Hi folks! Long time no speak, I’ve been just a little bit busy and having a lot of fun on top of that. I’ve had a wonderful group of clinics early in the year; the only problem was it was cold everywhere I went, I think I picked the coldest places in the western half and some of the eastern states. They were having some of their coldest weather, and I was there.
In March I was in Lubbock Texas, Suzie and that group put on a wonderful clinic, after that I went to Luke Jones’ in Iowa. Luke’s my really good friend, we worked together on his futurity horses last year. I helped him at the futurity in Reno too, and he made the finals two different times. We enjoy working with him. From there, I went to Lyndon, Washington – what a facility they have, big, brand new beautiful climate controlled indoor arena, but of course the heat didn’t work very well, but we survived. I about wore out my long underwear! I’ve learned to take them everywhere I go.
After Lyndon, I went to Yakima Washington, during the middle of March, Suzie and Roger Hart and their family put on the clinic, they’ve put on two a year for over 15 years. I have no idea how Suzie does it, she fills them and she would over fill them past the maximum of 15 riders, (which is the most I like to have in a clinic), she sure would do it. Suzie had a little medical problem to deal with this year, but she’s doing great and recovering, and she’s in great shape and will be with us for a long time. That bunch is like family to me and I appreciate everything they have done and I hope to continue for a lot of years.
In April, I had planned a trip to Australia for the first half, they had such a huge drought for so many years, but then it rained so much, they got a little more than they were hoping for, that it flooded part of Queensland (which is where I planned to go) so we cancelled the trip for this year and hopefully we’ll make it there next year. My friend Andrew McArthur, who is a funny, quick witted guy puts them on for me.
Then we went to Stillwater Oklahoma, for a clinic that Cheryl and Fran put on. That was fun because we worked with team penners and team sorters there, and that was a new deal for me. It was very interesting, good people, great facility and they all had really nice horses.
Turbo’s getting ramped up, he’s now my Hackamore horse, he was my Futurity horse, he’s 5 now, and I have to say they sure change every year between age 2 and 5, you see huge changes. As a 5 year old, he’s more of an adult horse, he’s more durable, stronger, has more energy and stamina and can do more, there’s just a lot more horse there. I’ve got him ready to show in the Hackamore Classic put on by the National Rein Cowhorse Association, in getting him ready, I’m all about learning and teaching. On Wednesday of last week I loaded Turbo and my two Futurity horses and I spent Thursday thru Monday in Bakersfield, California at Sundance Feed Lot. My friend Robert Bias runs the feed lot and they have the finest facility you could ask for, big arenas with beautiful dirt for cutting and literally thousands of fresh cattle. I parked my live-in horse trailer there, he has stalls, and Doug Williamson lives right around the corner, so Doug and I got to work together.
Doug is about my age and I really respect him a lot, he’s been through the same storms, and it’s not all about what you learn to do, but also what you learn not to do. So if you don’t do anything wrong, I guess you’re doing things right. Over the years, Doug and I have been through a lot together, we have been good friends and becoming even better friends. We are going to rope together at the World Series Final during the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas Nevada. We roped and had fun. He sure can rope; I couldn’t have a better partner. Doug helped me work on my herd work (I think he’s the best) I feel a lot more confident now and I’m sure that Turbo does too. So Turbo is pretty close to ready, he’s using himself pretty hard and I’m excited about showing him this weekend in Paso Robles at the Hackamore Classic.
I took my two Futurity horses, Rango and Sparky. Sparky might weigh 8-900 lbs and Rango’s not much more but he’s gangly, he’s little and a great horse! He crawls around on cattle and has a low crouchy way to doing everything he sure can stop and doesn’t mind it. He’s very uncomplicated, and I really enjoy him. The other horse is by Tomcat Chex, and I sure like the way he feels on cattle. He’s more complex and can get difficult, but I think I can talk him out of his difficulties. A lot of the best horses I have had were somewhat quirky and difficult, but these days I don’t feel like working so hard to achieve the results. Now I’m into the easy horses like Sparky, hopefully Rango will come along. I like them both a lot.
I’ve had some good experiences roping with Turbo, now that I’m healing with him. I haven’t been doing much of that in the last couple of weeks, just concentrating on using his energy to get ready for this show.
Guess what folks, Cody is getting married May 21st, that will be fun, and we’re all really excited. That’s right after the Rancheros Vistadores ride in the Santa Ynez Valley, which is May 6-12th, I go on that every year and have a great time. See people and make connections I couldn’t do anywhere else, a lot of wonderful people. There are about a thousand guys who are members and thousand more waiting to be members and a thousand more waiting to take care of the guys who need taking care of, help take care of the horses. There’s a lot people, horses and activity, we do everything from team rope, shoot canons, throw horseshoes, and a lot more fun activities.
Having said that, you’re pretty current on me. If you’re wondering why I haven’t said much about roping, well in my opinion it’s terrible right now and I have to do some work on it. I think I’ve abused my shoulder while practicing so much, but I’ll keep working on it. I take LubriSyn for my shoulder on a daily basis, and I know it helps, it makes my shoulder better. I do give it to my horses, and I do feel it enhances their performance. If you’ve got a few more aches and pains than you’d like to have maybe you should try some too – we sell it on the website now.
I have my silver bit & spur business and I do a lot of awards for associations, if anyone is interested, give me a call at 805-343-9205. If you have yearend awards, I can do most anything you may have in mind.
Also folks, don’t forget about my private clinics, I do about 6 of these a year. Private clinics is where you come to the ranch and work one-on-one with me, we can work out the times that are best for you. We have the best facility here you could possibly ask for. If you’re interested and want to have fun, call me!
Thanks for reading this and I hope everyone has a great day!
