Richard Beal’s Blog

This has absolutely nothing to do with being a cowboy but as a proud father I want to share a 7 minute video with highlights of my daughter’s wedding last June in England. And yes, that’s me on the right all dressed up.

From Wikipedia:
“The American Saddlebred, formerly known as the American Saddle Horse, is a breed of horse that was developed in Kentucky by plantation owners. Today, in the horse show world, they are most commonly seen under saddle in Saddle seat style riding, and in various types of driving, including pleasure driving and various types of fine harness competition. They are also occasionally seen in other disciplines including dressage, hunter/jumper, and western riding. They also are popular parade mounts and used for trail riding due to their comfortable gait and steady temperament.

“Saddlebreds can be five-gaited, performing not only the walk, trot, and canter, but the slow-gait and rack. The slow gait is a four-beat gait performed in a prancing motion, lifting the legs very high. The rack is a more ground-covering four-beat gait, and is much faster, with the horse snapping their knees and hocks up quickly. Ancestors of the Saddlebred were naturally gaited, and many Saddlebreds today can naturally perform them, and most can learn the additional gaits.

“In the 18th century, American colonists crossed the Narragansett Pacer with the Thoroughbred. Known as the American Horse, this cross was used in the Revolutionary War, and made its way into Kentucky. In the 1800s, the breed become known as the Kentucky Saddler. It was used mainly on plantations because of its comfortable, ground-covering gaits, and sure-footed manner. It was developed into a very stylish, fancy horse: beautiful for harness, strong enough for farm work, fast enough for match races. In the 1830s, Morgan and Thoroughbred blood was added to give the more substance and action. This produced the American Saddlebred. The horse gained popularity in the 1840s. The stallion Denmark, born in 1839, became the foundation sire, with over 60% of today’s Saddlebreds tracing back to this one horse.”

Saddlebreds have been used in movies because of their great look. Mr. Ed, Flicka and the horse in the original Zorro were saddlebreds.

You can get more information at the American Saddlebred Horse Association website by clicking HERE.

Many ranches these days are offering guest visitors an opportunity to participate in cattle work, including cattle drives. But this is the only place I’m aware of that has a horse roundup and drive.

Montana Horses, owned and operated by Kail Mantle & Renee Daniels-Mantle, run several hundred head of saddle horses around Three Forks, Montana (near Bozeman). They are a horse leasing business with clients from top-notch recreational equine operations across the Northwest to private horse enthusiasts. They also provide rides, hunting opportunities, clinics, and other opportunities to be around great horses.

From their website: “Our business is simple – we locate, purchase, and maintain a herd of quality, gentle horses who are reliable and useful in various disciplines and provide them to people by lease or sale. Most of our clients are not professional horsemen. Our horses are suited specifically to recreational horse enthusiasts. We know we have the best horses in the business and we are uniquely qualified to serve this section of the horse world very well.

“Every April, Montana Horses hosts a Spring Roundup that’s right out of the Old West, with a 3-day horse drive from Willow Creek, Montana through the headwaters of the Missouri River and then home to the Mantle Ranch. You’ll help round up hundreds of horses from their winter pasture, trailing them over thirty miles back to the Montana Horses headquarters, north of Three Forks.

“The drive begins in the hills south of Willow Creek, where you’ll spend the day gathering horses from thousands of acres of rugged Montana country. Relax afterwards in an old-style, streamside camp, complete with wall-tents and a chuckwagon supper. The next day is the long trail into Three Forks, followed by a sit-down mean, Cowboy Comedy Show, and a warm bed at the historic Sacajawea Hotel. Wake up early and drive the herd north along the cottonwood forests of the Missouri River, heartpounding race down the river along the railroad, ending up at the Mantle Ranch for a cool drink, hearty laughs, and a well-deserved rest.

“Introducing the new PHOTOGRAPHY EXPEDITION in conjunction with the Annual Horse Roundup & Drive! We are proud to announce our new partnership with Val Westover Photography and Stephanie Adriana Fine Art Photography. Join them as your guides for the Photography Workshop “Capturing True Emotion,” an exclusive opportunity to capture this event available only to participants.”

Sounds like fun!

You can get more information at their website by clicking HERE.

I’ve written before about team penning and a competition often held at the same time is called team sorting.

A very common type of ranch work is sorting cows which means certain cows in a herd are pulled out for medical reasons or to be moved to a new location or because there are many herd owners and someone wants their cows pulled out, etc.

It’s a skill that is learned by the rider and by the horse over time. The trick is to pull a certain cow or mother/calf (called a “pair) out without disturbing the rest of the herd. And of course a cows natural tendency is to stay with the herd so they generally don’t like the idea of being separated.

Team sorting is about being able to read the cows (know what the cow is about to do next) and influence them to do what you want.

There are rule variations but generally 10 cows are put in a small pen, each cow numbered starting with 0 to 9. There is an adjacent pen with a opening in between. The idea is to move the cows one at a time from the origin pen to the destination pen. But to make it interesting the judge calls a number and that is the first cow you must move. Once in the destination pen you then need to take the next numbered cow in order and move that one. And it continues in numerical order until all 10 cows are moved. But if any of the cows in the destination pen return or the cows don’t enter in numerical order the competition run is halted and you are disqualified.

Oh, and you only have 90 seconds to complete the run.

It’s a timed event with the two person team (or three people if the opening is wide) doing it with the fastest time winning. Looks easy but is actually quite difficult to do rapidly.

Most often the technique is to have one person block the opening while the other rides into the herd and sorts out the right cow, pushing it towards the opening. The blocking cowboy then gets out of the way but keeps his eye on the destination herd so they don’t return while helping encourage the picked cow to move the right way.

It’s a lot of fun to do with shouting and cursing and complaining about the #@#$% cows. Communication between the cowboys is essential and you need a very responsive horse. But anyone can do it and have a good time. And any age as well. If you get serious there is award money to be made.

The Ft. Worth, Texas based United States Team Penning Association runs the sport and you can get more information at their website by clicking HERE.

There are many many small rodeos held each year but one of my favorites is the Makawao Rodeo held on the island of Maui.

It’s always the weekend closest to fourth of July and is a very exciting rodeo event presented by the Maui Roping Club. It’s held at the Oskie Rice Rodeo Arena a mile above Makawao town, on Olinda Road at Kaanaolo Ranch on Maui.

More than 350 paniolos (cowboys) attend the rodeo from all over the world. This Hawaiian style rodeo has rough stock and roping events, barrel racing and live music and country/western dancing.

The Makawao 4th of July Rodeo was founded in 1956 by the Maui Roping Club, an organization founded in 1955 by Harold “Oskie” Rice, George Manoa, Sr., and other local cowboys. The club presented the first Makawao Rodeo in 1956, and since 1966 a Paniolo Parade in Makawai Town has welcomed spectators to the Makawao Rodeo.

My parents took us to Crash Corrigan’s Corriganville Ranch when I was about 5 and it was wonderful for a young cowboy. I even got to meet and talk with him. That’s the back of my head in the picture on the left.

Ray “Crash” Corrigan (14 February 1902 – 10 August 1976), born Raymond Benard, was an American actor most famous for appearing in B-Western movies.

From Wikipedia:
“In 1937, Corrigan purchased land in the Simi Valley and developed it into a movie ranch called “Corriganville.” The ranch was used in several film serials, feature films and television shows, as well as for the performance of live western shows for tourists. Bob Hope bought the ranch in 1966 and renamed it Hopetown.

“His career in Hollywood began as a physical fitness instructor and physical culture trainer to the stars. In the early 1930s he did stunts and bit-parts. Many of his early roles were in ape costumes – for example, as a Gorilla in Tarzan and His Mate (1934) and an “Orangopoid” in the original Flash Gordon serial. In 1936 he got his break with roles in two Republic serials, The Vigilantes Are Coming and Undersea Kingdom in the main starring role where Benaud adopted his characters name “Crash Corrigan” (that evoked memories of “Flash Gordon”) as his own.

“On the basis of this, Republic signed him to a Term Player Contract, running from 25 May 1936 to 24 May 1938. He was cast as one the trio in the Three Mesquiteers series of films and starred in 24 in all. He left Republic in 1938 in a dispute over pay.

“At Monogram Pictures, he began a new series of films – The Range Busters (a cheap copy of the Three Mesquiteers) – with a character of his own name. Ray starred in 20 of the 24 films in this series between 1940 and 1943…..

“In 1950 Corrigan had a television show called Crash Corrigan’s Ranch and was planning a television series with his old associate Max Terhune called Buckskin Rangers.

“Corrigan’s last film was playing the title role of It! The Terror from Beyond Space. According to bio information given to visitors at the Thousand Oaks, California Corrigan Steak House and Bar that he once owned, the origin of his “Crash” nickname is from his stunt work where he would often crash through saloon windows onto the street outside.”

Others say the name was because Corrigan wasn’t a great rider and had a hard time staying on a horse.

Wikipedia again:
“In 1937, Corrigan was on a hunting trip with Clark Gable when he had the idea to purchase the land in Simi Valley, California as his own Western ranch similar to Iverson Movie Ranch. He paid $1,000 down payment, then a thousand dollars a month until the $11,354 price was paid. He developed this into Corriganville, a location used for many Western movies and TV shows. The location featured many different types of terrain for producers such as lakes, mountains, and caves. As opposed to merely set fronts, Corriganville contained actual buildings where film crews could live and store their equipment to save time and expense wasted in daily travelling from studios to an outdoor location.

“Corrigan made a lot of money from renting out this location and from paying visitors – it was opened to the public for Western-themed shows in 1949.”

Shows like the Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid and Fort Apache were filmed there.

You can get more information about his ranch by clicking HERE.

Can you believe this is a horse trailer? Promotional price $300,000, later rising to an estimated $360,000. Plus extra for accessories of course.