I’ve owned a lot of roping horses over the years. I have no idea exactly how many, if I had to guess I’d say I’ve owned somewhere around a hundred horses that we roped on in some way or another. I can’t stress enough the importance of a good, honest horse. Some people want speed and athleticism, others value breeding and pedigree, me I’ll take the average looking horse that just works the same way day in and day out.
I’ve got a barn full of geriatric horses at my house right now. The average age in my horse barn is seventeen. Most of them can’t pass a vet check as sound either. Navicular, stifles, hocks and a big knee, we’ve got it all in the barn. Those issues make no difference at our house. The way I look at it drugs for horses are cheaper than drugs for people, and certainly cheaper than a trip to the ER after getting bucked off.
A few years ago I bought a mare for my kids to breakaway on. She was cheap and she came from a guy that was kind of a horse trader. I roped the dummy on her one day and bought her. A week later she bucked me off and gave me a severe concussion. I had to have an MRI. The doctor bills were more than I paid for the mare. Like I said drugs for horses are cheaper than people drugs, or trips to the ER.
I keep an eye out for those horses that have been hauled and seen the sights. If they are a little crippled that’s ok. I shoe all of our own horses, so it’s no big deal to order wedges for the navicular horse. I’ve found a vet that has cheap injectable glucosamine and hyaluronic acid and another vet that does injections cheaper than anyone.
Each of these horses in our barn were bought at a decent price because of their soundness issues. The prices have ranged from $2000-25,000 depending on ability and experience.
My daughter is in college and only comes home about once or twice a month. We have two horses that she can load up and go to a barrel race whenever she’s home. I don’t have to worry about them bucking her off. My son’s horses are both over eighteen and they’ve seen it all.
Those good older horses do their job and let the kids learn. Over the last three years my son has won money at every roping and rodeo except eight rodeos. I’ve tried to calculate an exact percentage, the best I can figure is he has about a ninety percentage chance of getting a check every time he enters. Yes he catches almost every calf and heels almost every steer, but he’s also on horses that score good and give him a good throw. We don’t have the nicest truck and trailer when we go somewhere, but what we unload out of the trailer is what matters, a good honest horse.
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.
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