I have been riding horses since my brother introduced me to that experience when I was eight years old. Training my first horse at 12 and my second at 16, I have continued to learn from and experience horses and horse training throughout my life.
After high school, I went to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, to "be a cowboy", learning more and training more as I got my education. While there, I rode, worked, and trained horses and got my first experiences with the "real life" of the cattleman/cowboy.
Through a variety of experiences working with cattle - riding bulls, on foot and horseback - I studied and became very 'fluent' in the "cow mentality". This continued after graduation, as I managed several purebred and commercial cattle ranches in California and Oregon - living out my dream.
I later went back to Cal Poly, earned my teaching credentials and master's degree and became a high school agriculture teacher.
It was during this time that I began competing in and teaching team penning. My first introduction to team penning had been back in 1980, watching the "fledgling" PTPA (Professional Team Penning Association) competition in Santa Ynez, California. However, it wasn't until I was back in school, six years later, that I entered my first competition.
Since then, I've competed in numerous pennings including: the California State Fair, Woodland Stallion Station, Denham's Diamond K, MTPA (Middletown Team Penning Association), Clement's Stampede, Ione Homecoming, Amador County Fair, Nevada County Fair, and other various locations. I won my share of money and met many great people. But more importantly, I started developing the strategies and methods to teach others to pen, assisting at my first team penning clinic in 1990.
In addition to team penning, I enjoy reining, cutting, and working cowhorse events and have won money and buckles in several events, including year-end awards for working cowhorse and team drafting in the Western Cowhorse Association in Santa Rosa.
I have had the opportunity to learn from many trainers over the years on topics from general horsemanship to working cow horse and cutting. It was through these clinics, lessons, and demonstrations that I learned not only the "material" to cover, but how to present it well to a group of people on horseback.
All in all, it is this combination of working cattle (in team penning, reined cowhorse, cutting, or ranch work), teaching people, and training horses that I enjoy the most. One of my greatest passions in life is to share with others the thrill & joy I experience in working cattle on horseback by combining my ability to teach with my knowledge of and experience in training horses and working cattle.
My skill in developing ways to break-down a complex maneuver or sport into easily understood segments, being creative in "drawing" the mental pictures and telling the stories to be able to clearly teach those segments to others, and combining that with the necessary horse training steps is both a challenge and a joy to me. It excites me when a student "gets it" and is successful in their accomplishments.
To this end, I purchased forty acres, in 1992, and built a full-service boarding, training, and events facility and started training horses and people professionally. We put on competitions in team penning, reining and working cow horse, team roping, horse shows, barrel races, and gymkhanas, as well as many different kinds of clinics and events.
Over the years, I have also developed and managed a variety of events for charities, education, and business; horse & livestock shows, sales, & events; and as the Management Intern for the 1988 Santa Barbara County Fair.
And in 2000, I wrote and developed a six-course equine program for Folsom Lake College/El Dorado Center. Although the program was not carried out (for various reasons) at that time, it was both a great experience and very beneficial for me to go through as I developed relationships with many new people in the equine industry through my research and the development of the courses. (* side note * I am, again, working with the local junior college to establish an equine program in our community - keep your eyes peeled for new developments there!
For various reasons, the ranch was sold in 2004 and I took "a break" from the day to day horse training business, focusing instead on my real estate and mortgage business and my new love, Laura.
The bad news in the following years - the real estate market (and my business) tanked in 2006 - need I say more? But the good news - I married Laura in 2005 and started training again in 2007! This past spring, I found a home at the Flying M Ranch in Placerville - Frank & Earlene have been both gracious and generous owners to work with and I am again thoroughly enjoying growing my training and teaching business. Of course, I am also keeping my hand in at the college and am involved with several different groups trying to develop facilities and/or programs for community horse events and activities.
That's probably enough about me for now! Thanks for reading all this and I look forward to meeting you someday soon! Give me a call @ 530-391-2946 or e-mail @ Scott@thepracticalhorseman.com.
See y'all soon!
Scott
