Method and Madness Ranch

11/07/2024

A little ASMR for everyone to enjoy!

10/22/2024

Whiskey is home!

10/21/2024

Update: ULCERS, BAD ULCERS! Dr says she has most likely had them for a long time so now we can treat her and she can begin to heal but we have to follow up in a month. Ugh, relief but bummer at the same time. Poor baby! But good news is, she gets to come home today!

Keep our baby girl in your thoughts today. Whiskey is having a gastroscope this morning at Idaho Equine to see why her tummy is still bugging her.

10/18/2024

Sunday morning UPDATE: Whiskey was supposed to come home today, was off of fluids and all meds and was tolerating feed but out of nowhere went down and had an elevated heart rate again. She has sto stay in hospital again overnight and have some bloodwork rechecked and tomorrow they will scope her. I hate this! One of our babies is sick and there is nothing I can do but let the vets do their job.

Friday evening UPDATE: her heart rate is finally normal, proceeding with overnight treatment as planned in am.

Friday morning UPDATE: Whiskey is doing much better this morning. She will stay in hospital at Idaho Equine in Nampa for another night to get some levels where they belong and keep up on hydration. She's anemic and has some elevated muscle enzymes so they are keeping a close eye on her but the plan is she should get to come home tomorrow!

UPDATE: We are not out of the woods yet but she is doing better today. The impaction has seemed to clear and she is eating. She's still on iv and meds but is in great hands. We went and stayed with her a bit this afternoon. She perked up when she saw us and was giving loves. We will know more tomorrow. Thanks everyone for thinking of us while our poor girl is in the hospital.

Still sick and feel terrible but when you have horses/livestock, it doesn't matter. Found my 4 year old filly today not feeling well at all. Renee Zidek came to help and support us as we got her to the vet. Brian Jones met us there. Poor girl is in hospital overnight with no guarantees. No news is good news in this industry so I have to hope my phone doesn't ring, or that when it does, I won't be forced to make a hard decision. Ranching is hard on good days, it's even worse when its literally raining down, animals get sick, you are sick and its your really good friends that are always there to help when you need them. Fingers crossed for positive feedback in the morning. Now to come up with a second mortgage to pay the bill. Ugh. Guess that Hawaii trip will have to wait.

10/09/2024

In case you didn't know . . .

10/05/2024

10/05/2024

09/28/2024

Someone missed her papa! Lady you ate such a sweet and loyal girl!

09/27/2024

Doc O’Lena was foaled in 1967, the offspring of Doc Bar and Poco Lena. He is one of only two horses in the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame with both parents also inductees. He was a bay foal owned by Dr. and Mrs. Stephen F. Jensen of Paicines, California.

It is really quite a miracle that Doc O’Lena was ever born at all. The Jensen family bought his dam, the severely foundered Poco Lena, in 1963, with the intention of breeding her to their already proven halter and performance sire, Doc Bar. In addition to an already heart wrenching story behind her laminitis, Poco Lena had suffered long-term effects from the drugs that had kept her from cycling during her cutting career. It took three breeding seasons before she carried a foal. That foal was Doc O’Lena, born June 21, 1967.

The Jensens hoped to sell Doc O’Lena while still a yearling to Don Dodge, who had trained the c**t’s dam, Poco Lena, but Dodge thought the c**t was too small to train as a cutting horse. So instead, the Jensens decided to keep the c**t and have Shorty Freeman of Scottsdale, Arizona, come look at him to see if Freeman wanted to train the c**t. Freeman did not have an auspicious beginning, as the first time Freeman tried to ride the green broke yearling, Doc O’Lena ran away. However, Freeman decided to take Doc O’Lena on, and said of the horse, “I didn’t train Doc O’Lena anyway, he trained himself. I knew about 30 days after I got him that he was an exceptional horse. I always had to ride him last in the training program, ’cause if I didn’t, I’d be mad at all the other horses in the barn. He was just that good.”

Freeman talked one of his clients into going into partnership with him and buying Doc O’Lena from the Jensens in April 1970 for $15,000. That December, Doc O’Lena and Freeman became the first competitors to make a clean sweep of the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity’s preliminary go-rounds, semi-finals and finals becoming the 1970 Futurity Champion and winning $17, 357 for his new owners. In all, Doc O’Lena earned $21,991.93 in NCHA earnings, along with an NCHA Certificate of Ability.

Doc O’Lena sired 1,310 foals. Of these, 321 accumulated 3,978.5 points; 87 earned performance Registers of Merit (also nine amateur, three youth); nine earned Superior performance awards; four were world champions; six were youth world champions; six were youth world champions; and four were reserve world champions.

Among Doc O’Lena’s offspring were Tanquery Gin, Shorty Lena, CD Olena, Mr Sun O Lena, Travalena, Sarlett O’LenaDoc Athena, Sugar Olena, Lenas Peppy, Smart LittleLena, and Todaysmyluckyday. His son Montana Doc is a member of the NCHA Hall of Fame. Doc O’Lena was the first NCHA Futurity winner to sire a Futurity winner when Lenaette won the Futurity in 1975. His son Smart Little Lena was the first winner of the NCHA triple crown. And in 1978, Doc O’Lena himself was syndicated for $2.1 million, at that time a record for the cutting horse industry.

Doc O’Lena died on February 27, 1993, at the Phillips Ranch in Frisco, Texas. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1997.

09/27/2024

Can't wait to find a Two Eyed Jack stud to breed to. We have a few mares that will pair so nicely and throw some cowy babies.

09/25/2024

DOC BAR revolutionized the cutting industry in a way never seen before or since.
The 1956 chestnut stallion was foaled on Tom Finley’s Arizona ranch. He was by Lightning Bar by Three Bars (TB) and out of Dandy Doll by Texas Dandy. He was bred to run, but failed miserably, earning a total of $95 in four starts.
He was given to Charley Araujo of California to show at halter. This endeavor seemed doomed to fail because Doc Bar did not fit what the judge’s eye had been groomed to see. He stood a scant 15 hands and did not have the punched-together look of his contemporaries.
The halter industry was ripe for change. With Araujo at the lead and the stallion’s unique conformation, the guidelines for halter horse champions were altered almost overnight. Out of 15 shows, he won nine grand champions, and one reserve champion.
Doc Bar attracted the attention of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Jensen of Double J Ranch in Paicines, California. The couple had pieced together a broodmare band of Poco Tivio, Hollywood Gold, King and Leo mares, and was in the market for a stallion. Doc Bar fit their needs and the couple bought him in 1963 for $30,000.
Over the following years, Doc Bar sired National Cutting Horse Association Futurity winners, world champions and top-10 horses. A few progenies include Doc O’Lena, Dry Doc, Fizzabar and Doc’s Kitty. He was the grandsire of Smart Little Lena, Tenino San, Docs Sangria and Don N W***y.
In AQHA competitions, Doc Bar’s get amassed nearly 9,000 points and won multiple world championships.
The key to Doc Bar’s success was summed up by Charlie Ward, manager of the Jensens’ ranch, “is that he’s so consistent in his type. His c**ts are all uniform and possess a lot of sense. They’re easy to train, they have a lot of natural ability – every one of them is cowy.”
Doc Bar was euthanized in 1992 at 36. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1993.
Biography updated as of march 1993, credit to AQHA.

09/21/2024

Po bear went to his new home by Idaho Falls yesterday. He is such an amazing and beautiful pup out of our last litter and will be such a great companion and hunter for his new family.

09/21/2024

Lady enjoying the A/C after morning service training work.

09/08/2024

Helena community PSA: we have diagnosed 3 cases of Pigeon fever in the last 7 days, so please be religious about your fly control and be very very careful to keep all wounds covered and clean so the flies cannot get into them.

*photo credit Fox Ridge Equine*

09/01/2024

Man o' War's grandson King Charles starred as "The Pie" in the 1944 film National Velvet starring Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney. He was a 7-yr-old thoroughbred that was trained as a show hunter and jumper. King Charles was purchased for $800 for the movie. Eleven year old Taylor underwent an extensive training program riding King Charles daily. A special bond grew between the two of them. After filing National Velvet, King Charles was given to Taylor as a present for her 13th birthday. King Charles would then retire and spend the rest of his life with his new owner Elizabeth Taylor.