There is a real good book titled “40 Years Gatherin’s” written by Spike Van Cleve in the late 1970s, and you would enjoy reading it.

I’m sitting in the Sacramento airport with a delayed flight and reflecting on my weekend at the Western States Horse Expo.  It’s been a long time since I have presented at it, and it, like me has changed some.

You might wonder what this has to do with the book I mentioned above.  It just so happened that an old friend of mine, Rob Leslie that I first met in 1979 when we were both going to college in Casper, Wyoming, was there representing Vetoquinol, a pharmaceutical comparing with equine products.  1979 is getting pretty close to 40 years ago.

Back then all I wanted to do was ride, have fun with my friends, and have a pretty girl. The riding was spurring bucking horses, the friends were young rodeo guys that felt the same way, and the girl at that time was Pam Hernandez, a brown haired girl that worked in the college cafeteria that was so nice and so pretty, and smart enough not to let a young cowboy tell what he thought she wanted to hear.  I would sure like to know what happened in her life.  

She was real special.

As Rob sparked my memory, I got to thinking about the last forty years.   I loved riding Bareback horses(I hated riding bulls).  I was tall and skinny and not built to be a bareback rider, so I had to really have fast feet and stay ahead of a horse, and have lots of try to ride good.  I didn’t always ride good but I always tried to ride good.  I think I really learned to appreciate the life, spirit, and athletic ability of the horse at that time, and have always tried to respect that and not take it out of the horse. I would really like to nod my head and spur another one, and feel like I could, but I think I will leave that alone.

BACK WHEN THE CHUTES WERE WOOD, THE MEN WERE STEEL, AND THE CHUTE HELP WAS A POET IN THE MAKING (Paul Zarziski helped me get out on this horse in Cascade, Montana)

 

One of the real important things I learned rodeoin after college when I started traveling was your traveling partners and who you hung out with when you were on the rodeo trail.  Winners create winners and losers make excuses and end up  hanging with losers, and in the rodeo world, support the winners and tend to not hang around to long because of injury or finances so you get a new crop of losers coming in quite often.  The winners feed off of this and it allows winners to keep being winners.  

Some winners are seen to be arrogant.  It may just be the confidence you need to be a winner in a very demanding and dangerous sport.  I had lots of good traveling partners, but my two favorite were Buzz Cope and Stanley Johnston.  We had lots of people in the van, but these guys helped me to be a winner more than any others.  When I was at a rodeo I liked to hang out with Colin Murnin.  These three would help me get my try on and if you weakened they would tell you about it.  I hope I did the same for them.  We were a bunch of young guys with the same ambition, to give it our all for eight seconds, and then have lots of fun until the next one.  We fit each other’s pressure.

After I was done riding, I started announcing.  It was lots of pressure, and lots of overhyped talk and it was alright but I didn’t really like it.  It was to much pressure, and I did alright but I didn’t really try like I should have.  I didn’t feel a part of it like I did when I was behind the chutes climbing on one.  I was one of the main parts of the production, but I wasn’t in it, and it wasn’t the same. I didn’t have my traveling partners, and that was a big part of the deal.  Riding bucking horses and then getting to the next one is different than talking about it.  I didn’t really fit with the cowboys anymore.

I saw Dennis Reís on Friday at the expo and we had a visit.  Ive been watching the whole clinic game for the last twenty years or so and Dennis has been right in the middle of it all.  I got caught up in all that and we were all competing with each other, but it wasn’t the same as rodeoin, as there was a different kind of an ego involved.  When you nod your head on a bucking horse, you have to impress two people, and that is the judges.  It doesn’t matter if it’s the Calgary Stampede with 100,000 thousand people in the stands, and you ride a wild horse fit and get a standing ovation or the Wilsal rodeo and you make a 23 point spur ride and they don’t even clap, it only matters on how they mark you and your horse.  Judges are supposed to have knowledge.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON HORSEMANSHIP IN THE MAIN ARENA

 

What I saw happening at the horse expos was the way you win(get the most people to come to your booth, to get the money)was to impress the judges the most.  The judges just happened to be those same folks that would give the standing ovation for a wild horse fit at the rodeo.  They didn’t know so they would be sold on a bunch of hype and not real horsemanship.  If you could get the people to come to your booth and buy equipment or come to a clinic, you could pay all your help and expenses.  The trouble was is there were several other clinicians doing the same thing and you had to do something more impressive than the others to get them to walk by the others booth and come to yours.  It created a extreme horsemanship that didn’t fit the horse, but sure sold lots of halters, sticks and videos.  I didn’t like it.

Dennis explained to me that they would be offered booth space instead of getting paid to preform.  They would get $10000 worth of booths for working the show and make the money selling to the public.  It worked great when the economy of the horse market was booming.  After the Great Recession, that all came crashing down and it really changed things.

I didn’t fit very good in those days.  I didn’t have a booth and had nothing to sell.

My crowds we smaller lots of times, and what I was doing was boring not what people wanted to hear, but there were always some people that were real interested in more horsemanship and not so much hype.  I never let it bother me or change what I was doing, because I thought what I was doing was right for the horse and for people.  I didn’t really fit in at the horse fairs, kind of like rodeo announcing.

Then my focus shifted to the place I had always had my base with and that’s the livestock industry.  I was presenting for Purina at the Red Bluff bull and gelding sale and Darrell Burnett and I were eating breakfast at a restaurant and I looked around at all the cattle people and felt so comfortable and at home and I told Darrell that this is who I wanted to be around, and that’s been my focus every since.  My new traveling partners.

Now I feel like I’m back in my old rodeoin days and my traveling partners fit me again.  We are older and not in as good of shape, but Ron Gill, Todd MacCartney, Dean Fish, Bill Dale and all my partners I work for with Zoetis Canada are winners and help me to present myself in a way that makes my job better.  The people we are presenting to know, and don’t really care about a lot of hype(wild horse fit) but will listen and learn from good stockmanship(23 point spur ride).  If your wrong they know it and if your right they appreciate it.

SECOND DAY ON COLT-NO ROUND PEN-HE MOVED OUT REAL NICE

 

So now we are in the present and I think back on the weekend of horsemanship.  The crowds were much smaller than 15 years ago.  The booth sizes of clinicians was much smaller.  There were many less clinicians.  The one that we’re there were all very supportive of each other and I saw several of them telling people to go see someone else.  The big hype/ego clinicians have gone somewhere else to make the money.  The people in attendance were there to learn, and I found it very interesting the big day was one Friday.  It use to be Saturday was the big day.  I don’t know but I think many people came on all three days, but some came the first day and went and rode on Saturday and Sunday.  I didn’t see near as many young people as I used too.

LAST RIDE ON THE COLT -I REALLY ENJOYED WORKING WITH HIM-(Bill Dale was the picture taker)

 

I watched some of the clinics.  Really good info and presentation of horsemanship that the attendees can take to the horse and use.  I didn’t see anyone standing on the back of the saddle popping a bullwip or any stuff that was all hype and no horsemanship.  

I watched Jonathan Fields do a trailer loading demo.  It was so good, and he was such a great presenter, and really good at making the horse feel the right pressure and the audience as well.  I really enjoyed watching and learning from a good horseman and a good human.

JONATHAN FIELD AND I ON THE DELTA RIVER QUEEN AFTER BREAKFAST

IT WAS GREAT FOOD AND CONVERSATION AND JONATHAN BOUGHT SO IT A VERY NICE TIME!

 

I had remembered watching a demo in the same spot 15 years ago by a guy from Australia and I am almost certain the horse had health issues(collided or tied up) when done because of all the exertion in the heat for a long time.  In my mind it was cruelty to animals, and when the horse finally went in he got a standing ovation.  I’m so glad I got to see the change in approach.

The last thing I watched was Amberley Snyder.  You will have to check her out on the internet  to know her story.  The last time I presented at Western States my friend and life mentor Michael Richardson was presenting as well.  Michael, like Amberley is in a chair from an accident.  Fifteen years ago Michael kept us all in balance and would help the audience understand what was important with horses and life.

Amberley just did the same thing in her way and she re- inspired me to live life to its fullest and ride as much as I can, just as Michael did in the past.

I had a great colt to start.  I got to start on Friday and have an hour each day with him.  He was a good draw because of the work that had done with him by the owners.  I really enjoyed working with him, and there was no wild horse fit.  I felt real good about the work I did with him.  I didn’t have many people watching, but some of them were there for each one and I appreciated visiting with them about things.

As I look back on the last 40 years, I’ve kind of made a big circle.  All I want to do is ride and work with animals, have a few good friends, and hang out with a pretty girl. 

As I wrote about the “Hi-Line” of Montana in the loop I threw last week, I thought it would be good to have a song about the Hi-Line.  Well Wylie has two songs with it in the tittle, and I really enjoy good polka music and a yodel thrown in even better, so this is my choice.

If I was home today, I would head for Harlowtown this evening for dinner and Dance  as they are having a fundraiser for the fairgrounds improvement and Wylie is playing.  You should go if your close, and I sure wish I could.

My Music highlight for the week happened last night.  Went to supper with friends Bill Dale and his companion Lisa in Old Town Sacramento and they had a Mariachi band.  They were good and we enjoyed it.

 

 

Wife Tammy and I spent the first part of last week in the Northern, and very productive part of Montana( they call it the Hi-Line).  We headed out to Chester, Montana a little after noon by driving on some narrow two lane highways with so bright of a green grass or crop because of all the “white” stuff we had all winter.  It was a beautiful drive.

We stopped in Fort Benton, Montana and looked around.  My Grandmother on my Moms side lived there ( she died before I was born) but I heard quite a bit about it.  One story my Mother always told us was about Shep, the loyal sheepherders dog, and I think my grandmother worked in a restaurant and used to take scraps to Shep.

We stopped and walked up to his gravesite and I sat our dog “Taco” down by the sign to take a picture.  I really enjoyed taking the time to pay tribute to the loyalty of a dog to his human.  That sheep herder must have been a pretty good stockman, or I don’t think the dog would have been so hooked on to him.  There is a movie about it and if you look up Shep-Fort Benton you will be touched by the story.

When you work stock well, you don’t have to put so much pressure on your dog and it creates the kind of bond you read about on the sign.

We stayed in a real nice old hotel in Chester for the duration and traveled back and forth.  We presented in Shelby the first day, Chester on day two, and Havre, Montana the third day.

Rick Caquelin, NRCS Range Management Specialist presented all three days on the effects of grazing.  I learned so much, and am real glad I got to hear his presentation each day as there was a lot of very good knowledge that really helped me to understand grass management, and I got more in my head each time I heard it presented.

The first day we were at Flesh Angus bull facility.  They had purchased the property when the auction market shut down years ago.  Buster Brown, an old mentor from the rodeo world and a darn good horseman and a real character, and his son Jeff that had rodeoed with our daughter Mesa, brought a horse for me to ride.  The 15 or so two year old bulls I worked with had never been handled horseback so that took a little work.  We gathered, sorted and put them all through the tub system with lots of different situations to discuss.  I really enjoy working with bulls.  They were good bulls that had been handled right so they were no problem.  

After we finished we had a little horsemanship clinic for the 4H kids.  It is very interesting to see how kids, parents and horses give and take pressure.  Very good group.  

On Tuesday we stayed in Chester and the Fritz Ranch hosted. They run a diversified operation of cattle/farming/auction business and a portion of the income is from the hog operation.(their son Jake had 10 feeder pigs he was fattening to sell)

The Harman family brought horses, and the cattle were about 15 head of replacement heifers and a bull.  They were out in a small pasture and I went out and got them handling and brought them into the corral.  They were a little hard to get working and past the crowd to go in the gate but it was a good demo of what I thought was good to work cattle outside.  They hadn’t been handled horseback before either.  We then went in and listened to Ricks grazing talk and had lunch, then we came back out and the Harmon boys and I went out and brought the heifers and bull back into corral.  They were good hands and we were all riding real handy horses, so it went well.  

I commented on how we didn’t have to talk or make a plan, and they never asked one time what we were going to do.  They just followed my lead and got to where they needed to be to put the right pressure on.  That is how to be real effective, and it comes from having the confidence to fill in where needed.

We put them in the working area horseback then I got off and worked a foot.  The cattle worked good, sorted real nice, and we put them through the working system and had lots of thing to discuss.  Real good group with lots of thoughts and questions.  

An added highlight to the day was my Mother coming and watching.  She and my sister Darcy got to spend a little time together then she came and watched the demo.  I think she enjoyed being around her kind of people, ranchers and farmers.

We finished up about 4 in the afternoon, so Tammy and I took a drive north from Chester and went clear to the Canadian border on gravel road, took a left and drove through the “Sweet Grass” Hills, came down through the little town of Witlash, then back to Chester.  Great day with some real good people in some real good country.  I could sure live there.

Last day was in Havre and the Northern AG Research Center.  They went all out to host the event, brought some yearling cattle in as well as having some pairs to work with.

Another good horse brought by Justin Simonson, and everyone on the staff were very nice and helpful.  They have a very nice facility and good equipment to do all the research that they get to do.

We brought the pairs in from the lot and sorted them in an alley and then worked the calves through the system they have set up for calf table, and discussed different ideas on working calves and cows.

Then a good lunch and Ricks talk and back to working with yearling steers that had been hauled in.  They were worked horseback but I got on foot to work them.  I had a tough time getting them past the crowd and up the alley and wondered why in the world I didn’t stay horseback.  It took quite a bit but I finally got them in the alley.  Then we put them through the very fancy tub system, caught a few in the chute and discussed more processing ideas. 

 

Our old friend Jack Nystrom came and we had a great visit.  I have several friends that were real good bronc riders and I notice their attitudes are a lot alike.  They talk (most of them talk quite a bit)about being around winners make you a winner.  Jack said he wished he had gotten more pictures with his friends, as that is the important memories he has.  The bronc riding pictures are great but friends and memories is what he says matters.  He was always friendly and had a big smile when he was riding broncs and that hasn’t changed.

It was a great three days of good work with good animals and good people.  We met so many nice folks, and I only had one kinda negative situation that wasn’t a big deal, and I just stepped away from it so it didn’t get to be a big deal.

The folks at the NRCS were great and worked hard on the programs.  We spent a lot of time with Dawn Weinert and her Daughter Libby, and we really think they are special people.

I’ll make some observations from the time.

We used three different facility’s.  I like the ranch setting with no alleys and they had kind of a return box set up to get the cattle in the tub. (Ron Gill has the same kind of a set up on one of his leases in Texas). I felt the cattle worked better and had less stress than the other two facilities.  Alleys were needed in the auction setting as well as for the test centers work.  They are needed but they can create the most stress on cattle.  We need to really be careful to use the right kind of pressure.

I don’t really like to sort pairs in an alley, but if you do it’s very important the alley is wide enough for the cows to go by you comfortably, and that you don’t jump in front of them to get them to stop.  You should  back up until the animal stops, then turn them around.  This way they learn and get better to sort and handle each time, and don’t get so crowded in the back of the alley and get panicked.

I felt real good about my horsemanship and pretty good about my cattlehandling.  I could have set a few situations up differently to make a better learning situation for the folks that came, so I will work on that for the future.

I like these kinds of demos.  You can use lots of different scenarios to show what works and what doesn’t work.  We took small numbers, to many numbers of cattle, and showed what happened when to little pressure was used.  It’s a great way for attendees to be able to watch something and be able to be focused on the cattlehandling, and not on the job they would be doing if they we’re actually working cattle.  They can observe and make there own decisions on how they want to work.

We finished up around 4 in the afternoon and headed home through some country we never were through.  Lotsa grass and lotsa green.  We drove east of Havre to Harlem, headed south through Hays, Montana, ate supper in Grass Range and got home at about 10 pm wore out, but real content.  

I am now writing this on a plane headed for Sacramento and the Western States Horse Expo.  No rest for the wicked!

I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but I am even more sure I have the best job in the world!