Written by Meg Cicciarella Achieving flying changes is a logical progression of training exercises, according to legendary horseman Jack Brainard. At a recent private lesson session, Jack led four riders through the preliminaries of the flying change. Laying the proper foundation makes flying changes become alarmingly simple. The process of accomplishing both is the subject […]
Written by Eclectic Horseman portrait of Ray Harmon by Jo-Anne Jackson Ray Harmon Memorial Roping There will be a Ray Harmon memorial ranch roping on March 27, in Benson, Arizona. The roping is open to everyone and will be held the day before Buck Brannaman’s ranch roping clinic. For more information please call Bob or […]
Written by Doreen Shumpert This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.40 One day in 1994, the nationally syndicated agricultural-based radio show AgriTalk was talking about another “real-life issue, the kind nobody else would talk about,” according to then- producer Rustin Hamilton. This was customary of the show, which that particular day featured a […]
Written by Eclectic Horseman A collection of memories from Eclectic Readers about the late Tom Dorrance. Connie Brown: I never knew Tom Dorrance but all of my “teachers” are horses and trainers from his lineage. He made a great contribution to the good for both horses and horsemen and horsewomen today. Every day I delight […]
Written by Jim Overstreet Photo by Heather Hafleigh This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.13 The Flying D Ranch cowboys were branding calves when Tom Dorrance drove up. Jim Thompson, a teenager at the time, still vividly recalls the day. Tom had visited only briefly when Jack Shell offered up his horse so […]
Written by Eclectic Horseman 1. How did you get involved with horses? I grew up on a ranch in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. We ran cattle and did everything horseback except the fencing, irrigating and haying. I learned to cowboy from my father and uncles who learned from their father and so […]
Written by Eclectic Horseman 1. How did you get involved with horses? I was an eastern-born, California-raised “town kid,” the proverbial black sheep when it came to dreams and later my profession. I saved up three hundred bucks by the time I hit 12 and was allowed to buy my first horse. She cost $300, […]
Written by Eclectic Horseman Chuck Stormes: Saddlemaker and President of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association EH: What was the inspiration for starting the TCAA? CS: The idea has been around for twenty years or more. I remember discussing it occasionally in the eighties with other craftsmen and artists. When Joe Beeler helped with the Trappings […]
Written by Eclectic Horseman 1. How did you get involved with horses? I was raised on a ranch in LaVeta, Colorado, where I day worked and rode bareback horses. I’ve always been around horses and had ridden colts for a few people. My cousin introduced me to Charlie Van Norman. Charlie told me if I […]
Written by Eclectic Horseman 1. How did you get involved with horses? We raised Quarter Horses and my dad rodeoed when I was a kid. I’ve always been around horses but was really never interested until I was about 20. I was trying to rodeo, and a ranch had a horse that would buck a […]