Joe on Strawberry Boon

I would like for you to know where I came from and how I got into training horses. I was raised in Grass Valley, California. I grew up loving horses, but we didn't have a ranch. My Dad drove heavy equipment to support our family. But I soon discovered a Thoroughbred farm next door to the local grammar school. By the time I was eleven, I was working there on the weekends and after school, I cleaned stalls and helped with the breeding.

I even learned to ride jumping horses there, and riding those jumpers was lots of fun, but I wanted to be a cowboy. So when I graduated from high school, I got a job on a ranch in Nevada. I left there the following summer but went back that fall to return a horse trailer I had borrowed and ended up going to work for Ray Hunt on another ranch.

Ray was a good guy to work for. Everyone on that crew wanted the same thing. We weren't there because we needed the job, we all wanted to learn. I remember watching Ray, and what he could get done, and how horses acted around him. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. It made me think of those years on that Thoroughbred farm, with those studs dragging people all over the place. Their answer for a horse problem was to get more people. Ray's deal was just the opposite. I can't imagine starting horses without that influence, as a matter of fact, I probably wouldn't be doing it today.

The next spring I met Bill Dorrance, and I figured out real quick that Bill and Ray Hunt were a lot alike. Bill helped me in so many ways, and not just with horses but in just being a person. He was always gentle, people could be rude, but he wouldn't pay any attention. But if someone was there to learn, he would darn sure give them their money's worth. And he was the best roper I ever saw!

For the next ten years or so I started horses for the public, and I worked with problem horses. I also had the opportunity to work for other ranches. It was during this time that I learned a lot about roping off of young horses. At different times, I worked some more for Ray Hunt, and spent as much time with Bill Dorrance as I could. I also started some colts for Dan Lufkin and Lindy Burch at the Oxbow Ranch, and that's where I met my wife, Jimmie.

Among those sending us horses to ride was the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas, and in 1998, we moved to Texas. We first went to Weatherford, west of Fort Worth, but in 1999, we moved to Guthrie, and went to work for the Four Sixes full time. Today, we have our own ranch in Aspermont Texas. I'm still Training outside colts, selling some of our select Horses and we maintain an active Quarter Horse Breeding program. I also maintain a full Clinic Schedule as well.

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