These scenes could well be faded snapshots of the lost American West,
except for the fact that the horses in each of these pictures are purebred
Arabians, and the snapshots could have been taken yesterday. This is the
Rushcreek Ranch in Lisco, Nebraska, where the cowboys are working for a
living in much the same manner as cowboys have for more than a century
here: with long hours, hard work and good horses.
So Why Arabians?
When the owners of the Rushcreek decided to upgrade their herd with
Arabians back in the 1940s, they didn't have a lot of pure-breed prejudice
to overcome. At the time, Arabians were so scarce that they didn't have
much of a reputation one way or the other, and news of the newly formed
American Quarter Horse Association hadn't made it to Lisco yet.
But Why Arabians?
When the owners of the Rushcreek decided to upgrade their herd with
Arabians back in the 1940s, they didn't have a lot of pure-breed prejudice
to overcome. At the time, Arabians were so scarce that they didn't have
much of a reputation one way or the other, and news of the newly formed
American Quarter Horse Association hadn't made it to Lisco yet.
In 1945, the Rushcreek remuda numbered about 1,000 head of mixed-breed
horses, mostly of the cavalry remount type: a combination of Thoroughbreds,
Standardbreds, Morgans, Mustangs and draft horses. Part of the ranch's
need for so many horses arose from the fact that many of them were too
rank to break. Even the "gentle" horses had to be walked for the first
mile every morning, and chow time looked like a hospital emergency room,
with all the casts and stitches on the hired help. The waste of horseflesh
and the toll they were taking on the ranch hands bothered Preston Wells,
son of the Rushcreek's founder, Tom Wells. So that year he sought the advice
of his friend, Albert W. Harris. An expert horseman as well as the founder
of a top Chicago bank, Harris was very taken with the temperaments of the
Arabians he had seen used as cavalry horses in Europe during the war. So
impressed was Harris that when he returned from Europe he founded the Arabian
Horse Registry of America. Naturally, he advised Preston to cross his mares
with an Arabian stallion.
Later that year, a rangy gray colt named Khadine was purchased from
Harris and brought to the Rushcreek. Carolyn Wells, wife of Preston's brother,
Tom Wells III, remembers the first foal crop, born in 1946.
"They were so much better than anything we had up until then," says Carolyn. "They had so much more action, such nice dispositions. We knew we were on the right track."
Khadine was joined two years later by the yearling stud colt, Garyb,
and some Half-Arabian mares. But the outstanding endurance, disposition
and intelligence of the Arabians soon argued for a purebred herd. Over
the next few years, five purebred mares came to live in Lisco, and it is
from these foundation mares that all the ranch horses are descended. One
of these mares, Raga, was also listed as a foundation mare with the American
jockey Club, which was still accepting approved Arabians in the Thoroughbred
stud book.
New ranch hands get a house, a side of beef, wages and
four horses to ride.
Ranch Manager Gerald Davis has worked on the Rushcreek since 1967. He
has the gnarled hands and the creased face of a man who has spent his life
outdoors. With 155,000 acres to take care of, Davis is the first one to
admit that an awful lot depends on good help. But Davis is not the kind
of man who would make excuses for a man or a horse that couldn't get the
job done. Fortunately, he doesn't have to.
"This is a working ranch," says Davis. "it's a business. If we don't
show a profit, the stockholders would say to sell it. One reason we use
Arabians is because you can get more work out of fewer horses because of
their endurance. They're athletic; they have good withers. They're not
big, but they'll last all day."
Davis occasionally hears complaints from new arrivals at the ranch.
"Sometimes they'll say, 'Aw Christ. these little horses ain't gonna get
the job done.' But as you get aboard them and see what they can do, that
kind of goes by the wayside."
The ranch has a strict rule against employees owning their own horses,
so there is no chance to sneak a Quarter Horse into a string. New ranch
hands get a house, a side of beef, wages and four horses to ride.
All of the youngsters are started under saddle by resident trainer Scott
Weichel. A green-broke horse at the Rushcreek can be expected to rope,
follow cattle, hobble and ground tie, open and shut gates, and walk, trot
and canter. These are the foundation skills upon which a life as a working
ranch horse is built.
A typical day on the Rushcreek changes with the seasons. Winters are
spent feeding the 6,800 mother cows, breaking the ice on the watering troughs
and making repairs to equipment, buildings and machinery. Like the cattle,
the 350 horses on the place spend the winter outdoors, finding their own
shelter against the snow and wind.
Spring is calving time, and all hands are busy ear-tagging and de-horning
newborns, as well as checking the cows for any signs of trouble. The herd
is broken down into smaller groups of about 550 head, so that the riders
can circulate every two hours. From April 1st to mid-May, the maternity
shift lasts 24 hours a day. "It's usually the (first-calf heifers that
have trouble, not the cows," says Carolyn. "A heifer will just give up
if she's in labor more than half an hour."
Dense bone, big hard feet and exceptionally Strong tendons
are some of the traits that the Rushcreek breeding program has preserved
over the last 50 years.
The foals arrive in late spring as well about 30 every year. The mares
are brought in to pastures close to home so that they can be checked twice
a day, but they, too, are allowed to give birth without human intervention.
Each year, the foals are given names starting with the same letter of
the alphabet. For instance, all foals born in 1998 will have names starting
with the letter "M." Add the Rushcreek prefix, and that doesn't leave many
spaces for the Arabian Horse Registry of America's maximum of 15 characters
per name. Hence the trademark single-syllable names, such as Rushcreek
Mark, Rushcreek Hans and Rushcreek Matt.
Summer is hay season. It takes a lot of alfalfa to feed the Rushcreek
livestock through the winter, and the cowboys have to hang up their bridles
for a time to help with the mowing, baling and stacking of several hundred
tons of hay. About the only two not haying are Scott Weichel and his assistant,
Kip Glendy. With 30 2-year-olds to break every year, their days are spent
riding colts; first in the round pen and then out on the ranges. "I like
to get about 30 good rides on them," says Weichel. "We spend as little
time in the round pen as possible."
Summer is also breeding season. Every fall it is decided which mares
will go to which stallions the following year. On June 1, stallions are
introduced to their broodmare bands, where they will remain until September.
Pasture breeding is not only low-maintenance, it's efficient. The conception
rate is more than 90 percent. "The mares all know each other already, so
they've already got the pecking order figured out," says Weichel. "Mares
are more of a danger to other mares than stallions are."
By fall it is time to gather the cattle, brand the calves and separate
them from their mothers, and ship the yearlings to the feed lots. Every
one of the 6,800 youngsters is roped and dragged to the fire, where the
three-leaf clover brand is applied to either its rib cage or hip, depending
on what area of the ranch it is from. At the height of branding season
the Rushcreek team can brand as many as 800 calves a day, with lots of
extra hired hands (mostly the children and grandchildren of the employees)
helping out on the ground.
The colts get branded as well, with the Rushcreek clover on the left
hip, along with a number. September is also when the cowboys draw their
new colts. On September 1, any ranch hand in need of a few horse turns
in his old one and picks a number out of a hat. The luck of the draw determines
who gets first choice of the green-broke 2-year-olds. "We try to keep it
democratic," says Weichel, who sees the September draw as sort of a graduation
ceremony for the youngsters he's been riding all summer. "The idea is for
every cowboy to have a horse he's retiring, a horse he's bringing along,
and two horses he can use for hard work. That's the ideal."
But not every horse bred on the Rushcreek stays on the Rushcreek. "You get one now and then that doesn't care if it's a cow horse," says Davis. "It might have a lot of go, but it just doesn't want to chase cows." These individuals have no trouble finding second careers as pleasure or endurance horses. In fact, the name is so well-respected in endurance circles that the Rushcreek has a waiting list of people who want to buy one of their horses. The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Ride, considered by many to be the toughest equestrian event in the world, has been won three times by Rushcreek horses. Carolyn Wells herself finished the Western States ride (aka the Tevis) at age 60 in 1979 on Rushcreek Faye. And the late Rushcreek Lad was recently inducted into the American Endurance Conference Hall of Fame as the highest mileage horse in the history of the sport, with more than 21,000 career miles in competitions world record.
Quality Control
Andy Bender, of Upper Lake, California, visits Rushcreek once a year to help evaluate the herd. "I am their outside eyes," says Bender. "Because I don't see these horses every day I'm not barn blind, and I'm not afraid to express my opinion."
Bender evaluates the weanlings, yearlings and the 2-year-old fillies
that may be heading for the broodmare band. Since the Rushcreek ranch hands
ride mostly geldings, the fillies are either kept as broodmare replacements
or put up for sale.
"He doesn't get sentimental over favorite individuals," Davis says of
Bender. "He's not going to let a filly get by because her sister a few
years ago was so nice or because he really liked her father."
Bender "inherited" the job from mentor and long-time Arabian breeder,
Bill Munson. who had an early influence on the breeding program at the
Rushcreek. He spent years just watching and listening to Munson rationalize
his decisions.
From photographs and personal experience Bender describes the original
Rushcreek-style horse as, "a little rough by day's standards, but very
functional; what they lacked in type they made up for in toughness." Dense
bone, big hard feet and exceptionally strong tendons are some of he traits
that the Rushcreek breeding program has preserved over the last 50 years.
Outcrossing in the last two decades to Russian, Polish and desert-bred
stallions has helped refine the overall look of the herd. "Sure, they're
working horses, but who wouldn't rather ride a pretty one, given the choice?"
asks Bender. Now the challenge is to add more height without compromising
the clean, straight legs, overall substance and athletic hind ends, while
still retaining the Arabian "look."
Everyone who rides the Rushcreek horses will say that genetics are only
half of it. The other secret ingredient is how the horses are raised. "The
big difference is our horses run free instead of being kept in stalls from
the day they're born," says Carolyn. "It makes ail the difference in the
world. How well would you be able to ride if you stood in a stall all day?"
Weichel has worked at more modern breeding and training barns, and he
sees a definite advantage to the Rushcreek way. He points out that the
Rushcreek herd suffers from substantially fewer colics, respiratory ailments,
lameness or mental disorders than horses kept in urban environments. Nor
do they run up huge feed bills for dietary supplements. "They eat grass,"
Weichel says. "Horses were meant to eat grass and run."
"It's almost like survival of the fittest in action," marvels Bender.
"It's one great, ongoing experiment. You decide who to breed, you raise
them and go out and try them. It's a great genetic proving ground, and
there aren't many of those left. Not on that scale, anyway."
And prove themselves they do, decade after decade, as working ranch horses, winning endurance and cutting competitors, trusted mounts for precious grandchildren and proud representatives of a breed that predates cattle ranching by a thousand years. It's a good thing nobody was around in 1945 to tell Preston Wells that Arabians weren't cut out for ranch work.