Life on the Road - Brazil and PA

Well here we are and it’s May already. We’re getting everything wrapped up so we can leave for a week and go on the fabulous Ranchero Visitadores trail ride, which is a highlight event for me and any of the other participants that go. It’s a wonderful time to see old friends and to make new friends. To say it’s interesting is a total understatement of what goes on there, and it’s too bad I can’t tell you all about it—it’s top secret! But we do have fun!

I just came back from Brazil as you noticed in the last blog; I thought I would tell you a little bit about it. This was my 5th trip to Brazil. Dr. Enrique Penha and my friend, Flavia and her husband, Oleg met me at the airport in Sao Paulo. I was accompanied on this trip by my friend James Dixon from Moab, Utah. He actually put the Moab clinic on a month or two ago. James is really good to travel with. You know, they say you never know somebody until you either live with them, do business with them, or travel with them. I got to know James pretty good, and he’s a keeper! James and I traveled via Lima, Peru.  It was a long way around. We had some layovers we didn’t expect, so it was about a 30 hour trip each way, which kind of knocks the sap out of you.

When they met us in Sao Paulo, I wondered if they didn’t make those layovers on purpose just to socialize and take us to the most fabulous Brazilian BBQ restaurant and even to a Brazilian-French restaurant. The food was incredible!  The whole town of Sao Paulo was historic and interesting. After a 12-hour layover there, we flew another two hours to a place called Presidente Prudente. Then we drove another couple of hours to Santa Mercedes, to my wonderful friend Menees’ ranch. Menee is an excellent horseman with beautiful facilities in the middle of nowhere! This is truly in the outback of Brazil.

At this clinic we had about 10 riders but probably 200 people including spectators.  Included among the spectators were some gauchos from Paraguay. They had their little yerba mate cups that they sip all day with their silver straws, and they were wearing their bombachi pants, their tall boots, and their blousy shirts. Some of them look a little like Zorro and they are good horsemen. They’re very interested in the ways of the reined cow horse, and they’re modernizing a lot of their techniques.

We‘d work until about noon and then everybody wants to sleep until about 3:00, so you kick back in a big old hammock. It didn’t bother me much! There were a few more flies than we’re used to, but after a few days you quit swatting. They just come back so you get used to it and let them crawl on you. The weather was beautiful, a little warmer than I’m used to. It was their late fall there. 

I have to say that their horses are excellent. Menee has a horse by the name of Gizmo Whiz. Gizmo is an excellent producer. He’s by Topsail Whiz, and I can’t remember which mare, I think he’s out of a King Fritz bred mare actually, but Gizmo does produce! They’re pretty, and they do stop, and they do work a cow! They’re as good as any horse out here, at least. I think overall the horses I see in Brazil at our clinics, are probably way better than what I would see in a typical clinic setting in the United States. Menee is a wonderful horseman, and there are always many, many other wonderful horsemen in my clinics in Brazil. They’re good reiners, and they are learning a lot about the cattle and show techniques, so we had a great time. I had to work six days in a row, but with the two or three hour lunch breaks, it really wasn’t that bad!

Their cattle are not very good there I can say that. They are an African breed, and they’re not gregarious. They look like Brahmas, but little more leg; they’re dumber than a Holstein, and they get mad instantly. Also, they can jump like a deer. Since they’re not gregarious at all, they don’t hang together—forty cattle go forty ways.

They had the Behancha there too. The Behancha is a guy with a big horn made of a steer’s horn, and he can blow it like a bugle. He told me he was a cow whisperer and could make the cattle come from a distance. Then he proved it to me. He can certainly do that. He’s in big demand with these cattle that they can’t drive—because they go every which way! He rides in front of the herd and calls them and the cattle follow him.  He’s quite the character!

James is a roper (he’s a header), and we were invited to do an exhibition team roping run in the Brazilian rodeo. They packed the people in, there were thousands and thousands of them, and the noise was overwhelming. They make their speakers a little louder than most of us can stand, and they had music going. Their bulls buck like heck. They’ve really got good bulls. Their bareback riding, or bronc riding, is a combination between saddlebronc and bareback riding. It’s like an English saddle with stirrups with a bareback rig and a handle on it. The horses have no halters, so they ride them like a combination.

Now the team ropers, they look, act, and talk just like our team ropers. They all look the same, act the same, and have the same mannerisms. They rope real good there. We weren’t there to show them how good we were, we were just there because we wanted to see the rodeo, and they said “Hey do you want to rope?” Well, we never say no to, “Do you want to rope?” so we went out an threw a few loops. We got out-foxed somehow, got one or two tangled up, but we had a ton of fun doing it!

The food in the middle of Brazil is very different, but really, really good!
Great horsemen, great friends. You’ll never be treated that good, or you certainly can’t be treated any better than they treat us. Dr. Enrique, Flavia, and Oleg took wonderful care of us on the way back out. You have to transfer between airports in Sao Paulo, which is the second largest city in the world, so it’s kind of a big place and a little help there when you can’t speak the language sure is nice. We made it back in one piece and that all well and good!

Now before we went to Brazil, I don’t know that I even mentioned to you, we went to Pennsylvania and gave a clinic. We were not too far Philadelphia, at a very, very famous place called Willow Brook Farms, home of Joe Cody. It’s where Bob Loomis, Bob Anthony, Dick Pieper, and many other guys got started out in their training life. It’s a huge beautiful farm, and we got to give our clinic there, hosted by the farm owner, Pete Fuller. Pete’s a wonderful guy, and he had a wonderful crew to put the clinic on for us. We had a lot of fun there!

It was great because it was the first time I’d given a full clinic in the eastern United States. I’m very interested in civil war stuff, and we were with the Yankees there for sure.  After touring around town, I found out that they definitely do not like the southeasterners still—the rebels! You start talking about it, and they get kind of a fiery look in their eye. They don’t have many good things to say about the southeasterners (Virginia and south of there).  Later on this summer we get to go to Virginia and give three different clinics. So I’m kind of excited to hear the southerners’ version of what went on; I sure got an ear full from the northerners!

While we were there we went to see the Liberty Bell of course, and all the important papers that you’re supposed to look at. We learned a lot about America. We saw old-town Philadelphia, (which was really, really fun), lots of the old buildings from the 1700’s and learned what they represent. Then we saw Valley Forge, where George Washington holed up for winter.

Probably the most fun part for me was Gettysburg. What happened at Gettysburg was pretty important. I’ll put it this way: it was a big turning point in our country, and it is well worth seeing. It was very exciting to us, and again, we’re looking forward to see what the southerners have to say about the northerners.

One more thing that’s kind of exciting and new is that Les Vogt Silver and Performax Bits & Spurs are now the official bit for the American Cowboy Team Roping Association (ACTRA). As the official bit and spur company, we‘ll be manufacturing all of the awards for the ACTRA. That’s exciting for me. There are an awful lot of people that really like to team rope, so we hope to spread the news that there’s a bit out there that can actually compliment their roping.

Anyway, that’s about it for me for now. Thanks for listening!