The True Cost of Building Something Legendary

Most people think an overnight success is built overnight. 

Dustin and Marla Gonnet know better…they built theirs on blizzard-blocked mountain passes, two blown transmissions, a baby born while Dad was at the cutting pen, and a barn raised from an empty quarter section with borrowed money and family hands. 

Dr. Chad Hewlett sits down with his closest friends in the industry, Canada's most accomplished cutting horse trainer and the woman who has been the quiet engine behind every milestone, to tell the unvarnished story of what it actually costs to build something legendary. 

From Dustin's Saskatchewan cowboy roots to Marla's instinct about a mare she'd never seen ("I just wrote the name on a piece of paper…this is the one we're buying"), to a $75,000 win at the Will Rogers Coliseum against the best cutting horses of all time, this episode is all about what endure, adapt, and advance looks like when it's not a slogan but a survival strategy.  

The most powerful insight in the room? It wasn't the 229 that changed everything …it was the decision not to quit before they ever found the horse.

Listen For:

:21 What does it actually take to start over with two paying customers and a baby on the way?

7:01 When someone believes in you before you believe in yourself, what does that change?

16:02 What does it really mean to be broke, alone, and 20-something years old on the road?

20:18 How did Marla know which horse Dustin was coming home with before she'd ever laid eyes on her?

34:05 What does it feel like when a win finally proves to the world what you already knew?

CONNECT WITH GUESTS: MARLA AND DUSTIN GONNET

Gonnet Performance Instagram | Marla's Instagram | Dustin's Instagram | Facebook | CHTO Trainer Profile

CONNECT WITH CHAD HEWLETT, VETERINARIAN | OWNER OF ENERGY EQUINE

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Transcript

Dustin Gonnet (00:00):

But I was in such shock because I finally got an opportunity to show up with the world. And don't get me wrong, everybody up here knew it, but it was the first time I got to show the world how good that horse was. To this day, I couldn't even be emotional about it because I was just so in shock that I finally got it done.

Chad Hewlett (00:21):

Hi everybody. This is Chad Hewlett and this has another episode of Unbridled and Legendary. And today we're fortunate enough to have two of my closest friends and really great colleagues in the industry, Marla and Dustin Gonnet. And they're going to go through a few things in their life as far as just being in the horse industry, sort of getting started. And the whole theme of our podcast is endure and adapt and advance. And I think their story probably hits that mark better than we might like to sometimes. I think it's almost kind of ... As we were talking about earlier, you talk about Cinderella stories and overnight successes. And Dustin's a little over $2 million in the cutting pin now and has trained several rope horses, doing a lot of maturity stuff, riding some ponies that are in the pickup pin and stuff like that too.

(01:14):

But I think if you're good with it, let's go back to sort of ... I mean, even if I could just start with how I met you. I can remember you came out from Saskatchewan when you were working for Doug. You were riding Colts for him and stuff, and he'd done some things there. And I remember you kept talking about Marla, but I never saw Marla. No. You guys lived ... How long were you before Marla came out?

Dustin Gonnet (01:39):

Yeah. When I was at Doug's about two and a half years, I guess maybe close to that.

Marla Gonnet (01:43):

But you were only there for six months before I came out. Yeah.

Dustin Gonnet (01:48):

Well, but Marla had a hairdressing job too at the same times. But we probably wouldn't ... When I left or we left Doug's while we were still kind of ... We were married, but we still actually working together living together much because I rented a place in with Task one. And we were there for almost a year and Marla got a job up there with the hairdressing and kind of would help on the sidelines. But then probably when we moved back down into this area, I'm guessing is when ... Because before we bought this place, we were probably ... Oh, we went, what was it? Three different places we were kind of at over- Three days. Three, four years. Yeah. But Marla, by that time would've been definitely full-time. Yeah, you were running

Chad Hewlett (02:28):

The barn kind of a couple years

Marla Gonnet (02:30):

In. I quit my job halfway through our Wataskin stay so that I could help out full-time.

Chad Hewlett (02:36):

Yeah. And I can remember going down to ... I stayed in the trailer with you guys when you were in Watasco and I went down there and we looked at horses because I was at the racetrack in the morning. I was in Edmonton, right? Yeah. So I drove down there and we looked at cutters in the afternoon. That was the pharmacist.

Dustin Gonnet (02:52):

Yeah. Ron

Chad Hewlett (02:53):

Bailey's. Ron Bailey's place wasn't. Yeah. Okay. And then we came back down to Oaktoak's area and did some stuff there and you guys were there. Then you were at Carl's for a little bit too, I think, right?

Dustin Gonnet (03:05):

Yeah. We were at Carl's actually twice. I think if I remember right, didn't we?

Marla Gonnet (03:11):

After ...

Dustin Gonnet (03:13):

Boy, I can't remember.

Marla Gonnet (03:14):

Oh shit. So from Doug's, we went to Watasco and then down ... We went somewhere else.

Chad Hewlett (03:22):

We ended up in Oaktoaks.

Marla Gonnet (03:24):

Up at Oak

Dustin Gonnet (03:24):

Trek. And then for somewhere, I can't remember. I thought we were at Carl's again.

Marla Gonnet (03:30):

Yeah. No, we were at Carl's after Doug's, then we task one. Oh,

Dustin Gonnet (03:33):

That's right.

Marla Gonnet (03:34):

Yeah. Then Okatoks.

Chad Hewlett (03:36):

Yeah. So then, so once we got to Okatoks, let's jump in there. So this gives you guys a little bit of a perspective of what it's like to be a horse trainer. We're not trying to get off in the rabbit hole, but sometimes you're in a lot of different places and you're only there for a little while and you're training horses and you're doing the best you can. It's like you get going. But then there was an opportunity to buy this, to get this place. So that's kind of really where I want to start is kind of there. But just the whole thing of how, just give us the ins and outs of what life was like because pedestrian was on the way and there was a few things happening at that time.

Dustin Gonnet (04:12):

Yeah. At that kind of time, I mean, I'd won a couple hundred thousand and definitely had some success and we had some good horses and whatever. But I'll be honest, we were at a point where Marla was pregnant and I was kind of ... The real story is when I started for Doug, I did plan on being a ton ride coats, go back cowboy. That's what I grew up doing. Marlow was like, "Well, if you enjoy it, let's do it for awhile. You always go back cowboying." And I've lived by that my whole life really. And anyways, I kind of got to that point where I'd cut enough and done enough things that I was like, "I don't know, maybe I'll go back cowboying or whatever." Like I said, Marlo's pregnant. I was riding horses for Ron Patton at the time and I was buying hay off them and we were doing a little bit of other business.

(04:57):

And I just made a comment one day. I said, "Hey, I'm kind of at this point where I got a kid coming. I probably should get some stuff straightened out in life." And I said, "I don't know. I don't know if I got really how much money I can get to buy a place." Because I always liked it down in this area when we were down here at Carl's and just different things we'd been doing over the years. And so we kind of told Ron, he's like, "Well, if you knew of an acreage or something down here, maybe we'd see if we can get some money gathered up because if not, probably just going to go back to Saskatchewan, go back cowboying or whatever." And then a couple weeks later, he come with me or come to us with a business opportunity. And so we had some meetings and the short version is the rest is history because of course we went into business together, Ron and Jeanette and Marlon, I built this place from nothing.

(05:45):

It was literally a house, as you know, nothing else. And so we built everything kind of from that point on. Yeah.

Chad Hewlett (05:52):

And did Ron just like you kind of talked to him a couple of times or was one of those things where ... Because I mean, he didn't own this quarter

Dustin Gonnet (06:00):

At

Chad Hewlett (06:00):

The time you guys bought this.

Dustin Gonnet (06:01):

Yep. Yeah. So it was like he just come with a business opportunity. It was a point in his life where he wanted to do some investing, or he did a lot of investing and stuff, land, real estate, different things. And so he just come with a proposal to, he's like, "Look, I've got some money here. We'll buy this. We'll build a company, we'll run it. You train some horses for me. " We still could run it like our own place. And so anyways, yeah, then we sat down and talked more, obviously, to get the details and how it was all going to run, the ins and outs of how the whole business was going to run. And fortunate enough here, two years ago probably, we were able to buy. So Ron and Janet definitely set us up for success that way.

Chad Hewlett (06:46):

How many years from the time we started till you bought it out though?

Dustin Gonnet (06:49):

Well, this will be 18 years-

Marla Gonnet (06:52):

15 years.

Dustin Gonnet (06:53):

15 or 16 years.

Chad Hewlett (06:55):

Yeah. That's so awesome. Just need a chance. He gave you the chance and you just ... Yeah.

Dustin Gonnet (07:01):

Well, Ron knew, and I mean, anybody that knows us knows that, I mean, if we say we're going to do it, we're going to do it come

Chad Hewlett (07:07):

Hell or

Dustin Gonnet (07:08):

High water kind of thing. And Ron knew that. And he put a lot of faith in us obviously, because I mean, as anybody knows, when you build a company, it ain't cheap. And he put a lot of faith in us, but we just need somebody to give us that opportunity to prove that we could do it. But as you know, and we'll talk about it, that's the fairytale side of it, but it wasn't at the start, it was kind of-

Chad Hewlett (07:29):

Yeah, we should

Dustin Gonnet (07:29):

Get it. It was definitely a lot of hard work and a lot of-

Chad Hewlett (07:33):

Very

Marla Gonnet (07:33):

Stressful.

Chad Hewlett (07:34):

Yeah, we should get into some of those details because people are going to think it's boring, but I mean, anybody that's ever had a baby, it's a life-changing event. It doesn't mean life stops. Damn sure life's a little different, right? Because you guys have been together for quite a few years as a couple. So anyway, let's talk a little bit about Destri.

Marla Gonnet (07:56):

Destry's 17 now and he's a busy boy, loves horses, cows, and roping. So he was born. So we moved here in, was it mid-August? Yeah,

Dustin Gonnet (08:12):

Beginning of August.

Marla Gonnet (08:13):

Beginning of August, and then he was born end of August. No, 21st. So yeah, just past middle of August, just after we moved here and that we had- Well,

Dustin Gonnet (08:25):

And the one thing I guess that we didn't talk earlier about was, so when Destri was due, when he was due, it was kind of perfect because that was just in the end of August, we were starting to get into our small fraternity season. And I had some horses that were still showing and stuff that'd come with us from the last place. And anyways, history was late. His due date was late or whatever. So anyways, when they were kind of like, look, if Marla hasn't had her, we're going to have to induce her. But it was right on top of our first aged event. Anyways, we'd discussed it. And I mean, you're kind of sitting, it's like, "Well, I probably shouldn't go to the show, blah, blah." Anyways, I went to the show. Well, sure enough-

Marla Gonnet (09:04):

And my mom was here, so I wasn't by myself. My mom was here really.

Dustin Gonnet (09:07):

Yeah. So Marla was literally doing all the chores literally hours before she had them because I was gone. And anyways, the funny part to this whole deal is, so Marla's mom phones me early in the morning, says they're going to the hospital, having pedestrian. And we were an olds that time, that's where the first one was at that time. And so I was sleeping in my truck actually because I kind of figured it was going to happen. And I come ripping down, Marla has them, everything's good. I was sitting there trying to be the supportive husband, and she's like, "You might as well just go back to the cutting." And I was like, "Hey, I didn't say anything. I'm here for you. " She's like, "You might as well just go because you're going to piss me off anyway. So just go to the cut." So I'm like, I was at the hospital.

(09:48):

My mother-in-law was making calls and she stares at me as I'm going and I'm like, she said I could leave. And away I went and I only missed the first two horses of the day that I had to show and I got everything else showed. So I was there for a couple days ago, everything else showed. And then come home, come home by that time, Marlon Destrin and my mother-in-law, it was literally, it was kind of a fly by night thing. I was in and out and was there for the quick part and back of the cut.

Chad Hewlett (10:12):

Yeah. But I mean, I think the thing that we're talking about is inside this podcast is that endure and adapt and advance, right? I mean, like you said, you guys moved here, you had three horses. Yeah,

Marla Gonnet (10:26):

Three horses and training, and we owned one of them. And so yeah, we only had two paying customers, a boatload of debt and no idea how we were going to-

Chad Hewlett (10:35):

The man with a lot of faith in you, which was nice because it gave you that chance. Everyone's looking for that. And so then we get settled, but the story kind of gets to, it got through the fall show season, and then you're off to Fort Worth, right? And so for those folks that don't always know, Fort Worth is a big part of the cutting horse industry as far as the show, but it's also a really good place for you to buy horses.

Dustin Gonnet (10:58):

Yeah,

Chad Hewlett (10:58):

Buy and sell horses. Yeah. It's the business opportunities that come with it, right?

Dustin Gonnet (11:03):

And most of these small fraternities, back in those days, we'd be gone four to eight, 10 days, whatever, depending on where we were. But most of them say a week, you're kind of gone. When we went to Fort Worth, you're six weeks, man, you're gone. But yeah, so anyways, we did leave for Fort Worth. And that's the part, I guess, when you're talking about endure and adapt, the part that most people don't know about our story was ... Well, we all left. Marla flew down with yesterday and my mom went that time flew with Marla and I. Anyways, we get through Fort Worth and we show Fort Worth. And the mayor that we'd had, we actually had her sold after the first round for a lot of money, like at that time, a lot of money. It still was a lot of money now probably.

(11:47):

Anyways, long story short, she actually got hurt when we showed her and we lost that sale, but we were able to sell the customer horse. The commission that we got out of that deal paid for our trip there and stalls and practice works and Marla getting down there and everything. But then where it got pretty challenging after that. When we left Fort Worth, I started coming home, but I didn't have enough money to get home. Buddy of mine that was showing there in Colorado, he said, "Well, hey, just stop off at my home, start some coats for a couple of weeks. I'll pay you good enough amount of money to get home from there and it'll all be good." And I said, "Yep." I talked with Marlon and she's like, "Yeah, that's fine." And like I said, we didn't have much at home-

Marla Gonnet (12:27):

I got us to do at home,

Dustin Gonnet (12:28):

Baby.

Marla Gonnet (12:28):

Fly home with the baby and-

Dustin Gonnet (12:29):

Fly them with the baby.

Marla Gonnet (12:30):

Feed a

Chad Hewlett (12:31):

Couple horses.

Dustin Gonnet (12:32):

She didn't have a big workload at that time, but I've changed that since then for it.

Chad Hewlett (12:38):

That's no hill for a climber.

Dustin Gonnet (12:39):

Exactly. So I leave Texas headed to Colorado and I get stuck in a blizzard on this mountain pass and I have no idea where I'm going. Back then I had an old six-speed Dodge. I'm in first year, second year trying to go over this mountain pass. And I remember finally I drove all night and got to my buddy's place and I was telling him how bad it was. He goes, "Well, just be thankful you've seen it in the dark because he goes, if you'd have seen it in a daylight, you really would've been scared." I was like, "All right." So we get them Colt. I stay there for three weeks and I start these colts and help him with some things and get enough money to start heading home. And I get heading home and I get to just leave Helena and my transmission blows out in my truck.

(13:13):

So the cops get somebody to come pull my horses off, take the horses to a lady's place. And I call Ron, tell them what's happening. I said, "I could probably get a ride to Conrad, to a buddy's place up there with these horses. Can you pick me up from there?" And he said, "Yeah." So I caught a ride with these horses that we'd had, got up into Conrad, Ron and I drove all night, got home. So we get home, week or so goes by, you're trying to get everything kind of organized. When I phone down there, they got my truck fixed and I go to pay-

Marla Gonnet (13:46):

Which we had to borrow money from

Dustin Gonnet (13:48):

His

Marla Gonnet (13:48):

Mom. Well,

Dustin Gonnet (13:49):

The part that I forgot was how we ended up having to borrow my money from my mom was I'd asked if I could just pay cash when I got there. And they're like, "Oh yeah, no worries." So I had some cash with me or a check maybe it was. Sorry, it wasn't cash. It was a check. And they said, "Yeah, no, no, that's fine." So another friend of mine here, we leave and we get to Conrad down there where the horses were, I get him loaded up and the guy that was looking after him, he had to go to Helena anyways. So I jump in with him, we drive there. I get there to pay for my truck with his check and the guys are like, "Nope, you ain't paying because we were from Canada, you're not paying with a check." So I had to phone my mom and get her to put it on her credit card because I didn't have credit card.

(14:25):

We didn't have a credit card because like I said, we had nothing. So I get that all done while I'm doing that. I get a phone call from my buddy that's hauling the horses and he's hit black ice in Lethbridge, south of Westbridge and rolls the truck and trailer with these horses that we just got. And at that time, he was freaking out, didn't know if the horses were, if they were live or if they were hurt or whatever. I

(14:45):

Said, "Well, phone me when you know. " So he phoned me, the horses were fine. Some Hunterite friends of mine actually come and gone and took them to their place and looked after them. And so I get hauling butt back to the border. As I'm rolling up to the border, I could tell my truck's not maybe shifting that great, but I'm pretty focused on getting home. And like I said, by this time, it's early hours of the morning. So I pick up my buddy in Lestbridge because he'd been sitting at a Tim Horton's for hours waiting for me because his truck and trailer's totaled. They'd had it, drug it out of there. So we get home the next day, we got to go back to get these horses with his truck and trailer. Well, by the time we get home, we blew the transmission out of the truck that we just got fixed.

(15:22):

So now I'm down to ... I've owed my mom money for the first transmission and it doesn't work. So we get the horses home, make sure everything's fine. I phone the company. They don't want to stand behind it because we're from a different country. They said, "Well, if you bring the truck back to Helen, we'll fix it. " And I'm like, "Well, I ain't got enough money to get it back to Helen." They're like, "Well, too bad." The first few months starting out here was definitely, we were living from hand to mills and just trying to make ends meet and you got to do what you got to do. But like most people nowadays when they start saying things were tough to get going, I'm like, "Eh, I'm not so sure you know exactly what tough is right now."

Chad Hewlett (15:58):

Tough's relative. Tough relative. Yeah. You know about the endure part.

Dustin Gonnet (16:02):

When you literally, when you're 20 some years old and you have to phone your mother to borrow money, and most people nowadays that doesn't bother, but back then you got to understand you just didn't do that. I'd been on my own since I was 16 and I didn't really want to have to make that phone call, but I did.

Chad Hewlett (16:17):

Yeah. No. Well, so then we kind of get through, that's kind of that. And then I know when we come out, there was no barn here or anything. And then you guys kind of, I think it was the next summer, wasn't it? Is that-

Marla Gonnet (16:30):

We had this shell done before winter and-

Chad Hewlett (16:33):

We spent all winter-

Marla Gonnet (16:34):

And then we spent all winter building this because it was just empties with my cousin. Yeah,

Dustin Gonnet (16:40):

My cousin helped a bunch and then my uncle and my uncle come and helped put the floor in, but then I got a cousin that's electrician. He did all the electrical work and-

Marla Gonnet (16:50):

Plumbing

Dustin Gonnet (16:50):

And plumbing. And a lot of family members helped build the barn.

Chad Hewlett (16:56):

And so then that gets us to the chapter of how this all got started and how challenging. And a lot of people would probably would've just threw their hands in the air by then. And I think you had told me earlier that there was some questions about whether you guys would be here.

Marla Gonnet (17:12):

Thinking that we were going to sink and we didn't, we swam.

Chad Hewlett (17:17):

Yeah. Yeah, you got to keep your head down sometimes. Yeah. So in that though, let's go kind of ... And everybody in the horse industry that's done something at some point, there's kind of one animal changes the game, right? I mean, before being honest, for sure. You're fortunate enough to train lots of them, but I think the whole thing for the second chapter for us to go into is you survived the beginning with all those moves, get here, all the shit hits the fan, so to speak. We get through the winter the next year, we get blue bought and then do a few things. But let's just kind of jump to red a little bit, tell us the story about finding that horse, because everyone's looking for that unicorn or the Cinderella deal.

Dustin Gonnet (18:05):

Oh, for sure.

(18:06):

Ron and I definitely, by this time, Ron had faith in me and obviously I had faith in him because we'd kind of already went through the bad days and we'd bought and sold some horses and learned a lot of lessons along the way on those horses. Most of them were successful, some we had learned some lessons on. And so that led us up to when we went to buy red. And actually Winston and I, we were looking for another prospect at this time and I talked to Winston Hanson. He told me about this Cat Mary that he said was a really nice horse bubble. So Ron and I, as soon as the Calder Forturity was over, we jumped on a plane and flew down and I had it set up to look at a bunch of horses on that trip. Anyways, the day that we had set up to go look at her, we drove in that yard and Wayne Robinson was the guy riding her.

(18:54):

I forget, we drove in there. And like I said, some of the lessons I'd learned over the years buying and selling horses with Ron and different guys that ... I do follow my gut instinct on my first impressions of a horse and your gut never lies to you as long as you listen to it. Anyways, we roll in there and I seen that mare tied. She was on the hot walker, tied to the hot walker, and they didn't have saddle on her nothing. She was just tied there. And I remember walking across over with Ron and I said, "Well, I hope that Rom Mary is the one we come to look at because I said, I like that horse and I think we should buy it and we should buy it. " So anyways, we try her out and it is her and we try her out and we'd actually tried another horse out the day before that we both him and I really liked too and it was in our price range.

(19:35):

And he's like, "Well, what do you think? " I said, "I think we should buy her." And he goes, "You sure?" And I said, "Yep." And he goes, "What about the one yesterday?" I said, "Well, we can buy the one yesterday, but we're also buying this one. Depends how much money you want to spend." So yeah, we ended up getting her bought because she was supposed to go on the sale and so we phoned the people we need to and did what we needed to do business-wise to make sure we could get her bought right then and there. And we got her shipped home ASAP and kind of went to training.

Chad Hewlett (20:04):

And this time you were home, right? Yeah.

Marla Gonnet (20:06):

Yeah, I was home with Destri. He would've been, oh goodness, he would've been-

Chad Hewlett (20:11):

And I think you were telling me that it was one of those things where you had a feeling about the horse too or something? Yeah.

Marla Gonnet (20:18):

Yeah. So Dustin had called and just given me the names of some of the horses and he said that mayor's name. So this cat's got style. And I was sitting at the counter and I just wrote it on a piece of paper and I was like, "This is the one we're buying." I don't have a clue what she looks like, but I'm like, "This is the one." Yeah, it is new. I was like, "This is the horse that he's going to come home with. " And he did.

Chad Hewlett (20:39):

It was neat. Yeah. And I think the thing that's so cool about this is this is one of the best cutting horses that's ever lived in Canon horses. That's why I think that's kind of the reason that we're talking about it. And so then we get her, she's a two-year-old, and then now we're headed right into the futurity season with her, right? So do you want to go through in every detail, but just go through what she did for you to start with?

Dustin Gonnet (21:04):

Well, she was like sometimes when you don't know what you don't know helps. But she was a difficult ... When I say difficult, she was definitely at that time in my career, she was way more horse than I'd ever got to ride. Even though I'd rode some really nice horses, really well-trained horses, she was just at a different level that I'd never got to experience. And it was cool, but frustrating, very frustrating a lot of times because the learning curves that I had to go through, a lot of it was self-taught because I could phone guys down south, but you know what I mean? You can only get so much information over a phone call or whatnot. But anyways, I got her trained and later on when she turned out to be as good as she did and everybody got to ask me how I did it and I kind of thought back and I was like, "Well, I just did what I knew best and that was just to go cowboy on them and make them a horse because she was real finicky.

(21:54):

She loved Marla and me, but she didn't really like anybody else. And so she was a real finicky horse to be around on certain things. And so I just did what I knew and I was like, wow, we're going to go use her." And I'd brand calves on her. She'd get saddled up in the morning like a ranch horse and throw in a trailer and she might not get unsaddled till that night and I might work her somewhere in between there. And anyway, she got trained and went to the ... We did end up going to the small fraterities with them. We didn't go back to the big ferterities or anything, not till later on in her career we went into Texas to show her. But the first few years we just stayed up here in the northern states, Vegas and Idaho and Oregon and went to all that shows kind of in Alberta, BC, like everything in Canada with her for a couple years.

(22:35):

But she ended up ... The most interesting part is, is even to this day, that mare and her coats are still teaching me things. Even this long after, that may ... I don't even know how to explain to anybody what that mare taught me because I don't think she's taught everything to me because literally the last couple weeks have just learned some stuff from one of the coats.

Chad Hewlett (22:57):

Yeah, totally. So we'll get into a little bit of that in the last chapter as far as breeding and stuff. And so Marla, I remember when Julie and I would come, my tech that I had for quite a few years, she'd always talk about ... She's always like, "I want to be a horse that Marla

Marla Gonnet (23:14):

Feeds."

Chad Hewlett (23:15):

Because it's a partnership. I think that at the end of the day, I mean, obviously Dustin's name gets to be on the checks or whatever, but everybody that knows you guys knows how strong it is because there's two of you. And so feeding wise and stuff, and I can remember her at the, remember we were getting ready, you guys were going to, I think you were going to California or maybe it was Pasa Robles. Yeah. And she tried to bite me and- We were just trying to drop out of the Just trying to draw blood on her just to take her- Health and Coffee, just to get the hell from Coggins and I

Marla Gonnet (23:45):

Remember. And she threw us across the alleyway there. And she taught me a lot on how to care for a horse and how to connect in a way, not riding her, but just to connect with her in a way, I don't even know how to, just to connect with her in a way to figure out all the little things that were bothering

Chad Hewlett (24:04):

Her.

Marla Gonnet (24:04):

And I remember going to shows and I'd have to sit in a stall with her because she'd just get so worked up if I was gone. So I would just sit with her for about half an hour and then she'd be like, "Oh, okay, I guess it's just this again." And then she'd be fine. But yeah, she taught me a lot on how to care, to feed, to maintain, just to totally connect with a horse. Yeah.

Chad Hewlett (24:26):

Yeah.

(24:27):

No, that all makes sense. And from just a guy that comes around, I don't know, six, seven times a year maybe. I mean, we talk on the telephone more, but I'm in the barn. And I think let's go into that pinnacle of, I mean, again, everybody wants that, you got that one opportunity to buy the farmportunity and you took it and you went somewhere. I think the next thing that we look at is red was another, I don't like the word gift because it's not a gift, but it's like something you found, knew you found it. But then let's talk a little bit about going to that slot cutting and then we'll go into her breeding afterwards because this kind of gets us to that part. But let's go a little bit because there's this deal and-

Marla Gonnet (25:14):

They did it in the summer that year of 2015, they did it in the summer for just four year olds. And then they had a second one that fall in-

Dustin Gonnet (25:23):

Wasn't it four, five, sixes? And then the one we went was any age, I thought.

Marla Gonnet (25:27):

No, I'm pretty sure it was just fours.

Chad Hewlett (25:29):

But then the cool part is the next one was like any age, best horse you've ever trained. There was no-

Dustin Gonnet (25:38):

Cutting and don't look twice. Best horses of all time. Yeah. They pulled them out of retirement for this one.

Marla Gonnet (25:46):

Totally. It was just a big jackpot. That's what it was.

Chad Hewlett (25:49):

And what was the entry fee? $5,000.

Marla Gonnet (25:51):

Yeah.

Chad Hewlett (25:52):

So it's

Marla Gonnet (25:52):

5,000

Chad Hewlett (25:53):

Bucks.

Marla Gonnet (25:53):

Yep. Just whatever entered, they take the top- 15,

Chad Hewlett (25:56):

No

Marla Gonnet (25:56):

Ties. 15, no ties. So when we had gone, the top 15, there was a tie for 15, 16, 17.

Dustin Gonnet (26:07):

Yeah. So I marked 221-

Marla Gonnet (26:09):

In the first go.

Dustin Gonnet (26:10):

In the first go, and there was four of us that had two 21s. And so that was 14, 15, 16, 17. And so the way they did the tie breaker was ... So it was on a five judge system. So on a five judge system, you throw your high score out and your low score out and you average three. Well, how they broke it was they actually, whoever had, they added all of them. So whoever had the highest of the highs and sort of a thing, they basically counted all five of your scores. And so again, it was stressful because obviously I had a good run, 221's decent, a pretty good run there. And so anyways, you're stressing out because you're sitting there like, am I going to get cut or not? But fortunate enough, I think it was me and Matt Miller that didn't get cut that were the main 14, 15 spot to go in

Chad Hewlett (27:04):

There.

Marla Gonnet (27:05):

It was so stressful.

Chad Hewlett (27:07):

Yeah. It's not like you just walked in there, you had to beat the door.

Dustin Gonnet (27:12):

Oh yeah. And I'm not joking because everybody, and even there's the interview in the end and everybody's like, "Well, was the finals stressful?" I was like, "No, that go run was way more stressful." Because I think in the end, they wanted a hundred horses, but only 74 or 75 actually ended up getting there. Other horses had issues or something. And no joke, there were the 74 or five horses, the best horses in the world. Of all time. Of all time. It was crazy. And I mean, it was so cool watching because literally every horse that walked to the herd was a good one. Anybody that's competed in anything, let's be honest, sometimes there's a group of horses that you're kind of like, "Well, as long as nothing goes wrong, there's a good chance them horses are going to do good or whatever." Even the fraternity, it's a bit of a crapshoot because you're dealing with three-year-olds, unpredictable.

(28:06):

But there was no unpredictability. It was literally down to how good your horse was and how good a cows you got cut that day to make that top 15. And so fortunate enough, we made it and we've been down there. We also had a three old there that year, so you're working horses all the time and blah, blah. And that go around was early on when we were there. So then we had probably two weeks before the throne. Eight

Marla Gonnet (28:33):

Weeks before just hanging out there.

Dustin Gonnet (28:35):

So we're just hanging out and it's kind of a funny story in a way, but it's hard when you're used to ... By this time, we're working a lot of horses and used to always go in. And so I got two horses or we got two horses and you're kind of like, not much to do in today. And the one place we're staying at, their cows were so good, unbelievably good. So I'd go work.

Chad Hewlett (28:54):

One

Dustin Gonnet (28:54):

Cow. One cow, maybe two. And they'd be like, "Was that all you need?" And I'm like, "Well, yeah, I think so. I don't know. It should not look good." You kind of get to second guessing yourself a little bit. But anyways, I really worked hard at staying focused. And I will admit, I kind of fell a little bit off the rocker there. I got a little unfocused by the end. And you start panicking because again, you're happy you've made the finals, but now you've also got the realization it's like, actually, I got an opportunity to win some real money. So I got a little bit nervous leading up to it and a buddy of mine I talked to and he got my head kind of put back on straight. And the cool part about that whole deal was, like I said, the fortunate part where we've been, we deal with, where I get to deal with a lot of different types of cattle.

(29:34):

I understand cattle pretty good. And that year in the world finals, they'd been using Mexican cattle, notoriously in Texas, you don't cut Mexican cattle at the fraternity. You'll cut like a longer year cow, but they got British influence or whatever. But they were short on some cattle. So I think these cattle were coming out of Arizona or whatever. But I mean, when you go to Vegas and them places, that's all you cut, but they do work different than most other cattle. Well, anyways, Yes. And what we showed on the long run was our normal kind of British cross, brown cross type cat. Well, they run in this herd of Mexican cattle for the finals and everybody's kind of a little upset about this. Oh, anyways, it didn't bother me because I was like, wow, cow's a cow and whatever. And by that time I was like, "Yeah, we're in the finals.

(30:23):

Whatever happens today, I'm fine with because we're getting a check." And not to back up too much, but I'd actually learned another lesson on that mayor in Vegas on that Mexican cattle when she was four about staying focused on a plan. Like I said, watching cattle, I watch cattle and I pick what I want to cut along with feel and stuff, different things. And anyways, I learned a very, very valuable lesson when she was four at a show in Vegas on the Mexican cattle. And I didn't forget that one leading up to this finals, which actually is probably one of the main reasons why it ended up the way it did because I watched cattle and I actually drew a little later in the herd. There wasn't a lot of cattle left to pick from. Anyways, the guys that helped me in the corner, really good friends of mine, and both of them guys showed lots on the Mexican cattle and been showing them on that week too.

(31:17):

So

Chad Hewlett (31:18):

They had

Dustin Gonnet (31:18):

A feel for the cattle that week. Anyways, I told them I had four cows I wanted to cut. And there was one that everybody was a little bit questionable about, but I said, "If it walks away from me, we're cutting it. " So anyways, I cut my first cow and I mean, the run started. It's good. So I turn around and I say to my one buddy, I was like, "Hey, where's that milk nose cow?" "Well, it's back here, but let's maybe go up to a ... "I'm like, " Nope. "I said," We're cutting that milknose cow. "And it's back at the back corner back near back fence.

Marla Gonnet (31:46):

So it's right

Dustin Gonnet (31:46):

On the back fence. I just walked to it and you can see in the video, I drive that sucker right around the other side and I throw down in that marriage you get it because-

Marla Gonnet (31:54):

It was pretty neat being there because if you've ever heard Fort Worth, when no one's cheering it, you can hear crooks almost. And so the first cow, you could hear a few of our Northern states buddies cheering like, " Yeah, Destin. "And then you'd hear crickets again. And then when he cut his second cow and she did her cool little moves, you couldn't hear a thing. It got so loud in there and it still get goosebumps about that. It was the coolest feeling in the

Dustin Gonnet (32:24):

World. And then so anyways, we get off that cow, I turn around and go cut that third cow. And by this time, like I said, I'm focused, but I know I got a run going. I don't know that I have the run that ended up being, but I mean, I know things are going good. So at this point, I'm just like, " Hey, I'm going to go cut the other cow that I want that nobody liked. There was two black cows and the one black cow I liked a little bit better. And again, everybody has their theories and nobody likes to cut black cows on Mexicans. And again, it's a bit of a long story, but I'd learned my lesson on this. I was like, nope. "I looked at my other buddy, I was like, " Where's that black cow? "He's like, " Right there.

(32:52):

"And I turn on, I just drive up and throw it down. And I mean, this mare runs and hits and same thing. This place is so loud, to this day, I'm not even going to lie. I didn't hear the whistle, didn't hear the buzzer. The only way I knew we were done is my buddy's riding by and you going, " We're done. "He's yelling at me. He's like, " You're done.

Marla Gonnet (33:08):

"And you could barely hear the announcer. It was just the- The place just

Dustin Gonnet (33:12):

Went

Marla Gonnet (33:12):

Nuts.

Dustin Gonnet (33:12):

So I knew it was good. I have to admit, and I can't remember at that time, I think maybe a 22 had been leading it.

Marla Gonnet (33:18):

221.

Dustin Gonnet (33:18):

Or 221 or something

Marla Gonnet (33:19):

Was leading it. Yeah,

Dustin Gonnet (33:21):

It was leading it. Anyways, I'm walking out and you're kind of sitting there looking at the scoreboard waiting and the 229 pops up and I'm like ... And again, everybody's like, " Oh, show some emotion. "But I have to admit, I couldn't because I still was just in shock. I was so focused in the moment doing what we're doing,

(33:37):

But I was in such shock because I believed in that marriage to this day, I still believe in that mirror, but finally got an opportunity to show up with the world, and don't get me wrong, everybody up here knew it, but it was the first time I got to show the world how good that horse was. And it was so cool. I honestly couldn't even ... Ron was there and he was all emotional about it. And like I said, I actually, to this day, I couldn't even be emotional about it because I was just so-

Marla Gonnet (34:04):

In shock.

Dustin Gonnet (34:05):

In shock that I finally got it done. And that deal pushed me over the million and got me into the Hall of Fame. And like I said, that whole deal put me at that ... When we're talking the next level, it just took me to another level that honestly, if anybody would ask me when I started this business, if that's what I wanted to do and I would've told them, no, it wasn't a dream. Yeah, it wasn't on my radar until we got there. And like I said, that mayor, again, it was the horse that definitely took me to a level that I had dreamed about ever

Chad Hewlett (34:36):

Going

Dustin Gonnet (34:36):

To.

Chad Hewlett (34:38):

And I can just remember being at home, just hearing watching ... Oh, I watched it on the TV or whatever on the internet sort of thing, right? And it was so cool. I can't remember. What was another score that was close here?

Dustin Gonnet (34:52):

The

Chad Hewlett (34:52):

221 or

Dustin Gonnet (34:52):

23 was the closest-

Chad Hewlett (34:55):

Yeah, I was going to say it was 22.

Marla Gonnet (34:57):

It was Wes Gallion and Lil Rat is the closest one.

Chad Hewlett (35:00):

Yeah, I was going to say- Yeah. I was going to say, I think the other thing is I'm not going to get arrogant here, but you slapped them pretty good, not in a bad way, but there was no question about it. That's the thing I remember. I was like, we didn't just sneak through. You laid it right down, which is so cool. You're

Marla Gonnet (35:19):

Walking into the herd and they're announcing how much this person's won and how much this person's won. And Dustin's like, he's won $930,000. And everyone else was like, 15 million, seven million and all that. And it's just like, we're just these little ... And red had just past the 100,000 mark in Red Deer that year. So it was like red, this cat's got stuff, $102,000. And then there's like, don't look twice, $950,000. And it's just like there's just these little Canadians coming down here and then- And

Chad Hewlett (35:53):

You were in their backyard. That's the other thing too. They're good. They're great Hall of Fame trainers and great horses, but yeah, what a great day. Well, let's just wrap up the last little chapter with red. And I think what I like about this is there's just these little thin slivers where sometimes if you just didn't punch through the hole, you just puke and get up. I mean, if you guys would've gave up here, you would've never rode red. And then the fact that you took her down there and had the thoughts of trying to enter her and stuff like that, that's pretty impressive. And then she wins the shootout, right? Let's just go into a little bit of take five or six minutes to talk a little bit about babies because we've had quite a few babies out of her.

Dustin Gonnet (36:37):

Yeah. And I mean, that's been Marla's whole dream is the breeding side of it. And she usually picks everything. I guess I get to okay it, but in the end, it's still her decision. But now we've had six now at least. We did end up having one that passed away that we never got to train, but every one of them's cut. Every one of them's been good horses. They've went on to win. I'll be honest, I probably haven't went and pounded the road like I did with the Colts like I did with her

Chad Hewlett (37:05):

As

Dustin Gonnet (37:05):

Far as going to the shows, just because things changed in life. But it's been one of those things that it's just been ... Yeah, we've been so blessed with the Colts that we've got to raise and ride out of her. And we've sold a few to some customers and I've got to keep them and keep showing them. But like I said, it's amazing how much we've learned even from her coats. Like I said, she's still teaching us.

Marla Gonnet (37:28):

And so was it four or five years now, we got the opportunity to buy her from. And so that was also a huge thing is like, I never thought I'd get to own the mare that good in my life. So yeah, she's just the horse that keeps on giving. So yeah, it's been fun.

Chad Hewlett (37:46):

And are we riding one of her colts this weekend?

Dustin Gonnet (37:49):

Yeah, I'm showing ... It was one of the first ones. So the first year that we bred, we got two out of her. She carried one and then had one on a recent mare. So this is Marlon and I stallion raising brows that I'll show on Saturday at the showdown. And he's ... I mean, I think he's a ... I've taken her to the open horse for churities. We've done ranch on the same thing. He's kind of went through the same thing she went through other than ... I guess I didn't actually competitively rope on her. I just ranch roped on her on the ranch. But this dad has kind of been able to go a lot of different ways. He's a big horse, big, strong horse, and we're looking really forward to riding his coats. I go on another generation yet with her lineage and stuff.

(38:28):

But he is ... Again, he's the horse a couple weeks ago. I learned some stuff from Marlo, showing him Marlis throwed him. And I watched some things last fall when she got to show him, and I learned that maybe I should get back training hitting like I traded his mother and he'd probably be better for me too. So we'll see how Saturday goes.

Chad Hewlett (38:51):

Thank you for sitting down with me and going through some of these things. I've always kind of known the story a little bit because I mean, you guys were in when I got married, you stood up with me and yesterday was in our wedding. And so we've known each other for a long time and always known the stories, but I just hadn't had a chance to really kind of bring it all out and- The

Marla Gonnet (39:11):

Deep dive

Chad Hewlett (39:11):

Into it. Yeah. And I mean, we talk about all the time about being from the homeland. If anybody knows me, I love Saskatchewan people and these guys are from the homeland. And I think for our podcast, I like a lot of that. A 229 show like that is quite the deal. Yeah. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Unbridled and Legendary. If you like what you see, please share our podcast and like us as well. Thanks very much. I look forward to seeing you again in another episode coming up. Thank you. Thank you.