Keeping Stories Alive
If you’ve stopped scrolling through Facebook because a beautiful pair of spurs caught your eye, there is a good chance you were looking at a picture of Brian Strange’s work. Brian is a true artisan with a focus on metal smithing and producing spurs, buckles, and bits.
Tenaya Wilson is a horse trainer with a knack for discovering the hidden potential in horses that life has tossed aside. She and her husband own the aptly named Rough Diamond Ranch, which has become a home to several on her string while also providing the opportunity for a temporary training bond before others went on to their forever home.
The ballad “In the Pines” has been covered by legendary musicians from Loretta Lynn to Kurt Cobain with each artist adding their own interpretation to what the verses conjure for the listener. Today, a soulful adaptation will be added to the ranks with the release of the single from cowboy crooner Sterling Drake.
Nestled on the main drag of downtown Noble, Oklahoma, down from Tiffany’s breakfast spot and across from the Spurs and Lace boutique is a small shop where heritage is preserved through custom hat making. Schafer’s Hats, owned by Fred Schafer, produces custom, hand-made fine felt hats for men and women all over the country.
Sabrina Kramer has found healing through her ability to create vivid imagery out of air and tell stories without using words. A barrel racer, a soldier in the U.S. Army, a wife, mother, and friend to many, she is the main artist and owner of Wild Cactus Tack.
Kramer grew up unable to speak at the age of 5, an orphan to the drug epidemic, and labeled by doctors as a lost cause.
While Monty Dyer’s passion for rodeo is apparent, he modestly states he’s just done it so long he doesn’t know how to quit. Truly a lifelong cowboy, his dad put him on his first horse as a child growing up in Ottawa, Kansas. His dad rodeoed and focused on rough stock events such as bareback and bull riding until Monty was born and he switched over to calf roping exclusively. Monty followed in his footsteps, taking on calf roping as a young man and continuing to hone his craft today through competition in the United Rodeo Association’s (URA) over 40 division.
Kendra Santos knows the power in a name. Whether it belongs to your horse, your mother, or your newborn child, it will leave her lips or fingertips with the respect and compassion it deserves.
Kevin Weatherby is the leader of the nonprofit Save the Cowboy, the largest independent cowboy ministry in the world. Born on a West Texas forty-two section ranch, Weatherby’s roots were planted deep. Although his formative years were spent in Big Lake, Texas, a town where his father was sheriff (you may remember it from the Dennis Quaid movie The Rookie), he soon returned to his ranch roots. He started college at Texas Tech but found the classrooms no comparison to the wide-open spaces and became a full-time cowboy. The long hours he logged in the saddle over the years weren’t a passing trend and continue to be a part of his life today. In fact, it is this core of his identity that led him to a deeper relationship with Christ and the start of the ministry.
If you have an interest in the rope horse industry, you’ve likely heard the name Miles Baker. Miles and his wife Daci have established themselves in the industry over the past few years through the intentionality of their training and their creation of the Relentless Remuda alongside rodeo legend Trevor Brazile.
Tyler Mansell is a master of anticipation. The Idaho born bullfighter has arrived at the forefront of the bullfighting world through his agile movements and calm demeanor. His smooth footwork and strength allows him to wait until what appears to be the last second to out maneuver the bull, often employing one of his signature front reverse moves, or his other favorite, the mercy roll overtop of the bull. He is as gritty as he is quick, and dirt stains on his clothes from sudden hits or tumbles never break his mental concentration.
