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I grew up a cowboy. I honestly can't recall ever not being one. My father was a well known roper and horse trader and when I was just 4 maybe 5 years old I would go to all the teamropings with Dad. I remember like it was yesterday how it was riding his big dun horse Don Jac. He had a roached mane, as was the style of the day, and from where I sat, his neck looked a mile long. I felt so great sitting up there on that horse and I knew then that all I wanted was to just keep riding.
My parents bought some land and we build The Bar R Six stable and dude ranch. Dad was always wheeling and dealing on horses and ponies and I was the test pilot on all of those ponies as well as a lot of the horses. If you have spent any time at all around ponies you know that some of them are far craftier than is healthy and trust me I rode some really ignorant little horses.
I started taking groups of riders out on trail rides by myself when I was 7 years old and spent all of my time either riding or working in the barn. Everyday the horses were the biggest part of our lives.
My father was infected by a deadly disease that at that time no one had heard of or knew how to treat. We sent him all over the country to different doctors to try and figure out what had happened to him and hopefully find a cure.
Through the years of his sickness we slowly lost our ranch piece by piece, horse by horse. It was in this period that I would spend many hours just hanging around the barn with the horses. I talked to them and at the time I felt they were the only ones I could talk to.
My Dad finally lost his life and Mom and I lost the ranch and all but one horse. A POA that an old horse trader friend of Dads said he would give to me if I was cowboy enough to ride him. I was cowboy enough and he stood by his word. I owned that little horse named Hawkeye until he died at the ripe old age of 32. I had him for 24 years.
I rode that horse a million miles and could do anything on him. I even flanked him to use him as practice for steer riding. As hard as he could buck he trained me well and I won just about every rodeo I entered.
When I was 12 I was working at a dude outfit as a wrangler and spent that summer riding and guiding dudes. It was during this time that I went to a college rodeo practice and was talked into getting on my first bull. I made the mistake of getting him rode and decided that day that bull riding would be my future. I rode bulls for 17 years and even now still get a wild hair and crawl on one just for fun.
I took a break for about 6 months from rodeo and went to work on the TS ranch outside of Battle Mountain Nevada. It was there that I fell in love with the working ranch cowboy lifestyle.
My days were spent in the saddle working cattle and riding fence, branding and doctoring. There was such a freedom with this life and though the pay was low, the benefits of being out there everyday were priceless.
I had the privilege of working with some great ranch hands and I learned a great deal about cattle and horses while on the TS. I learned the signs of when a horse was going to buck when you first step up on him. Tight muscles, pinned ears, white around the eyes. All warnings that you best hang on!
The way of the cowboys there was to swing on and bronc ride them out of it if possible. Spur him out of it if you were good enough or just hang and rattle till the storm was over. If I would have known then what I know now I would have saved myself and those horses some grief.
Years later while sidelined from the bulls because of injuries I took a job working for a professional horse trainer and showman, Kim Wagoner. Kim was the first to really open my eyes to the world of fine horsemanship.
I’ll never forget when I first started riding for him he told me that I had great feel and timing but my problem was that I rode like a damn cowboy! I told him I thought that was what I had been working for all these years. I spent several days riding without stirrups after that comment.
Kim and I built a great friendship that lasts to this day and he is in my mind, the best showman in this nation. I will always be indebted to him for sharing his knowledge.
I eventually quit working for him to go back to bull riding full time and it was during that time that I was offered a job performing in rodeos overseas on a small island in the south pacific called Saipan.
I rode bulls, bareback broncs and roped for nine months on the island. To say the least it was one of the greatest jobs and adventures of my life. I could write a book on that one alone!
A few years later I bought a two year old from a friend of mine and got him started riding. I was day working on some small area ranches and some of the folks that saw how well my colt was trained began hiring me to start horses for them.
I was working as a welder at night and riding during the day and I ended up with so many horses to ride that on a prayer I quit my regular job to train horses full time.
I had known Kim Wagoner’s brother, Shane for many years from the rodeo circuit as he too was a bull rider. Shane was a trainer as well and a greatly respected reining horseman. I ended up training in the same barn with him and he on occasion would put me on one of his finished horses so I could get a feel for how to spin and slide them correctly.
The hours that Shane spent coaching me and discussing training methods I could never have made enough money to pay for. His guidance and willingness to share knowledge no doubt has been very instrumental in the success of my career.
During the time I spent learning to ride and train reiners I was also applying these techniques to my ranch horses and I found the real value of fine horsemanship. My horses were always quiet and controlled and I could do a much better job being so well mounted.
Over the next twelve years up to date, I continue to train and show reining horses as well as rope, trail and ranch horses. I have been blessed to ride with great horseman and ride amazing horses.
My passion of life is the horse, I am so incredibly blessed to ride with and teach people from all walks of life, on all breeds of horses. Whether moving cattle and branding with my daughter and sons, trail riding with my beautiful wife, showing, roping, or riding with new friends at my clinics, I am so fortunate to be a horseman.
Thank you Lord for my family, my friends, and for the gift.
