08/24/2026
when my dad died in 2006 i didn't know anything about horses other than how to saddle one and half way ride one. all my life had been spent racing sailboats. i would ride once a year, maybe two at most. i realized after my dad died that i was tired of traveling and sailing and wanted to give this "horse thing" a try. how hard could it be right? i saw an article in western horseman magazine about bill smith from dickens, texas and the good ranch horses he raised. i called him the next day and set up a time to go out west and meet him and buy a c**t. i was really nervous when i got there but i have never met a more inviting man in my life. i spent the whole day there looking at studs, mares and c**ts. at the end of the day i picked one out and went back in the fall to pick her up. that is how my life took the left hand turn into ranching and breeding horses. since that time i have gone back to just ride and learn from bill. for a few years i lived in my teepee for three months each fall halter breaking c**ts for him and a few other locals that he introduced me to. during those falls spend there i would halter break c**ts in the morning, grab a bite at lunch and then help him work cattle or go to the arena and work horses. as i would be halter breaking he would stop by watch me struggle for a few minutes then offer a few words of advice and drive off. he would only say it once and to someone learning it would sound cryptic. he had a meaning behind his method. i had to think, problem solve and apply the suggestion. just giving me the answer would not have had the lasting affect. i would go back to my teepee at night and think and think about what he said. i stayed up hours thinking about c**ts until his advice made sense. i would never try as hard as i did if he had just told me the answers. he does the same thing with questions about training a riding horse. he got me my first ever day working jobs at ranches that would have never given me a chance if it weren't for him. he took me to the matador ranch for the first time to work horses in their arena and introduced me to people i looked up to. people that i had seen in magazine articles. he is the reason i am where i am in this profession. he trusted me to tend to a herd of cows and calves for the past six or seven years even though i am 3.5 hours north in oklahoma. and now because of him i have my own little herd of cows. 70% of the horses on our place have his horses bloodlines. people call me trying to find his bloodlines in my horses. he is full of old stories from a lost era in ranching spanning 2 generations. i will end on a little piece of advise he shared with me when i was giving my opinion at lunch one day on some c**ts i was halter breaking for another local ranch. "they aren't paying you for your opinion. they are paying you to halter break their c**ts." so many people could benefit from that advice. See less
