It was October of 2018, and my wife Lisa and I were on our way back to New Hampshire from Pendleton, South Carolina, with our horses. We had just spent 4 days working cattle and roping with the legendary Buster McLaury. Heading back to New Hampshire’s cold blustery winter, which has temperature changes from 40° down to -20°. Not much to look forward to in the horse world unless you like frozen buckets, machinery breaking down, sanding icy walkways, and snowstorms that dump three feet of snow at a time.
While on Route 78 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, I turned to my wife and asked whether she thought Buster would take my mare for the winter and work her on his ranch — she is quite the cow horse after all. I laughed a little and thought of how crazy that sounded. Lisa shot right back and said, “Why don’t you call and ask him?” What a novel idea. I had to ponder that for a moment and had to ask myself whether I was ready to get rejected like an 8th grade boy at a junior high dance. The next words out of my mouth were, “Hey Siri, call Buster McLaury.” I’ll skip the conversation, but he did have room at his ranch and agreed to take her on for the winter season.
Fast forward to November 21, the day before Thanksgiving. Had my gooseneck all packed, travel routes set, triple checked that I had everything needed, loaded my horse, kissed my wife and daughter goodbye, and set out on my 1900 mile 4 day adventure to Texas. First stop, Akron, Ohio. Well, that was the plan anyway. As I was crossing upstate New York, a freak snowstorm came through that was not expected. After that passed, I got back on the road and then another storm hit. I knew I would never make it to Akron, so I had to find another “horse motel” in a pinch. I found a farm in Geneva, New York, that had a stall for my horse for the evening. Did I tell you it was -6°? I got my mare all set up in her stall and got ready for some sleep. As you probably guessed, my heater in my horse trailer could not keep up with the arctic cold, and I had to sleep in my running truck with the heat on high for the next 5 hours.
Happy Thanksgiving it was. Heading to my second location in St. Louis, Missouri. Somewhere around noontime, I pulled into a rest stop to have my Thanksgiving dinner in my horse trailer with my mare. She had her food and I had mine. When I got to my second horse motel, they had a New Orleans Saints game on a television in the barn. We watched the game and then I retired to my trailer for a good night of sleep. It was a good day of travel. Next day, on to Oklahoma City for my third stop. Another non-eventful travel day. I had heard about a rather large bar in OKC that had live bull riding in the bar. I had to experience that!!! Last day of travel and I finally arrived to my final destination in Paducah, Texas. 1900 miles later, many fuel stops, fast food, but more importantly, seeing America from the road.
Now here I am at the ranch of one of my equine heroes, not knowing what to expect for the next few days before I fly home. They invite me into their home, show me to my room, and get ready for dinner. Pinch me! The next day, I get a surprise tour of some famous cattle ranches in the Texas Panhandle. We visited the Four Sixes Ranch, the Tongue River Ranch, the Pitchfork Ranch, and the Matador Ranch. I had only dreamed of ever stepping foot on these ranches, each between 500,000 and 1,000,000 acres in size. It was an amazing day of travel, and I was able to experience these historical ranches as well as some great stories.
After a few days at the ranch, I did have to head back home. Leaving my mare in Texas was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. She’s only been in my care since I have owned her. If this is hard, how am I ever going to let my daughter move out and get married?
Long story short, my mare was used to start colts; traveled to California, New Mexico, and Arizona with Buster to use in working cattle clinics; brought in cattle for branding; received some limitless training; and for good measure, had her picture taken with a dinosaur in Kingman, Arizona, with her lead rope over the T-Rex’s teeth.
So what is the point of this writing? The point is simply to take a chance once in a while. If I had not made the phone call, I would have missed every single experience here as well as others that I did not even mention. If I had said, “Eh, he would never take my horse on,” my mare would never have had the experiences and exposure that she had. The new friendships that I have acquired through this trip became astounding, lifelong friends. And yes, I picked her up over Easter and trailered the 1900 miles back home.
If you want to see the picture of the dinosaur with the horses, I’d be glad to share it with you — just send me a text or email. It is rather humorous. I’d also be more than happy to answer any questions you may have regarding horse motels and/or equine nutrition on the road.
Adiós for now!
