Beasley Equine Podcast
Welcome to the Beasley Equine Podcast, where horse lovers, riders, and industry experts come together to explore the fascinating world of equine care, training, and culture. Hosted by passionate equine Veterinarian Dr. Travis Beasley, each episode dives into the latest trends in horse health, innovative techniques, and inspiring stories from the saddle. Whether you're a seasoned competitor, a backyard horse owner, or simply captivated by these majestic animals, join us for practical tips, expert interviews, and a celebration of all things equine. Saddle up and tune in—your next great ride starts here! New episodes every Tuesday!
Beasley Equine Podcast
Building Wildfire Ranch: A Southern Illinois Equestrian Destination
The journey from coal miner's son to respected farrier and ranch operator unfolds in this captivating conversation with Ricky, whose story proves that passion and perseverance can overcome any obstacle.
Growing up in Painesville, Eastern Kentucky, Ricky's early exposure to horses was limited until a life-changing encounter with his future wife Jade through youth rodeos. Their connection, strengthened by their shared experience with type 1 diabetes, would eventually lead to the creation of Wildfire Ranch - now a thriving equestrian destination in Southern Illinois.
Diagnosed at just four years old with a blood sugar level of 989, Ricky narrowly survived what could have been a fatal episode. This health challenge has shaped his approach to life, work, and now parenthood. "It's inconvenient, but ain't impossible," he reflects, embodying the resilient spirit that drives his success as both a skilled farrier and business operator.
Wildfire Ranch stands as testament to vision and hard work. What began as a simple request to till a small practice area for barrel racing has evolved into an impressive facility featuring a covered arena, nearly 100 stalls, on-site lodging, a café known for excellent fried fish, and family-friendly amenities including putt-putt golf and playgrounds. The ranch draws participants from across the country for youth rodeos, barrel races, and other events, creating a community where "kids can make memories."
Alongside running the ranch, Ricky continues to develop his farrier skills, traveling regularly with established professionals to shoe 25-40 horses during multi-day clinics. His advice to aspiring farriers? "Don't quit. When you start, it's going to be miserable, but it gets easier the more horses you do and the more you educate yourself."
As he balances the demands of his craft, the ranch, and an eight-month-old daughter, Ricky's story reminds us that with determination, continuous learning, and strong community support, extraordinary things are possible - even when facing significant challenges.
Check out Wildfire Ranch on Facebook to discover upcoming events and everything they offer at this unique Southern Illinois equestrian destination.
Ricky, what's up, man?
Speaker 2:Not much.
Speaker 1:Thanks for coming in today. Absolutely, we've hung out a lot, but I don't really know that much about you yet. So where'd you grow up?
Speaker 2:Eastern Kentucky.
Speaker 1:Eastern Kentucky. Where at?
Speaker 2:In a town called Painesville.
Speaker 1:Nice Was there a lot of horses there and stuff.
Speaker 2:There was a lot of walking horses.
Speaker 1:Do you like those?
Speaker 2:Not really.
Speaker 1:I don't either. Were you riding when you were little and stuff? Were you always kind of involved in horses, or how did you get?
Speaker 2:When I was a young, young kid we had horses and I had a puppy and we rode some. But we kind of got out of it once I got old enough to really start riding and then I haven't really been around horses until I got with my wife.
Speaker 1:Jade right yeah, how did you guys meet?
Speaker 2:Through Youth Rodeos actually.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and she also. When she was 15, 16, she got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. And we had a, a person of interest common interest, you know and they, uh, she sent her my way to talk cause I've had it for forever, and, uh, he was wanting some advice on how to deal with it, this and that. So that's kind of how we got talking.
Speaker 1:It's like a diabetic love story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we you throw together.
Speaker 1:So you've known her quite a while. I've known her for a while, okay, and were you still living in Eastern Kentucky when you guys started dating, or did you move up here?
Speaker 2:No, so my dad? He's a coal miner and he brought us up here in 2016. Oh, okay. And so everything out here was pretty new to me. Rodeo was very uncommon okay and uh, I think they're around, but we were it's not big out there, gotcha. And uh, so yeah, he brought us out here. And uh, I found out about wayne city's youth rodeo at the time and I had a friend they, they did it. I started shoot dog and I just wanted to be involved in. I've always had a thing for horses, right.
Speaker 1:I just never was around them gotcha, so so you started with the shoot dogging yeah, did that go to? Steer wrestling no, I never did steer wrestling no, and then, uh, you're roping now too, right?
Speaker 2:I do some just for fun, okay then when did?
Speaker 1:uh, you're a farrier as well, in addition to helping with wildfire and all that. So when did you get into shoeing horses, or what kind of sparked that interest?
Speaker 2:well, it all kind of started whenever I was first hanging around out there um, the guy shoeing their horses. At the time I'd go out there and watch some stuff and it just caught my interest and it seemed logical you know, just for as many horses as we have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Did you want to do it? A lot of the farriers we talked to a lot of them. They wanted to shoot their own horses.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's kind of where it started. That's where everybody started, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:And then did you go to a farrier school? I did your school, or which one did you go to? I went to uh, lookout mountain and gates in alabama.
Speaker 2:Okay, and how many weeks was that? I went for four. They really tried to get me to stay longer, but I I was kind of advised not to just get some real basic stuff down and come back, start shooting. And very quickly I learned I should have stayed.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask you you thought the four weeks was.
Speaker 2:No, it wasn't near enough.
Speaker 1:It wasn't enough. I think a lot of people look at those horseshoeing schools and are like, oh, six weeks, I can be a farrier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a lot of people's experience, and then with some of the farrier stuff, you've got to work here with steve, summershine, and got to watch people like him.
Speaker 2:I've got to work with steve and that's been a blessing. Like him and casey, they both, uh, really opened my eyes to how important all this is and how far you can go with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not just trimming a horse's foot you know, on a shoe, on smacking steel. No yep, and then the other big thing you're doing is wildfire ranch, yeah, which is a very common name around here, right?
Speaker 2:now yeah, it's, it's getting there yeah, you guys are doing awesome.
Speaker 1:So where? Where exactly, is wildfire ranch? I'll admit, I haven't got the chance to go there yet yeah, it's, uh, it's up in ewing. It's right outside of benton illinois, right yeah yeah when did, when did you guys start that?
Speaker 2:so around 21 or 22 is when they started having shows and basically all it was. I mean it was an arena. He had the announcer's booth there and when they started we didn't have the cafe or nothing. We had food trucks come in and stuff.
Speaker 1:Was there an arena already there that you guys built?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got with my wife and first time I came out there there was already an arena there, okay announcers booth, stuff like that, but it was pretty like it was just getting started yeah, and then um, who had the idea to take it to the next?
Speaker 2:so level really had been her dad ben um at all. Really. They moved out there well before then and she was getting into horses, barrel racing and stuff and she just wanted a place to work her horse. And that, that place and if you'd seen it you'd really know how crazy this is but it was a thicket, like it was thick, and there was one little opening and she's like, could you till up a spot where I could just work my horse? And then we blinked and now it's.
Speaker 1:Now, it's this. That's what it is. Yeah, I mean, you got a covered pen. You got all kinds of stuff there. What all, what all you guys got there?
Speaker 2:so we got the covered arena um, we got a half a basketball court. There's putt putt golf, there's a playground, there's. We got some big tractor tires or sandboxes kind of around. Uh, cafe west, little western store and there's.
Speaker 1:Is there cabins there too, like airbnb? Type airbnb cabins so it's really a family oriented.
Speaker 2:It's very family oriented.
Speaker 1:That's the whole point yeah, that that's awesome because there's a lot of downtime in some of these events yeah and I have toddlers, and their attention span is surprisingly shorter than mine which isn't very big, so having plenty of stuff to do is awesome and at the events, uh, we try to let the kids have fun.
Speaker 2:Like ben, he's got some gypsy vanders and he pulls a wagon. He'll pull a wagon around. He's had 20 kids hanging off the wagon. That's awesome. And he's got big sub speakers in him. It's blair music.
Speaker 1:It's a good time yeah, I've seen a lot of pictures from there and talked to a lot of people that have been there and everybody sings its praises. So that's awesome. You get you just covered that arena. Was it last year? The year before? Yeah, last year was our first year with it yeah, and it's did um, and you guys have built a ton of stalls there too, correct?
Speaker 2:yeah, so we had. Two years ago we put up a 48 horse bull barn and now we're just now wrapping up 50 more so you've got almost 100 stalls yeah, we got. We got 70 something done right now. Oh wow, we're starting on the last barn here this this week who, uh, who's doing all the work?
Speaker 1:are you guys doing a bunch yourself contracting it out?
Speaker 2:or we do a lot of it. Um, me, ben and uh r, ryan and Keith are now. They help a lot, and uh, if I could sit here all day and list off the guys that have helped us.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But yeah, we'll. Uh, we do a lot of our own, like the concrete work for the pillars on the roof. We did all that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Before they came in. I'm assuming you guys didn't do the big steel roof.
Speaker 2:No, they came in smack the roof on. It was done. I'm sure that roof was cheap too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I mean we didn't think. Yeah, I've looked at some stuff like that and it's crazy. See, there's a little western store there. What are you guys selling in there?
Speaker 2:oh, there's like purses and belts, and we have our own wildfire t-shirts and stuff there's kid toys and uh, yeah, just a little bit of everything. Some vet stuff.
Speaker 1:Doctor and stuff. Yeah, and then what about the cafe? You guys got there Because, that's, you know, having food at places like this is huge for people that are coming in.
Speaker 2:The cafe is like kind of the whole heart of the place.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if it ain't going, none of it's going and it it helps a lot. But uh, the food is. The food is really good. I mean it's nothing extraordinary but the food that they serve really good who's who's cooking in there?
Speaker 1:is that you?
Speaker 2:you back there I've been back there, yeah, uh, but no, jade's uh sister andrea, she she runs it okay that's kind of her, that's her baby, that's her part of it know.
Speaker 1:If I was to go there this weekend, what should I order?
Speaker 2:The fish is really good.
Speaker 1:Fried fish yeah, oh nice Three-piece fish.
Speaker 2:I've never heard a bad thing about it.
Speaker 1:Awesome, yeah, awesome. And then you guys got a lot of sponsors. Yes, that support you guys, which is huge. Yeah, and we're very thankful for all of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if people are interested in sponsoring to just contact you guys like me or the number attached to it's jade's number.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, and then how else can I mean it's such a huge asset for southern illinois and the horse community? I mean, you get people hauling in from all over, don't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've had people from Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma, I mean just coming for youth rodeos. Yeah, I mean it's been really good. There's people from all over and we have Horse Hotel too. We're on Horse Hotel.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we've had people from Canada come through.
Speaker 1:Just passing through to stay the night, just passing people from canada come through, just passing through to passing through.
Speaker 2:Stay the night, stay the night, yeah, that's awesome how can people help support you guys besides sponsorships just coming out there being involved?
Speaker 1:yeah, uh, spreading the word about it, you know, and then um, I'm in these horse shows, anybody can come watch, right you don't have to, yeah yeah, buy some fish and yeah support you guys that way. So that's, that's awesome. So let's talk a little more about your, your horseshoeing. You've been traveling a little bit with another farrier, that's well established. So we're all you're going everywhere.
Speaker 2:Right, I've been hopping around a little bit. Yeah, there, for the last year I've been traveling a lot. Now I've been traveling a lot. Now I go with him about once every five weeks, maybe a little more. You know, last year it was every week. We were somewhere different you're traveling different facilities.
Speaker 1:How many horses you guys shoe in when you go to those places?
Speaker 2:depends, but usually we like around 25 to 30, but I've like around 25 to 30, but I've seen it up to 40. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:And how long does that take?
Speaker 2:Typically we've done 40 in three days yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's just you and him.
Speaker 2:If we do 40, there's usually one, maybe another guy Gotcha, but a lot of like doing 25 or something. It could be just me and him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome, and you got a little daughter. Now how old is?
Speaker 2:she, yeah, she's eight months, eight months yeah.
Speaker 1:Before you know it, she'll be in first grade. Yeah, I know how has that affected your traveling with the other farrier.
Speaker 2:It was an adjustment like it. It didn't seem very like it was. It was a hard thought, but it's been. It's been pretty good. Jade's a trooper, really, for dealing with that. I couldn't do it without her, without ben or any of them.
Speaker 1:yeah, I remember when my daughter was right around that eight month I went to a convention for that's the first time time I'd left her, just just leaving for a few days.
Speaker 2:It's like, holy cow, your whole life you don't have one, and then it's there and you can't imagine anything before it seems like yeah, and right after I mean it wasn't two weeks he was born, we were in Tulsa, oklahoma, at a horse show and we were gone for like a whole week shoeing or showing shoeing yeah and uh.
Speaker 1:So I was gone for a week right after born it was it was different yeah, yeah, that's awesome your wife supporting that too, because the opportunities you have to learn from Casey and these other guys is not very many people get that.
Speaker 2:No, no, and that's something she understands. It doesn't make it any less hard, but she does a really good job.
Speaker 1:And is she doing a lot of who's planning all these events at Wildfire, because you guys got something almost every weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me, her and ben plan, just about all of it. Yeah and uh, like our youth rodeos. Uh, jake and carol hampson, they produce that. So okay they kind of, we just kind of let them do their thing and they set their dates and they add you know all that. So they just, we just host that, but but all of our barrel races or anything extra, we normally plan all that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's a lot more work that goes into that than most people probably ever think about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot of work Just figuring out how to make everybody happy basically with the numbers and all that and how big you want it and just treating everybody fair. It requires a lot of thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is. I mean, the general public is not fun to deal with.
Speaker 2:Not typically.
Speaker 1:But one thing talking to all these Youth Rodeo people is they are awesome people. They're amazing people, so a lot of them are super understanding and supportive yeah, youth rodeo crowd is really good is that your favorite? I hate to pick favorites, but you could infer gotcha yeah, it seems like, even though those kids are competing against each other, they're all helping each other and their parents and everything like that.
Speaker 2:So it's just.
Speaker 1:It's a really good community yeah, and you've been there long enough. Have you seen some kids go from, for instance, walking around the barrels to going out and making a full run and progressing like that?
Speaker 2:That's special watching that happen. I was a little older when I started competing and getting into it and stuff, and just the memories I made, watching other kids make memories there, like that's going to be, that's where they made all their memories, that's where they got better, you know, and that's that's the whole point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you know, and that's it's really good, yeah, and then, since you've had a daughter your own do you look at these kids a little different time?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'll see little girls on ponies and I'll just be staring at them. Sometimes I'm like these dads probably think I'm a creep, because I'm just imagining.
Speaker 1:You know, uh, that it's going to be her one day yeah, yeah, that's awesome and and then, um, and then her family's so involved too, because I mean raising kids. Everybody says it takes a village and that's it does, yeah, it's to do it.
Speaker 2:Well, exactly, yeah yeah, what's the?
Speaker 1:what's your future plans with wildfire? You guys got anything. I mean, you just keep we're gonna.
Speaker 2:I think, after these stalls are built, we might start to slow down as far as, like, building the place uh, I mean, ben said that for the last three years, right?
Speaker 1:uh, I think we're getting to a point where we can start slowing down, just having shows and start to enjoy it, and because it's been non-stop building since we started, yeah, so anytime I talk to somebody that's helping, like the darnells or something they're, you guys are always working on something, so that'll be nice when you guys can sit back and just appreciate the hard work you put in and host these shows. What about your uh future with your farrier career? Where do you see that going?
Speaker 2:I see it going really far. I, I'm gonna. I plan on hanging around steve and casey as much as I can and I want to take advantage of every bit of it yeah, I mean you can't get enough education from them yeah, they are a wealth.
Speaker 1:Every time they're here, I learn something from them. Yeah, and I think that's what's cool about that. And the vet industry is you're always I mean every day I learn something. You don't just reach a point where you know it all.
Speaker 2:No, if you stop learning, you're losing.
Speaker 1:And then, not that it's a competition, but it is. I mean, there's other farriers out there that would love to have the clients you do and the clients he has and the barns.
Speaker 2:You've got to stay on top of your game, for that I mean nothing. You could lose it any day. I'm very grateful for every day I get to be with those guys.
Speaker 1:How has the diabetes? How does that affect your traveling and work and everything like that?
Speaker 2:it's a big bump in the road like it it can. You know, some days I hardly know it's there, but there's also there's days it's inevitable. You know you're gonna have problems and that's just something you gotta keep working through like it's inconvenient, but it ain't impossible, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what about, like, when you're traveling, especially on the weekends up there, when you're hosting these shows? As far as like your diet and eating right and taking care of yourself like that, yeah, that's very important. How do you, how do you manage on the road, Because I'm assuming what's an ideal diet for you, an ideal diet is just straight carnivore. And you've done that for a while, right.
Speaker 2:And I've done it for a while. The last month or two I was off of it, but actually this past week I've been back on it and I didn't know. I was trying to feel a difference and I couldn't, until I got back on it and I was like that's a difference. That's how you're supposed to feel. That's how you're supposed to yeah, I've done it.
Speaker 1:I mainly my diets. When I have time to meal prep and stuff is meat, yeah, but when I can do it consistently, I've noticed a big difference in my energy working and right. I mean, my job is physical, not as physical as shooing horses but I can tell a huge difference when I am eating right and taking care of myself, like the little aches and pains and energy levels are and that's the thing when you pair carnivore with diabetes.
Speaker 2:You got to make sure you eat enough like you got to stay fueled up yeah because people who do carnivore they can. They can fast and they can go a while without eating it and not make a difference like if I'm chewing you got it, I gotta eat a lot, and that's what's challenging about on the road is one place is having options to get stuff, the price of it, you know it.
Speaker 1:It makes it difficult, but it's well worth it yeah, yeah, I remember when I used to get ribeyes on like sunday morning on sale for like five dollars a pound.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and now they're on sale for like twelve dollars a pound yeah, it's carnivores becoming a more popular thing and it's it's jacking everything up, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then um, so can you?
Speaker 1:um, you wear the pump, don't you yeah?
Speaker 2:I have a t-slip yeah, that's um.
Speaker 1:When were you diagnosed with that? I was four on new year's eve oh, really, did you have a bad health scare?
Speaker 2:it was pretty scary. Yeah, I was. I was pretty close to not making it really yeah, I was real close yeah what happened so my parents were taken. I stayed with my dad's parents and they were taking my mom's mom back to. She lives in Indiana and I was just getting sick. I was peeing in the bed a lot, drinking a lot of water, just looked sick and they said I need to go to the doctor and that was around there.
Speaker 2:It was kind of an uncommon thing back then, like my mom didn't even know it was a thing right and uh well, I went to the just a regular family doctor and he's like you gotta go, and they were actually calling a helicopter in to come get me holy cow and uh, it was taking too long, so they threw me in an ambulance and I was four so I was ticked off.
Speaker 2:I didn't get driving a helicopter. And then I was wondering what color the ambulance was going to be, right, stuff like that. But uh, I was. I was pretty sick, I was, and for the people that know, I was like 989 when they diagnosed me 989 yeah, what a normal range is, like like you want, like 120.
Speaker 1:Is that your? That's sugar?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow, so you were almost 10 times that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like it was, you know, adults. I guess kids can kind of take it better, but adults was in the hospital not making it five, six hundred. Oh wow, but kids, I feel like I've noticed, do like they when they get up there, like they can stretch it a little further. But yeah, but it's still. It wasn't. I went far, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah and then a lot. I mean, when my kids started school it seemed every other week she was sick with something, so a lot of people, and I think even doctors, will chalk it up to, oh you know, just a little cold, little flu not feeling good yeah, and that was the thing I dealt with a lot after getting diagnosed.
Speaker 2:I was going into kindergarten and dealing with teachers and my mom was a very scary lady to those teachers. Intimidating or just they're what, like I, I got my way, like if I needed something I had it, and if I didn't get it it was a bad deal. But I love my mom. Yeah, that's awesome. Shout out to love my mom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. Shout out to Ricky's mom what's her name? Frankie Nice, she going to listen to this, you think.
Speaker 2:Probably Awesome, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1:Shout out to all the moms out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:As far as your with the wildfire and people, you said your wife's numbers attached to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Does her phone blow up all the time? Yes, and it. They will call at the most just random times, like it'll be a sunday at four in the morning and they'll be like, hey, I need stalls, or you know this or that, or you know which is fine, and jade, if she's awake she answers at any time you know, but it's just, it's weird, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know the feeling going off all the time yeah, and one thing, um, and before kids, or even when my kids were little, it wasn't that big a deal, yeah, but now that I got two toddlers running around, yeah, they can be sitting quietly. As soon as I get on the phone, they lose their minds. So hopefully you can figure out how to set some boundaries.
Speaker 2:Well, it's already started. If she's on the phone, if I'm around, I've got to take Lacey, because if anybody, if we start having a conversation, she wants to be involved in the conversation and she will be the loudest Yep, and that's hard for some people to understand.
Speaker 2:Like, and to add to that, we so we had a. We have four airbnb cabins back there. It's on like the arena grounds. Well, me and jade have a bigger cabin that's attached to the bath and shower house and it sets back there with everything and that's what we lived in for since we've been married. Well, this past weekend, uh, we swapped ben houses. Uh, he's in the cabin now and me and her moved up to the house because for especially youth rodeos, because it's so busy. Uh, people would roll in at 11 midnight and our dogs would go nuts and wake the baby up and then they'd be rolling back in at five in the morning and just, and then, where it's attached to the shower house, you can hear everything oh yeah so it.
Speaker 2:You know, me and her don't necessarily mind, but when it starts waking up the baby, it was time to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's tough yeah, a lot of people in the vets, the vet world, they'll talk about building a clinic on their property. Yeah, and then, like, there's a couple facebook groups, I'm in, but people that have done it always chime in don't do it, don't do it. I mean, we live at work enough yeah people. Just I mean with your deal is a little bit different because of traveling and logistics for people. They may have to roll in at 1 am.
Speaker 2:Right, but a lot of them don't have that much respect for what else is going on, and you know that's just part of it. People got to do what they got to do and I'm not going to turn away anybody.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:That's just part of it, but that's just on our side.
Speaker 1:We got to figure out what works for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, especially with a baby, because everything changes. Yeah, and a lot of diapers. Do you change diapers all the time? Yeah, I'm a diaper changing?
Speaker 1:what about swaddling? Were you good, did you guys swaddle?
Speaker 2:I was getting. Yeah, I was getting pretty good at that. Yeah, I was, I was the swaddle man. Yeah, it took it took me a minute, but I was getting the hang of it yeah.
Speaker 1:You guys think you're going to have any more.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it'll be a few years, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Mine are spaced at three years apart, and that's yeah that's about three, four years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's pretty good.
Speaker 1:Me and my brother, we're about three and they're, you know, when the older daughter, she's big enough for she could really help, and it's, it is, it is a big help, yeah. So, um, are you, you roping at all, you competing at all? I mean, in all your spare time you don't have no I, I ride just our horses more than I rope.
Speaker 2:Uh, I was roping before, well before we had a baby and stuff. I was going down to larry's and roping some. But uh, I mainly just keep our horses in shape, keep them road. Now and if I have a chance to go rope and I will, but I don't do it real seriously yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you think you have um all the time in the world, and then you have a kid, and then you got no time, no time.
Speaker 2:Between between the kid, the ranch and shoe and um, I'm tied up. Yeah, you got a lot of irons in the fire, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel you, um, I guess. One other thing I want to talk to you about is with the farrier stuff, like if anybody was listening to this, like some kids out there and wanting to do anything, would you have any advice to a kid that's thinking, maybe I want to shoe horses, even on a side or for a living?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, the first thing would be don't quit, because when you start it's going to be miserable, like I. I want to shoot you straight. Like it. It is hard and but it gets. It gets easier. The more horses you do, the more you educate yourself, it gets easier. And another piece of that on education is go to school and go to school for a while if you can, and then when you come out, find somebody to go with. That's. That was the most important part for me, because that's whenever my my shoeing changed is whenever I started traveling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we. We see some people come in and I'm not going to call any names and I don't know half of them, but they'll. They seem to say, oh, my farrier's the best he's been chewing for 30 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But that's what I tell people. It's like I've been playing guitar for 20, and I'm terrible at it yeah. Because I never got. I learned one way and nobody sat down and taught me.
Speaker 2:And that's one on those topics like I don't. I don't like talking bad about other fairies or anything, but when you get clients saying, oh, he's the best, um, he's done it for this long, it's like well, he's kind of been doing these things wrong for them exactly I was talking to rick jackson here, yeah, and we were talking about practice and and him coaching people and and everything and the the old thing you know, practice makes perfect.
Speaker 1:But I don't know that I agree with that. I think practice makes permanent yeah and if you're not practicing correctly, you gotta practice correctly yeah, unless I told him, like even tiger woods has a golf coach best golfer in the world, but he still has a coach.
Speaker 1:Having another set of eyes, keeping you in check is really important yeah, in the in in the vet world, the network we build is super important because I mean, every week I'm I'll find I'll have something that comes in like I don't know, but I know somebody that knows what to do or has seen this before, so I'm sure that's the same with same way, if you don't know, you better hope you know a guy that does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's, that's the thing. And, um, there's a girl that's doing a summer research project talking to rural veterinarians, and that was one of her questions was basically like was is it helpful to call people? Or, you know, is it like your competition or something?
Speaker 2:I was like no, we're all in this together. All the vets and vets working with farriers and that's the way it needs to be with farriers too that I think Steve and Casey are trying really hard to get going because it seems like farriers around here they don't I don't know that they really. They don't dislike each other or they really try to compete, but they're not on the same team, right, you know, and when you have other guys on the same team, it's.
Speaker 1:I mean, you can build up a community yeah, yeah and then, and the foot is just so important for a horse. I mean, a lot of the quarter horse lameness we see it's in the foot, quarter horse lameness we see it's in the foot. I'd say probably 70 percent. Yeah, um, and and the proper mechanics of the foot is so important and I'm not a farrier, I know how things are supposed to work. So that's where working with people like steve has taught me a lot, because some stuff I would think would be helpful, yeah, might be in the short term, but what if we distort that hoof capsule too much? You know, we see some other trouble down down the road. Yeah, and I think the there, the, the knowledge is just ever increasing, especially with mris being more available and popular.
Speaker 2:We're learning, yeah, and that's a lot, and that's why you can't ever stop learning is because there's always new stuff. There ain't like a set amount of stuff to learn.
Speaker 1:It keeps going, yeah, every year. I mean you guys have farriers, have conventions and everything like that where the brightest minds are presenting have you got to go to a farrier's convention?
Speaker 2:yet I ain't been to a convention. I would really enjoy going though. Yeah, farriers convention, yet I ain't been to a convention. I would really enjoy going though. Yeah, you should. Yeah, yeah, my um, I think my brother's spoke at some steve speaks. Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he does. I'd like to go to one before steve speaking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's a pretty good speaker too. He's a. He's a very good teacher, yeah it's.
Speaker 1:It's one thing to be able to do it, but to be able to teach it too, yeah, yeah. So he's shout out to Steve if he's if he's listening, yeah. So, um, I think that about wrap it up here. You got anything you want to talk about.
Speaker 2:No, you're good, I answered all your questions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you? What do you guys got this weekend at Wildfire?
Speaker 2:Well, so yesterday we had a barrel race last night, and then we have a 4-H show going on this morning, like right now. Oh, and so we're having the county's 4-H equestrian.
Speaker 1:Oh cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, out there. Then tomorrow we have a team roping, and Saturday and Sunday we have a youth rodeo Nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys, you got bucking shoots there yeah, do you have any? You got bucking shoots there yeah, do you have any like bull ridings or bucking rodeos or anything?
Speaker 2:We have little britches rodeos and they offer the class. We haven't had any big bulls go through there. They've bucked some steers but they really don't get used a whole lot yeah but they're there.
Speaker 1:But, they're there when we want to put them to use. That's awesome, all right, ricky thanks so much for stopping by man. I appreciate you taking the time and driving down here and absolutely, where can people find more info about wildfire? Facebook?
Speaker 2:facebook's the best place okay, wildfire ranch wildfire ranch and cafe okay, awesome.
Speaker 1:So john will put a link in the in the show notes to that so people can click on there and like and follow and you guys are always posting stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can find every event. We got price lists and just anything you really need to know.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's awesome, all right. Well, thanks for tuning in. Yeah, until next time, take care of your horses and yourself. Veterinarian surgeon, or a start to come, quick, draw the syringe and give it a flick.
Speaker 2:Bring your little black bag with the medicines and bring the trank and the crank and the penicillin.