the differences in tack and cues for dressage and reined cow horse, but there have been exceptions. Caudill showed Matt one weekend in upperlevel dressage, which requires “twotempi” lead changes—a lead change every other stride, going diagonally across the arena. But the next weekend, in the rein work portion of a cow horse show, it caused confusion.

“Coming into the rundown, I bumped him at the wrong moment and he thought I wanted the two-tempi changes.

He wouldn’t stop. I was trying to make him quit and he just tried harder,” she says. “I almost fell off because I was laughing too hard. Of course we didn’t get

stopped right. The poor judge didn’t know what to do.

“And sometimes in dressage, we’ll canter down the centerline for a halt, and he’ll slide into a stop. That is not okay in dressage.

“Matt might not be the best in one arena, but I’ll show him against anyone in all of them. If you want versatility, he’s the real deal.”

In 2017, Matt qualified for and showed at the NRCHA Celebration of Champions in Fort Worth, Texas, and also qualified for the USDF National Finals in Lexington, Kentucky. He was poised to become the first horse in history to compete at both events and in the same calendar year. But a weepy eye that became suddenly painful for Matt forced Caudill to cancel the trip to Kentucky. Veterinarians eventually diagnosed an abscess in the back of his eye.

“We traveled about six times to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to the [Oklahoma State University] vet school to see an eye specialist,” she says. “They laid him down

clockwise from left: coUrtesY of AQHA: Jim eDmoNDsoN: coUrtesY of ANDreA cAUDill

be under your control; you have to know what every leg is doing.”

But it would be impossible without Matt’s temperament and heart, she says.

“If you saw him tied to a fence, you’d probably walk right past him; he’s just a sorrel gelding,” she says. “But he is very intelligent and is able to puzzle things out.

He’s willing to accept my giving him wrong cue after wrong cue while I’m working at it, and as soon as I give him the right cue he’ll do it. That doesn’t bother him.

“He just has the mind and the heart, the willingness to try. That’s what makes him exceptional.”

Caudill varies rides and conditioning to keep Matt fit, depending on her time and schedule. She usually rides six days a week, when work travel permits, to keep the horse prepared for his varied duties.

“You can’t ask them for 100 percent every day,” she says. “If I have a dressage lesson on Tuesday night, then Monday is a long and low conditioning ride, and Wednesday is a long and low conditioning ride. Thursday we might go work

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for an experimental surgery to try to save his eye.”

Matt was on stall rest for three months, and Caudill had to treat the eye every four hours. Through the winter months, she brought him into the garage so the medicine wouldn’t freeze.

“It was a six-month journey to save that eye, but it worked,” she says. “That was a year and a half ago, and he’s just now getting back in shape. He’s 19 now, so it takes a while, a lot of long, slow work. But his eye is healthy.”

Matt the Cowpony On top of his arena skills, schoolchildren across West Texas know the gelding as “Matt the Cowpony,” a trick horse who gives agricultural fair and library presentations every year, bringing a horse experience to urban youth. The tricks began with an assignment Caudill wrote on trying “clicker training”—a positive reinforcement training method often used with dogs—on horses. She had so much fun with it on her mare that she tried it on Matt.

“I started it when he was young. When we cooled out we’d play clicker games,” Caudill says. “I did the practical stuff first, like teaching him to pick up and hold his foot for the farrier. And then it was the silly tricks, like the Spanish walk, bowing and fetching.”

Knowing about the tricks, a coworker’s husband who worked for the county extension office suggested Caudill be the volunteer horse presenter for the county agricultural fair. Matt was a hit and word spread.

“We had to start presenting at 9 a.m. and then do it every 15 minutes through 3 p.m. I built a presentation where he’d do the tricks on command every 15 minutes for six hours,” she says. “There were a couple of tricks where, at about 2 p.m., he was like, ‘Nah, no more on that one. ’ “Now we do from two to six demonstrations per year, involving from 50 to 600 mostly children per event,” she says.

“We have a routine where I weave his tricks in while I teach them the basics about horses. He says, ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ smiles,

waves, bows and things like that, and the kids think he’s participating in our speech.

Almost always at the end they can come pet him. He stands like a rock, and they pet him and hug him.

“I still remember going to the fair as a little kid and getting to pet this lady’s Morgan and how I felt as a horse-crazy kid. It’s important to me to share my horse.”

For Caudill, the demonstrations exemplify Matt’s best quality.

“As amateurs, shopping and trying to find a horse, we look for the athlete and the pedigree, and all those things are important,” she says. “But sometimes I think maybe we should shop for heart and willingness more than we tend to.

Because that will take you farther than the horse you can’t handle.

“You can’t always see it in a horse, but heart will take them a long way. To me, Matt’s story is his heart.”

CHRISTINE HAMILTON is editor of Western Horseman. Send comments on this story to edit@westernhorseman.com.

Rodeo fans favorite place to shop during National Finals!

December 5- 15

www.countrychristmas.vegas @stetsoncountrychristmas Country Christmas 78

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A FA S H I O N A B L E EXPRESSION OF

Country Charm Fully Sculpted Cowgirl Hat with Sparkling Star Pavé of Genuine Swarovski Crystals Lucky Horseshoe Charm with Delicate 18K Gold-plated Country Rose Lavishly Plated in Sterling Silver with Rich Accents of 18K Gold

CAPTURE THE HEART AND SOUL OF EVERY COUNTRY GAL Toss on your lucky cowgirl hat, and let everyone see that you’re the type of gal who will always be country at heart. Available only from The Bradford Exchange, our “Country Gal” Cowgirl Hat Pendant is a distinctive jewelry exclusive that celebrates your forever love of country style.

Hand-crafted and lavishly plated in sterling silver with rich accents of 18K gold, this custom-designed pendant features a fully sculpted cowgirl hat. Front and center on the hat is a star that sparkles with a pavé of genuine Swarovski crystals. Tooled fi ligree detailing and a twisted rope design add an extra touch of down home style. A lucky horseshoe charm with a delicate 18K gold-plated country rose beautifully complements the hat. The pendant suspends from an 18" sterling silver-plated chain with a 2" extension so it can be worn at a fashionable length.

A Remarkable Value... Order Today!

A delightful way to show your country love, the “Country Gal” Cowgirl Hat Pendant is a remarkable value at $79*, and you can pay in 4 easy installments of $19.75. It arrives in a velvet jewelry pouch and gift box with a Certificate of Authenticity, and is backed by our unconditional 120-day guarantee. To order yours, send no money now; just fi ll out and send in your Priority Reservation today!

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Western Wearable Whether riding, roping or working around the barn, horse people appreciate functional and stylish clothing.

Styling by KATHRYN BARKEY Photography by ROSS HECOX

This Page: A Wyoming Traders vest pairs with an Ariat shirt, jeans and boots, as well as a Fringe Scarves wild rag and Wild Lace Beadwork fringe bag. opposite Page: A Kimes Ranch shirt and Wrangler jeans work well with a J.M. Capriola Co. vest, Hansen Western Gear wild rage, Stetson boots and Resistol silver belly hat.

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V

ersatility is a respected trait in the arenas, tack rooms and barns of Western stock horse enthusiasts.

And just as horsemen and –women value any horse that can adapt to various activities, they appreciate apparel that is both functional and eye-catching.

Western apparel tends to be versatile for all aspects of cowboy life, from doing ranch work to training horses, trail riding, or looking sharp at the local rodeo. Here’s a glimpse at some of the latest styles in Western fall fashion. >> S E PT E MBE R 2019

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Go from casual to classy by adding a Wyoming Traders sport jacket to a Miller Ranch shirt, Wrangler jeans, American Hat Co. cowboy hat, Twisted X Men’s Ruff Stock boots and a Wrangler watch.

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Choose from felt cowboy hats of all shapes and colors, including (from left) a Resistol Diamond Horseshoe silver belly, American Hat Co. midnight blue, David Morgan Snowy River santone fawn, Resistol Black Gold black and Stetson McCrea mushroom.

Blue jeans ideal for riding include (from left) Kimes Ranch women’s Betty jeans, Wrangler women’s boot cut, Stetson women’s boot cut, two styles of Ariat women’s boot cut, Wrangler men’s Premium Slim Cut, Kimes Ranch men’s Dillon raw denim and Wrangler men’s Premium Straight Cut.

Boots (from left) include the Quatro Ranchero rubber chore boot with Weaver Leather spur straps, Ariat Men’s Station Cherry, Twisted X Men’s Hooey, women’s Ariat Dixon, Twisted X Men’s Ruff Stock, women’s Ariat Tailgate and Justin Women’s Katia.

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A necklace, cuffs and rings by Mud Lowery Jewelry complement a turquoise cuff and ring (bottom left)

by Flyin’ G Jewelry.

Cooler weather calls for a fleece sweater and men’s concealed carry jacket, both by Cinch, along with Kimes Ranch men’s jeans and a Western Horseman “It’s Cool to Be Cowboy” ballcap.

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A Wrangler denim shirt fits well with a J.M. Capriola Co. sweater, Hansen Western Gear wild rag and slide, Wrangler men’s watch and Tom Balding custom spurs.

An Outback Trading Company sweater with a Kimes Ranch plaid shirt, Stetson women’s boot cut jeans, women’s Ariat Dixon boots, a Wyoming Traders wild rag, a Mud Lowery clutch with turquoise, Andy Wilber custom belt, Montana Silversmiths cuffs and Flyin’ G Jewelry belt buckle, squash blossom and earrings.

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A J.M. Capriola Co. sweater complements a women’s cactus shirt and jeans

by Wrangler, along with a Fringe Scarves wild rag, Stetson McCrea hat and Justin women’s Katia boots. Turquoise cuffs by Flyin’ G Jewelry (left) and Montana Silversmiths (right), a squash blossom necklace by Flyin’ G Jewelry, and earrings (on hat) by Montana Silversmiths add flash to this outfit, and a J.M. Capriola Co. bridle with romal reins is the perfect addition for your horse.

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Resource/Directory American Hat Co. americanhat.net Ariat ariat.com Cinch cinchjeans.com David Morgan davidmorgan.com Flyin’ G Jewelry flyingranch.net Fringe Scarves fringescarves.com Hansen Silver hansenwesterngear.com J.M. Capriola Co. capriolas.com Justin Boots justinboots.com Kimes Ranch kimesranch.com Miller Ranch Apparel cinchjeans.com Montana Silversmiths montanasilversmiths.com Mud Lowery Jewelry mudlowery.com Outback Trading Company outbacktrading.com Quatro boots afsbagman.com Resistol resistol.com Stetson stetsonapparel.com Tom Balding tombalding.com

Cuffs by Tres Rios Western Lifestyle add shine to any outfit.

Tres Rios Western Lifestyle tresrioslifestyle.com Twisted X twistedx.com Weaver Leather weaverleather.com Western Horseman mercantile westernhorseman.com Wrangler wrangler.com Wyoming Traders wyomingtraders.com

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Western Properties

Horse Heaven

in Southwestern New Mexico

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Complete horse facility. 43 acres bordered by Gila National Forest. Barn, covered arena, round pen, 30+ acres cross fenced pastures. Low maintenance custom home. National Forest trails out the back gate. Year round riding at 6500’ with moderate summer temps, low humidity, minimal snow. Suitable for an inn for equine travelers or for an outfitter’s base of operation.

Reduced $1,170,000 includes all farm equipment

Saddle & Harness Stitcher Starting at $2395

Industrial Sewing Machines www.techsew.com or call toll-free 866-415-8223

HORSESHOER’S SUPPLIES

An anvil designed and built to help make horseshoeing faster and easier, for the professional shoer or the novice. Turning in heels or making square toes can be simple and precise on the side of this specially designed anvil, as pictured. The anvil heel is tapered for shaping up those small shoes.

For shoeing from draft shoes to pony shoes, this 70-lb. anvil handles it all. $330 plus shipping $269.00 $285.00 plus shipping

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A nightlatch (safety strap) is one of the handiest items you can have on your saddle.

Made to buckle around the swell (pommel), this one has a “handle” that is always at the ready.

The handle can be relaced to fit your hand.

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SEp T E MbE R 2019

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Ketch Pen

Eyes Movin Two Breed Fee $750 (Homozygous Black/EE) Shining Spark Blue Spark Olena

Royal Blue Lena DR 2013 True Blue Roan Stallion

Montana Gay Bar

Docs Montana Dover

Tom & Ann Davis (435) 744-2469

Levels 2 and 3 heeling at the 2015 AQHA World Show and finished top ten in level 2 heeling 5 panel N/N Stud Fee $500 (shipped semen not availabe yet) First Colts hit the ground spring 2019 Owned by: Lazy HT Performance Horses in Meeteetse, WY

307-868-2299 90

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PIDCOCK/COATES QUARTER HORSES

GOOD LOOKIN’ GENTLE, WELL BRED, EASILY TRAINED, POWERFUL, FOUNDATION QUARTER HORSES AT REASONABLE PRICES. We also carry contracts.

Pictured, Described and Easily accessed on our website at: www.quarterhorsesbypidcockcoates.com “SALE BARN PAGE”

117408 King Tull Rd, Prosser, WA 99350 • 509-788-0972 S E p T E M bE R 2 01 9

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Classified Ads ALL CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. RATES: $5.50 per word for 1 to 5 insertions; $5.00 per word for 6 to 11 insertions; $4.50 per word for 12 insertions. 10 word minimum. MasterCard, VISA, AMEX and Discover accepted. DEADLINE for classified advertising is two months prior to publication date. For unspecified designation or doubtful cases, decision of publisher will prevail. Words in name and address must be included when figuring the number of words. Additional charge of $25.00 for handling and mailing instructions for blind box ads. Publisher reserves right to edit all copy.

to place your order contact: Nancy Hughes, Classified Ad manager; 817-569-7107, nancy.hughes@cowboypublishing.com Education / Schools

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Bracing Hardware for T-Posts

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PROFESSIONAL PACKING SCHOOLS - www.rockcreekpackstation.com, Craig London, DVM, 760-872-8331.

EQUINE GNATHOLOGICAL TRAINING INSTITUTE: 38 year’s experience.

Practitioners in 60 countries. 208-8691002; dalejeffrey@equinedentistry.com, www.horsedentistry.info EXCELLENCE IN FARRIER EDUCATION - Minnesota School of Horseshoeing; Comprehensive program covering balance, conformation, anatomy, lameness, diseases, and forge work www.mnschoolofhorseshoeing.net; 1-800-257-5850.

MNHORSETRAININGACADEMY. COM Best program in the industry, guaranteed! 320-272-4199.

OKLAHOMA STATE HORSESHOEING SCHOOL - ALL instructors AFA Certified Journeyman Farriers, 22 students per class, 6-week Fundamental Farrier Course, Training on live feet only. Approved for VA, Post 9/11, BIA, WIA, WIA 167, and Vocational Rehabilitation. Student loans available with approved credit. Licensed

by OBPVS. Accredited by ACCET. www. oklahomastatehorseshoeingschool.com Contact us at 1-800-634-2811 or email at oshs@cableone.net, 4802 Dogwood Rd, Ardmore OK 73401 Employment

Never dig another post hole!

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Nancy Hughes Classified Ad manager 817-569-7107 s e pt e mbe r 2019

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$500 WEEKLY ASSEMBLING PRODUCTS from home. Free information available. Call 860-357-1599.

Farriers DURASAFE BORUM HORSESHOES Proven Satisfaction. www.TheBlacksmith Shop.net; 800-840-7463.

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Horses / Stallions WWW.WOLFERANCH.COM - Offering world class AQHA and draft cross trail/ ranch horses. 580-993-0097.

TENNESSEE WALKING HORSES: Box Hanging Three Ranch, Dubois, Wyoming. mtnwalker@wyoming.com. Online catalog - www.mountainbredwalkers.com Leathercraft GET THE WORLD’S PREMIER LEATHERWORKING How-To Publication. www. leathercraftersjournal.com, 1-715-362-5393.

TANDY LEATHER’S 252 page Buyers’ Guide of leather, saddle and tack hardware, tools and more is FREE. It’s filled with everything for the leather craftsman and useful supplies for the ranch.

Tandy Leather, Dept. 19WH, 1900 SE Loop 820, Fort Worth, TX 76140. www. tandyleather.com Livestock REGISTERED MULES AND MAMMOTH JACKSTOCK for sale from Hall of Fame bloodlines. Training, private lessons anywhere and phone consultations available. www.diamondcreekmules.com; 307-899-6553.

MAMMOTH JACKS for sale. Dean Wingfield, Vernon, CO 80755, 970-332-5471.

Real Estate HOMES, RANCHES & LAND around North Texas. www.texasliving.com, Dutch & Cheryl, Keller Williams Realty, Aubrey TX 940-365-4687, info@texasliving.com HORSE HEAvEN IN SOUTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO. Complete horse facility.

43 acres bordered by Gila National Forest.

Barn, covered arena, round pen, 30+ acres fenced pastures. Low maintenance custom home. National Forest trails out the back gate. $1.17MM - All farm equipment included. 575-536-3109; suechiverton@ gilanet.com PERFECT AZ EQUESTRIAN PROPERTY - Central Arizona. 5 acres, 4500’ elevation, fully furnished and equipped. 4BR, 3BA in Tonto National Forest. See www.

TheLazyBSRanch.com for more info.

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Unforgiven 650

6 row stitch pattern, double ribbed steel shank, full double leather soles, 16" or 17" high, your choice of toes, heels, and spur ridge.

Colors for foot in black, chocolate, or natural Heavy duty leather.

Price $ 425 + $ 25 for postage and insurance. Send for free brochure and order blank.

136469*XX*69 JaOSE SANCHEZ bOOT 2” WH_DC bLACK 0.067 16 Jose Sanchez Boots

“Handmade Boots for Real Cowboys” Ask about our in-stock sale boots!

503 S. Cotton, El Paso, Texas 79901 915 309 3855 chacho1940@sbcglobal.net

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   136265*XX*70 CAN      YONVIEW EQUESTRIAN    COLLEGE 1.5”   WH_DC CMYK 0.050   25    

136300*XX*70 GRAHAM SCHOOL, INC. 2” WH_DC CMYK 0.067 25

Tack / Equipment EQUINE DENTAL INSTRUMENTS: World Wide Equine, www.horsedentistry. com, www.equinedentistry.com, 208-3662550, wwequine@horsedentistry.com SUPREME HORSE WALKER - Affordably priced! Lead and Freeflow exercisers.

256-412-5782; www.SupremeWalker.com HITCHING POST SUPPLY Shop www. hitchingpostsupply.com for buckaroo gear, bulk horsehair, mohair cinch cord, cowboy books and music. Catalog 800-689-9971.

NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP EQUIPMENT: Marine rope halters, leads, reins.

Order at www.horsefriendly.com; call 1-855-467-7337 toll free.

Vacations / Trail Rides WE ARE THE REAL DEAL: Experience the cowboy life on our working cattle ranch in Wyoming! 307-467-5663, www. thenewhavenranch.com COWBOYCATTLEDRIVE.COM - The

238486*A1*12 Graham Saddlery 2” WH_DC bLACK 0.067 25

136349*XX*73 HORSEMENS UNITED ASSOCIATION 2” WH_DC CMYK 2019 Membership Includes 2017 Membership Includes 0.067 33

authentic “Lonesome Dove” experience; operating on 22,000 acres in the Bighorn Mountains Wyoming. 5 days of endless riding, horse provided, small group, 3 meals daily off authentic chuck wagon.

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COMPARED TO US “City Slickers” is a pony ride. 120-year-old working Wyoming ranch. Check out our new venture “COWBOY CAMP”. Double Rafter Cattle Drives 1-800-704-9268. We dare you to compare: www.doublerafter.com

136264*XX*54 bUD’S HORSESHOEING EQUIpMENT 2” WH_DC bLACK 0.067 35 Idaho Falls, ID 83404 208-782-0921

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on the cover

Horseback on Coldwater Ranch

Ball Caps CAP-BR-SL

A throwback nod to 100-year-old magazine illustrations gets a modern twist with a riot of autumn orange.

$14.95

J

CAP-K/N-123

$13.95

CAP-N/K-122

$13.95

CAP-BK-SL

$14.95

To Order Call Toll Free: 800-874-6774 (M-F from 9AM-8PM EST) Order online at westernhorseman.com S E PT E MBE R 2019

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By chRisTinE haMiLTon

ason Rich’s Horseback on coldwater rancH stood out at the 2017 Cowboy Artists of America show and sale as much for its color as for its lack of it. Autumn oranges in the trees and grass splash a surprising contrast on the black, white and gray tones depicting a cowboy on a gray horse caught in a graceful sideways step. The piece hearkens back to illustrations of the late 1800s to early 1900s, but spiked with one color.

The artwork comes from a combination of the artist wanting to try something new, and also to experiment with the effects of “value,” or how gradations of light and dark affect a painting.

“My background is in illustration; that’s what I studied in school,” Rich says. “I have always been inspired by the turn-of-the-century illustrators, 100 years ago.

“A lot of them did this kind of monochromatic look with a one color-themed piece. Back then it was really because of printing restrictions.

They did it in a lot of different colors and I’ve been experimenting with that as well, [with] oranges, blues and greens. It gave this painting a really unique feel.”

The effect also lends itself to a study in value, “the light and dark [of a painting], where you take color out of the equation,” Rich says.

“For me it’s the value in a piece of art that’s really most important and holds the form of a figure,” he says. “Color can be interpreted in many ways. But if the value is correct, the painting will hold together a lot stronger.”

For Rich, paintings start with the horse, as did this one. He shot the reference photo at a branding and held onto it for years, “waiting for the right combination of elements to put it together.” The way the light fell on the gray horse lent itself to exploring value.

W ESTER N HO R SEM A N

Horseback on Coldwater Ranch, 22-by-34-inch oil

“I love the gesture of the horse,” Rich says. “The way the light was falling on that gray, and the way it defines the figure of that horse is what I was drawn to.”

Based in northern Utah where he lives with wife, Kari, Rich has been a major figure in Western art for more than 20 years. A member of the Cowboy Artists of America since 2011, he is the organization’s current president. Rich participated in the inaugural Masterworks of the West show at the 2019 Calgary Stampede in July, and his work next appears in the annual CAA show and sale. The event has a new name and location for 2019—Art in the Heart of Texas is November 1–2 at the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibit Hall in Fort Worth, Texas.

For information on the CAA, go to cowboyartistsofamerica.com; and for information on Rich, go to jasonrichstudios.com.

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tadd galusha illustration

super puncher

Find cowboy comedian dale Brisby at dalebrisby.com, instagram @dalebrisby, and other social media platforms.

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W ESTER N HO R SEM A N

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W ESTER N H O R SEM A N

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7/17/19 5:07:56 PM

On the Edge of Common Sense

by Baxter Black, DVM

Training New Neighbors

I

n rural America, farmers and “rural lifestylers” are often neighbors. Seeking a place to better raise their children, to retire in peace or to escape the continuing anxiety of the city, they move to the country and build houses on 2-acre plots.

A wire fence separates them from a grass pasture or corn field.

As the ’stylers grow accustomed to the habits and chores around the neighboring farm, they sometimes can be helpful. But unfortunately, their efforts can sometimes turn awry!

Last spring Sofia and Brett (names have been changed to protect the ’stylers) noticed that Farmer Larry’s little two-day-old calf ’s umbilical cord was still attached! They were very concerned, knowing the calf wouldn’t survive without their help!

Should they try to call Farmer Larry? Would the calf ’s innards fall out? Would he bleed to death? Is this an emergency? They agreed it was!

They climbed under the fence and hurried into Larry’s pasture, picked the calf up, drug him under the fence and took him home to their garage for safekeeping until Larry could be notified.

They called the sheriff ’s office. Officer Johnny arrived and listened to the story. The calf looked pretty rough, like it had

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been chased, jumped on, dragged, scraffed under bob-wire, banged on a concrete driveway and tangled in a 20-foot-long orange electric cord that was attached to a tipped-over table saw in the back of the garage.

Sofia and Brett were modestly proud. They had saved one of God’s little creatures. Maybe Farmer Larry will give them a reward? But they agreed with each other they would not accept it…heroes don’t charge for good deeds…“love thy neighbor as thyself,” etc.

Officer Johnny was thinking whether he should arrest them for cattle rustling, animal abuse, trespassing, bovine violence or calf-napping.

He called Larry and told him the story. Larry laughed and cussed and mused. “Officer Johnny,” he finally said, “Explain to them about calving and the navel and all. Give ’em my cell phone number, you can have the calf to bottle raise, and if Sofia asks…just tell her I like blueberry pie.”

W E STER N H O R SEM A N

Cowboy humorist BAXTER BLACK, DVM, is based in Benson, Arizona.

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