RHO Horse and Cattle Company: The Beginning

The days and months went by. I didn’t visit much.  I made it clear to Tom Riley that I am pretty much a no-show during the harsh winter months.  The times I did visit, I watched my friends happily ride in the great outdoor arena. It was pretty evident that they settled in nicely and were quite happy with Tom, the barn and the care the horses were getting.  I kept asking, though, if we would ever get back to our old barn   No one was really interested in that.  They seemed to love it at RHO and Tom Riley was the exemplary trainer they have been apparently searching for.

This story is really about me, in case you haven’t noticed.  But through this all, my husband Ritchie also had a horse.  He loved to ride, had no fear and absolutely no seat in the saddle but was having fun on his big, old sloppy Leopard Appaloosa, Dexter.  Dexter was a Christmas present.  He was a good horse, but as usual, knew how to take advantage of a novice rider.   Ritchie and Dexter LOVED the cow barn and had a blast…as it should be.  There were times when I would say to Sharon, what the hell…. Everyone is having fun and this really seems to be their new home, including my husband.  Maybe we can just leave Dexter here so Ritchie has his cows and friends and I will just go back to our old trainer. There is nothing here for me. My friends all had their horses in training on cows, including my husband… who put Dex in training to be the first 16 hand Appaloosa fossil that would work cows!  It really was quite a sight.

Spring came.  One by one, each one of my friends ended up with a “Tom Riley” trained horse. Sue, a former barrel racer, had the most gorgeous horse in the barn.  Thunder was a kind gelding that was good under saddle, just not cut out for cows.   Over the year, Tom worked a lot with Thunder.  While doing so, Sue rode one of his top cutting horses.  She rode in Team Penning and loved it.  What she discovered was what each and every one of my friends did.   When we first arrived long ago, our horses were hot, high strung and loaded up on alfalfa!  They were not well-mannered and needed a strong hand, good hay, feed and pasture to settle them down.  Well, Thunder never settled down and after riding a true cutting athlete, Sue chose to sell him for one of Tom’s horses.

Donna…a good, strong rider with no fear that pretty much did whatever Sue did.  Her horse Riley damn nearly killed her on a trail ride.  Tom did his best to also attempt to re-condition her gelding, but to no avail.  Again, he put her on one of his horses and it was love at first ride.  Donna was now the proud owner of yet another Tom Riley horse…Summer, the sweetheart of the barn.  Summer was an older mare.  She could Cut, Team Penn and Sort with the best of them.  Donna knew this was the horse for her and Riley was sold.

Ted and Elaine were all around horse owners.  They had certain ways and theories about care and feeding, but it was their thing and Tom Riley obliged. They loaded their horses and went on trail rides, participated in shows at the fairground and rode through cows. Elaine’s Paint, Tuffy, was an older gelding and beautiful.  Tuffy was another one of my favorite horses... a great Western Pleasure ride, but he was not very good on cows.  Elaine rode Sugar, another Tom Riley trained cutting mare, who knew her way around cows quite well and was exceptional in the Team Penning arena.  Elaine bought Sugar and kept Tuffy.  Ted had Bo.  A huge buckskin gelding that pretty much was fine with anything Ted put him through.  Ted kept Bo.

Sharon… oh boy. This was the eye-opener of a lifetime.  Sharon owned an Appaloosa, Blaze and an old Barrel Racer, Nicky.  Both nuts, both hyped up and both obviously not the horses for her or her daughter, Aly, who did most of the riding on Nicky.

Tom was witness to Sharon’s fear and her horrible horses.  Sharon rode a Tom Riley trained horse... Sonita and need I say more… Sharon was instantly hooked and promptly rid herself of her headaches. Sharon bought Sonita, a cutting saddle and tack and was on her way to finally, a comfortable, sane, quiet ride who was another star of the barn.

My story gets wild here. Exceptionally scared to the point of paralysis, I knew that the Great Wizard of RHO had nothing in his black bag for me.  I didn’t ask.

One Fall day, everyone was at the barn riding their new mounts, laughing and doing what they do best…having fun.  I sat and watched.  Tom, bless his heart, couldn’t take my agony anymore…although it was more agony on his part.  Tom just wanted everyone to be happy and stopped at nothing to insure that we all were.

Sugar was a very kind, mellow little cutter who only did as much as her rider asked.  After much persuasion, I was coerced to ride little Sugar. What a fiasco. Literally.  First of all, I dragged a mounting block into the arena and stood there for a good 15 minutes with tears in my eyes begging Tom not to make me do this.  His patience was incredible and steadfast.  His calm Texas twang told me “I got all day and you’re gonna just walk on this mare, believe me when I tell ya” over and over again.

That was the first meeting I had with Courtney…Tom’s wife.  We laugh so hard about this today, but oh, what a sight I was and oh, what a fool I looked.  Courtney tells me today she thought…who is this crazy lady and why does she even have a horse???

So, the infamous moment came and I found myself strapped across a 14.2 hand monster that stood there like a lady.  Tom on one side, Ted, Ritchie and Johnny O (the O in RHO) literally walked me around the arena.  I remember looking at Tom saying “Please don’t let her go fast.  She’s moving, what do I do?” He just kept telling me “You’re alright, she ain’t goin nowhere, just sit back, relax, yer walkin” It took four cowboys and 30 minutes to get me to that point.  NO EXAGGERATION!!

I don’t know when I got so scared or even why.  My unpredictable, hyped-up paint mare was always a challenge, but the last straw was when I mounted her, she freaked out and would not stop…the explanation for that behavior was…”must have been the saddle, or the fringe, maybe the saddle pad”… whatever… I was tired of making excuses for this horse and resigned myself to the fact that it was all me.

Or was it?  Everyone literally traded up their horses for true athletes.  Everyone was happy and cow-poking. All I could think was “Dakota, we’re not in Kansas anymore”

Later that day, I was walking my mare up the hill and crying.  This is not the place for me.  I can’t do this.  I look like a fool and worse yet, I really was one.  I was so upset that I was at the point of really considering selling my beautiful mare and counting my losses yet again. Countless times I would say to Sharon…What are we doing here? This is a COW barn. Spurs, hats, cow-calls across the arena chasing a bovine herd of finely trained future filet mignon prospects???  

 Whistles, barks, grown adults spewing ‘HEY CATTLE, C’MON HEYYY CATTLE” like they were on a cattle drive deep in the heart of the promise land….

Holy hell... what am I doing? Who ARE these people?