 TS Quarter Horses
TS Cavvy History
The TS has a long history of raising and riding good
horses, which in turn has attracted top hands and made many others.
As a young man, renowned horseman, trainer and clinician
Ray Hunt got his start on the TS Ranch when he hired on in the early 1950's as
a buckaroo. Years later he reminisced that this being his first real riding
job, he was quite nervous his first time out with the TS wagon, wondering
whether he would measure up. And measure up he did. Twenty years later, Ray
returned, this time to the Horseshoe Ranch, where he trained jumping horses and
began to teach others the philosophy and colt starting techniques of his mentor
Tom Dorrance 
In William
Dunphy's day, the TS horses were of mixed linage, with lots of remount blood.
In the 1950's all the horses in the TS cavvy were Morgans. They later began
raising and riding Quarter Horses, as we do today.
Early on, the TS had
a reputation for raising tough horses that were prone to buck and hard to ride.
They were started as six to eight year old's, where the horse breaking routine
with those bronks was to run them into a round pen, rope em, hobble em, sack
them out a bit and saddle them up. Than they'd pull down their hat, step on and
let her rip!
When Ray Hunt returned to the Great Basin and began to
share the Tom Dorrance approach to horse training and horsemanship, the TS
Cavvy improved dramatically.
Today we halter our colts as weanlings,
trim their feet and teach them some manners. We grow them out through the
winter, trim them up and turn them out for the summer. In late fall they are
brought back in, wormed, vaccinated, trimmed up, taught a little ground work.
We then turn them back out. They are brought back in as two year old's and
started using the Ray Hunt method. After about ten rides they are again turned
out. They are brought back in as three's where they are rode lightly. Here,
their real training begins. Those that make the cut are placed in the TS Cavvy
as four year old's, when they are more developed and able to stand up to long
circles and rigorous cow work.
The TS Quarter Horse ProgramWhen ELLCo acquired the
Horseshoe Ranch, with it's horse breeding and training facilities, we got back
into the horse raising business, with the initial goal of raising replacements
for TS cavvy, and the end goal of selling reputation working ranch, versitility
and performance horses.
We are
now in the process of developing our Quarter Horse Program. And although we are
still in the early stages, we are already seeing promising results.
We
began our breeding program by purchasing a few foundation brood mares from the
Van Norman Ranch family, with Colonel Freckles, Smart Little Lens, Bert and
Gunsmoke breeding. We have since purchased a few mares elsewhere of similar
type and linage. We currently have twenty five brood mares, another five in
training and five yearlings coming up. Our current plans are to build up to a
sixty head brood mare band.
To get started, we purchased a older
stallion of Jackie Bee breeding that had been in the Van Norman breeding
program for several years. Initially purchased as a "transisation" stallion ,
Madannos Blue Bee's colts have turned out so well, he has become our "new
foundation" stallion.
We are currently searching for another stallion
to keep our genetic program moving forward. And because we are not in a
position to promote our horse program in the show ring or arena, we are giving
serious consideration to purchasing or partnering on another older stallion
with a an established reputation.
With working ranch horses
being our primary objective, we like horses that have the size, bone, feet and
structure to hold up under hard use. We want them to have lots of "cow sense"
and good minds. And naturally a little color and crome can't hurt.
One of the big advantages that the TS has over many
Quarter Horse breeders is a big cowboy, crew and lots of country to ride in and
lots of cow work to do.. Using the phlosophy that "wet saddle blankets make
good horses", the TS cowboy crew ride both mares and geldings. We routinely
turn our cavvy over at age twelve, so in addition to some well started young
horses, the TS will have several "finished" horses to sell each year.
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