I suppose, most of us that have an attraction for equines in general, whether it was horses, mules, ponies, or whatever your flavor, we aquired at a young age. Possibly the breed that you were around growing up, still holds a special place in your heart. I didn’t much care. If there was an equine breed in front of me, I wanted to ride it.

  My granddad and uncle, were in part responsible for my early addiction. They had ponies around early and horses a bit later. My granddad was pretty handy with steam engines. He operated the engines for the thrashing machines while his friends worked the teams in the fields. You could find me somewhere close to the teams.

  Like most of us, I wasn’t fortunate enough to be around anyone that even resembled a horseman. Right or wrong, I repeated what I had seen. What I am referring to has no resemblence to training, or even horsemanship. Get on, go as fast as you can, guide him as best you can, by any means possible and get off. Fun, right? That lasted ’til I was about sixteen or seventeen.

  At eighteen, I joined the Marine Corps, went to Viet-Nam, came home, went to work, had kids and didn’t think about horses much until I was twenty-eight or twenty-nine.

  About 1980 I bought a horse to have fun with and ended up with six. They were kinda broke. When I figured out what I was spending on feed, farriers, and vets, not to mention getting dumped in the dirt on occasion, I just wasn’t havein’ that much fun.

  I went to a reining horse clinic in 1982 and was impressed. This was a whole new world. These horses operated effortlessly, through a number of tasks with no apparent direction from the rider! I was unaware these creatures had this kind of ability.

  As soon as I got home, I sold every fun horse on the place and bought one good mare, only to find out that I didn’t know squat about how to ride her!

  The next quite a few years, I spent every spare couple of days driving from Illinois to Texas. Every vacation I had, I used to learn all I could about how to get along with these animals that I had grown to admire and respect.

  By 1991, I had owned or raised a number of fairly nice horses that were gettin’ along pretty well in the reining horse show pen. That year I was fortunate enough to purchase a son of Doc O’Lena, Lenas Gyrator. He is a very nice horse and I still own him today. Through this horse I met the man that started him, Sam Powell, a true horseman. Through Sam, I learned things that we only dream about. Training techniques that train the mind, as well as the body. Over the past seventeen years, we’ve developed a great friendship. Since then, when I saw horses that operated well, I watched and studied the men that rode and trained them.

  When I was able, in 1996, I moved to Texas. Here I can be around very nice animals and quite a few people that have special ways of how to teach them. Never quit discussing what you are doing and in some cases, what you are not doing, with knowledgeable people. Find people that understand equine behavior. Go to clinics. Find technics that work and that you like, discard technics that didn’t work or that doesn’t make sense. Never close your eyes or your mind to ideas that may help you get along with this species called equine.

  In 1999 I started my first mule. A friend of mine, Bill Watson, brought me a john. His name is Peppy and he’s out of a granddaughter of Doc’s Bonita Bar. He is a great mule and I guess I’ve been hooked ever since.

  Never underestimate the intelligence these animals possess. Always try to train the mind.

  In 2004 I married Rita, life is good!