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ABOUT US:
I first got a taste for working with cowhide at my granddad’s side on the Cobb Ranch in Ramona, Oklahoma. The first thing I ever made with my granddad was a medicine bag from a boot top. He always encouraged me to use my hands to make any kind of gear we would need on a daily basis.
My first interest in rawhide came from a pair of rawhide hobbles that hung on my granny’s living room wall; my uncle, Mike Burkart, made them. Mike was a crucial influence in my life as a cowboy and rawhider; he was one of the best cowboys I have ever known.
It wasn’t until a rainy day in Sedan that my uncle Frank drove me up to the home of Mr. Charlie Chambers. That day Charlie taught me how to make a rawhide quirt and from that day forward (to quote Charlie) “I had the bug.”
When I was 16 my mother made it possible for me to spend two weeks with Frank Hansen in Lakeview, Oregon. Frank taught me many things about preparing and cutting a cowhide to make reata’s, reins, etc. I dropped in on Frank and Jean quite a few times in the following years when I was working in that part of the country.
Working on various ranches across the country, I found you could always sell or trade usable rawhide horse gear. On about every outfit I worked for there was somebody else there that did something with rawhide…it was those cowboys and buckaroos that made me the versatile rawhider that I am today.
In 1992, I completed the Ranch Management Program at TCU, which started my career in Ranch Management with the Stuart Ranch, Waurika division. I worked there for 6 years before deciding to go in to business for myself braiding, training horses, shoeing, and day working for area ranchers.
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