I’ve been riding Ruth and Dalila, my Agape horses in the hackamore. I started with a 3/4 I had that was made by Vince Donnelly quite a while ago. It is real nice work and they were doing great.

Bill Ferreira is a braider that we know very well as he stayed on our place and took care of things when we were on the road. He is a down to earth and traditional as they get.

Check out his work at “https://billferreirarawhide.com/“

He now has a wonderful family and moved from his homeland of Hawaii and back to Montana to pursue his braiding career and raise his family in a different environment.

The first bull that we really had that did well was a bull “702” that Daughter Mesa and my Mother partnered on. He won some money and bucked good. He got old and I had him slaughtered and made sausage and hamburger out of him.(I was not real popular around here for a while)

Bill picked up the hide from Tizer Meats and made rawhide. He made Mesa a real nice set of reins, and some nice using Hackamores.

They are smaller diameter than what I have been using, maybe 1/2 inch and boy do they feel good! They feel alive in my hands and my horses really respond nice.

It really is nice to use something that has been a part of life for a long time to it’s fullest. We believe grazing animals are a very important part of the ecosystem and sustainable use of resources. He grazed and crapped and recycled lots of nutrients in his life. Mesa learned and got started in a business because of 702, made some money, and then we all enjoyed some very good meat from him, and now his hide will create good horses for as long as someone take care of and uses it. How could an animal contribute more to the earth than that?

We need to honor the creator with the best use of his creations! Treating the environment with respect, caring for animals, and not wasting resources seems to me to be the best way to do that. That’s stockmanship and stewardship.