New Year’s Update

Hi folks, I’m going to catch you up since the last update.
In December, I had a wonderful time; I didn’t do much as far as clinics go, because that’s more of celebration time and the National Finals Rodeo. I definitely went to the event, but didn’t watch the rodeo. If I can’t get front row seats, I would rather watch it at home. I did go to the trade shows and saw some different Vegas shows while I was there. The reason I go to the NFR is mainly for the trade shows, to see the current trends, who’s selling what, and if the vendors are actually selling. I talked to quite a few of the vendors, they said their sales were way down, a large part of them blame it on the economy and they won’t return to Cowboy Christmas next year.
I also went to the ACTRA – American Cowboy Team Roping Association Finals this year, don’t think I’ve mentioned this before in my blogs, but I didn’t win much. I roped pretty fair, I learned a lot and my horses worked great. I got a call from someone that’s a really a good team roper. I didn’t know him, he said you’re black mare was the best heel horse there. I was flattered, he was a high number roper and I was very flattered, then he said that the guys he was with were a little disappointed that Les Vogt didn’t rope any better than he did. My comment was “I wasn’t real good but you should have seen me last year, I was worse”. So anyway I’m getting better and I’m having more fun than anyone there and that’s what it’s all about. This is one thing I do that I don’t have to prove anything to anybody. While I was at the ACTRA Finals, it was really flattering to be one of their main sponsors again this year. We were the official bit and spur maker for the ACTRA so we furnished all the official bits and spurs, and we made some really fancy products for them that had a tremendous amount of positive input.
Christmas time, December 23, I did an exodus; I left California and went to Cave Creek, Arizona. I’m not really a Christmassy person, because I don’t have much family around here or little kids, so I take off. Well why would I go to Cave Creek. Well, roping is the sport of choice there. There are many thousands of ropers from around the United States. There are a lot of ‘snow birds’, people who live in the snow country from Canada and back east. There’s an average of 4-5 roping arenas per square mile, maybe even more than that, everybody ropes. Every restaurant you go to there are ropers, so it’s a common interest and everybody is very interested in getting to know each other so I made a lot of new friends. They come from every walk of life, I think people who go there are all living in a fairy tale land, course that included me; it’s all work and no play. In the morning you practice then go to a jack pot somewhere and you’ve got a choice between 5-10 a day. I chose to trot to the closest one to where I was at. You don’t have to even load your horse. There would be anywhere from 200 – 300 teams in each event. I think I had one of the best times of my whole life.
And New Year’s I don’t even think I hear anyone say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year”, they just said “how did you rope today?” or “Good Luck”. Everybody is pretty motivated and it’s just fun. I’m very fortunate to have that opportunity.
Just got home from Arizona last week and so this week we are getting ready for the Denver’s Western and English Trade Show, it’s the biggest in the world. Its where all the manufacturers such as I all have booths, the retailers who have stores show up and they try to make a deal. That market has been way down. This year I didn’t go to the expense of having a booth, I’m just going to show up and see what the market is doing because the last time I went was a real money loser. We’re selling a lot more ourselves, over the internet, than we sold to stores at Denver.
I’m booking clinics for 2011; the bookings are up, up, up. I think people are interested in self-help projects, learning to do it yourself rather than hiring a trainer or put a horse in training. So our books, videos, DVD’s are definitely are in demand. Best yet all of our on-line products are working well, from the handmade, engraved, silver line and the Performax line which looks just like silver and is a really nice line. The sales on those products are up.
Even though I’m not working during these leisurely months, I seem to keep really busy. I got a couple of really exciting phone calls. One call was from Sped Williams in Texas, who has won more team roping championships than anyone in history. I also got a call from Rickey Green who is one of the leading instructors of team roping in the country. Both people are interested in what I might know as far as performance horsemanship goes. On January 21st, I’m going to hang out with these guys and do a little video work and helping them with their performance horsemanship and in return I’ll get some really good input from the best of the best of the team ropers. I am serious about team roping; I seem to get obsessive at least.
While I was in Arizona, I gave my colts 10 days off. I’ve got Rango who is a big red colt with 4 socks and a blaze, bright red with a flaxy mane and tail and Rango is like his name sounds, he’s fancy and a good horse. Rango is at least 15 hands or more, that’s pretty big for turning 3 but he’s clever footed. And then there is Sparky, he’s a little plain bay horse. He’s got a short stride, and Rango is bigger and has a bigger move when he gallops, they’re like Mutt & Jeff. They are both really fun and exceptional horses. I hate to brag on them at this point, sometimes they don’t pan out, so you don’t know for another 3-4 months from now really what you’re riding. I’ve been moving mine along a little faster than normal because I’m booking a very heavy load as far as the clinics go, but I also make it so that I can ride on the Friday morning before I depart on the weekend clinic and come back early Monday morning so I can ride Monday afternoon. Most of the time I get my 5 days in on them, so I gave them the 10 days off when I went roping and I came back to better horses than I left. The colts needed that, I didn’t know, but I was guessing that was the right thing to do.
In case you’ve been wondering about Turbo… Turbo the Wonder horse, he’s doing just great, got fat and hairy. Haven’t ridden him much since October, maybe twice, been concentrating on Millie and Gracie, the heel horses and then on Rango and Sparky who are the Snaffle Bitters. So Turbo has been kind of looking through the bars of his pen wishing it was him. You know he looks more like a heel horse every day so this past week I’ve been galloping Turbo and having a lot of fun with him. Sometimes you forget how much fun a horse is until you get back on him. Turbo is a machine, he is really fun, he’s matured, and he’s stronger than ever. He’s a big butterball of hair; maybe I can get someone to clip him for me. I’ve been using Turbo following the heel-o-matic, an automatic steer we pull with a four-wheeler and it hops along so we can teach a heel horse position and gets him used to roping, and it does a lot in the primary stages of creating a rope horse. I’m having fun with him, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be a rope horse as well as a show horse. I plan to show him this year in the Hackamore Classic and the Derby.
Last week I had the privilege of receiving a call from Mitchell Jacobs, an attorney from Southern California. Mitchell wanted to come and ride and I told him like I do most people, that I don’t do private lessons, but I do private clinics. That means it’s a little more expensive than a lesson because it has to last a day. So Mitchell came for 5 days and he was here every morning at 8-9am riding horses with Cody Morrow (my sidekick, partner, protégé, intern, my friend), all morning, then after lunch I would show up and ride with Mitchell for about 2-3 hours, that was plenty to digest. The reason I’m mentioning Mitchell is he’s a fox hunter, that’s the sport he likes to do, however he is interested in performance horsemanship too. Mitchell was undoubtedly the best student that Cody or I had seen, let alone had.
Mitchell is very intelligent, very comprehensive, he has the unique capacity to activate and physically accomplish what was just explained to him with such accuracy. I’ve never seen anyone to make progress like that; he did as much with his personal horse in 4-5 days as most people do in 6 months to a year. Unbelievable, but was sure fun to work with that level of a student. Both Cody and I have made a really good friend, and now Mitchell has invited us to go fox hunting, and we’re both going to go. Our jumper friend, Will Simpson has invited us to ride jumping horses. Will jumps horses at 8 feet; don’t think I will go that high, I’ll settle for 5 feet. The last time I went I jumped 4 feet. I think I might even go a little more than that, but Will thought it might be a little dangerous, but I’m willing to go for it. So we are pretty excited with our new adventures of fox hunting and jumping.
I’m also getting ready for the PTRA and the National Finals which will be the end of February. The entry fees are $1250/man, which means it will be very lucrative to win, and its a nine roping which means its low numbers which is good. I’ve got 2 partners,

Les and Manuel with Saddles they won this summer

and Chuck Tarbell and both of them are big time headers. The three of us have been partners in different events have won either reduced or no entry fee chances to win the $80-100,000 prize. If I won even $5,000 I would be thrilled. So we are going to try and get those winnings and needless to say I’m working as hard as I can – and that’s part of my trip to Texas is to learn as much as I can about roping before I go.
I’m excited to say that Luke Jones, my friend and protégé, he’s getting ready for the World’s Greatest Horseman. Last year I coached Luke at the Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno. He made both the intermediate and open finals, so I’m going back in March to check his colts out. He’s doing well in the Quarter Horse show world and he’s off to the World’s Greatest Horseman, somewhere around January 21st. So I want to wish Luke Good Luck!
Cody Morrow has a really special colt, a young gelding, really flashy and really pretty and does really good stuff. Cody has him up to date as far as a snaffle bitter goes. Cody needs either a partner or buyer, – this horse needs an owner. Cody bought this horse himself, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, he saw the potential in this horse, he needed a stepping stone. I convinced him to buy the horse and an owner would come along. So if anybody is out there that is interested in having a really good time and an investment with an honest and reliable trainer with a ton of character and talent, that would be Cody. I recommend that you email me at reachlesvogt@yahoo.com and I’ll set the deal up for you and you’ll have some fun.
The final thing that’s exciting in my life is the bits project with Greg Kessler from Holden Utah who produces a lot of rope horses. He’s been very well known in the rope horse community, but probably best known for being the father of Quinn Kessler, his young son who’s probably as good a heeler there is in the world today. But Greg Kessler puts on the Double Dollar Sale during the NFR in Las Vegas, which is mostly a rope horse sale. We’ve endeavored on this new project which we feel is sorely needed in the rope horse world. There’s a lot of horsemanship that’s missing from time to time with certain ropers. And one of the things that is missing is knowledge or access to well designed bits, bits that are designed to do certain things, or create certain responses or help with different problems. We have done a series of bits, and are in the process of developing them. They’re called High Team Bits, they’ll be out soon. They’ll be exciting not only for ropers but I think a lot of them will work well for reiners too, but they’re not Cowhorse bits. They’ll be nice bits and a good deal so keep your eyes out for them on our website.
So have a great day and may your horses all stay sound, and I have to say I hope you stay sound too.

Bye…

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