Farm Talk

Equine

March 2, 2010

Going English improves SW Mo. cowboy’s horsemanship

Growing up on his family's north central Kansas ranch, life for Shane Cole wasn’t much different than it was for other country kids. There were chores to do, cattle to tend and fences to mend.

Shane quickly learned, however, that the more he could do horseback, the happier he was.

“As soon as I was old enough I was competing in 4-H and saddle club shows,” he explains.

Horses weren’t just for showing on the family ranch, they were also for work. For Cole, though, horses turned work into pleasure and as he grew up he continued to make them part of his world.

“I got involved with the Foundation Quarter Horse Registry and later served as president of the Mid-West Foundation Quarter Horse Association,” he says.

Cole found himself getting more involved in various associations when his own children were old enough to share his love of horses.

“These associations were very family friendly,” he explains.

For five years Cole and his family took part in as many events as they could which included national shows.

“We competed in everything we could—cutting, speed events and halter,” he says.

Throughout his early years with horses and later when his own children were involved, Cole used the knowledge he’d gained at home on the ranch to train his own competition horses.

But he found he always needed to be challenged and he wanted to try new things.

After moving to southwest Missouri, the opportunity arrived to help a family involved with Friesian horses and he jumped at the opportunity.

“I didn’t know anything about the English discipline so I started taking lessons,” he says.

The more he learned the more he enjoyed it. And, once a horseman, always a horseman—regardless of the discipline.

As he became more versed in English riding, Gene and Lisa Schoonmaker from Rogersville, Mo., approached Cole and inquired about him working as a trainer for their Rancho Costa Mucho.

“Gene and Lisa wanted to get into horses and we just hit it off from the beginning,” he explains.

As they got to know each other better they came up with a program that centered around their appendix Quarter Horse mare, Joy.

The guidelines of the program would once again require Cole to learn more and that was just the challenge he was looking for. Additionally, they set a goal of breeding and training hunter/jumper horses, primarily using appendix Quarter Horses.

“I started learning more about the English discipline and hunter under saddle as well as jumping,” Cole explains.

The transition from Western classes to English was an easy one for Cole for one reason.

“English riders allow their horses to be more natural,” he says. “We don’t push young horses to do more than they are physically capable of doing.”

This sort of mindset between horse and rider clicked for Cole who has been involved with competing, showing and training horses for over 30 years.

“I think one of the biggest differences I’ve found with riding English is that the more I connect with the horse the more it will do for me,” he explains. “We don’t break their will, we find their natural talent.”

Essentially, Cole feels he has entered into a venture that brings together the best of both worlds .

“A lot of the horses used in the English discipline are Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods. The good thing about Quarter Horses is that they are real strong and very sensible,” he says.

Cole jokes that it is quite a change to go from wearing jeans in competition to wearing tights, but all joking aside, he feels the English discipline has not only let him connect more with the horses he is training, he has become a better rider as well.

In addition to riding and training horses Cole has been very active in the Southern Missouri Hunter Jumper Association.

“We really want to try to get more people involved in this and show them the difference in riding disciplines,” he explains.

For Cole, it’s the challenges that make life interesting and swapping chaps for English riding breeches has made this cowboy not only happy, it’s made him a better horseman.

Text Only
Equine
  • All the wild horses

    Renewed interest in a decades-long controversy regarding horse slaughter emerged at the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting at the Oklahoma City Sheraton earlier this month.

    March 19, 2013

  • Horse.jpg Rodeo team practices with real work

    Kansas farm boys know exactly what it means to “Cowboy up,” when it comes to working spring calves at Beachner Ranch near Galesburg, Kan.

    March 19, 2013 1 Photo

  • osagecowboy1_cmyk.jpg ‘Horse in beef’ renews horse slaughter controversy

    Europe’s recent scandal about horse meat in beef products has renewed questions whether Americans could be eating equine products as well. U.S. Department of Agriculture regulators say it’s unlikely that beef adulterated with horse meat could make it to the nation’s dinner plates.

    March 1, 2013 1 Photo

  • NEO horse coach Amanda Burrows.jpg Burrows named NEO horse judging coach

    Amanda Burrows was recently appointed as the new horse judging coach at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) after former horse judging coach Shannon Cunningham was promoted to the position of assistant vice president for academic affairs.

    January 23, 2013 1 Photo

  • Jared.jpg 99 rodeos take Kansas cowboy to Vegas

    December 6, 2012 1 Photo

  • NEO horse judging team Mail Attachment.jpg NEO Horse Judging Team takes reserve at Congress

    Horse Judgers from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO), attended the recent All American Quarter Horse Congress Judging Contest held in Columbus, Ohio, and won Reserve High Team Halter, High Team Performance, Reserve High Team Reasons, and Reserve High Team Overall.

    November 7, 2012 1 Photo

  • Horses under Tree Vaccination best defense against West Nile virus

    Vaccination is the best defense for horses against mosquito-borne West Nile virus, said Mark Russell, assistant professor-equine Extension for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

    September 5, 2012 1 Photo

  • Wild horse adoption set in Passaic, Mo.

    The U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will offer approximately 40 wild horses ranging from yearling to five years old to potential adopters at MO-KAN Livestock Market located at Rural Route 2, in Passaic, Missouri.

    March 13, 2012

  • BLM seeks review for ecosanctuary

    As part of an ongoing effort to reform its national Wild Horse and Burro Program, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced recently that it has selected for environmental review a private land site proposed as the location for a wild horse ecosanctuary.

    March 13, 2012

  • Horse processing plant in Ozarks drawing opposition

    Emotions ran high last week when a large crowd heard testimony for and against a Wyoming company's proposal to build a horse slaughtering and processing plant in southwest Missouri.

    March 13, 2012

Hyperlocal Search
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide
Seasonal Content