Ryan Henderson Performance Horses

07/04/2024

06/27/2024

Just a little info for anyone interested…

05/27/2024

Thank you for the ultimate sacrifice!

01/01/2024

Happy New Year to all, and God Bless!

12/25/2023

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

12/13/2023

Today is National Day of the Horse, and we are getting a little much needed rain, so I decided to post about this day and what it means to me…. For those of you that don’t know me that well, or my family’s background with horses, let me tell you, I owe everything to the horse! This bay stallion pictured below is the reason I am who I am today in more ways then I can explain. My parents bought this stallion as a yearling, and they had no idea what they were getting into! They both had a tremendous love for horses, and this was the first nice horse they ever owned. Long story short, everything snowballed around this stallion and things took off! My father quit his very good job in San Antonio, and bought a bigger property to build a horse training facility for our family. This was our only source of income!!! It wasn’t long and we were standing stallions, going to shows, and competing at the world level. Of course we had a lot of guidance along the way. It’s because of horses that my family could make a living doing something we all loved, and it kept us all close while doing it. We met all kinds of wonderful people that had a common bond of love for horses. I now have a place of my own, and have dedicated my life to being a horse trainer. None of the blessings in life would have come if it weren’t for the good Lord and horses! I’m so thankful!

Ps. Both pictures below are with Sandy Kale, and Big Bay Bracket. My sister and I are on him with Sandy in the first picture, and that is my mother Pennie in the background watching Sandy show Bracket in halter.

The final picture is my father, Terry showing Bracket in western pleasure.

09/22/2023

It’s always a pleasure working for Kellee Campbell, and having the opportunity to start these nice horses from Sandhaven Performance.

05/28/2023

I wish you all a good holiday weekend, and please, take time to remember the reason we celebrate Memorial Day.

Thank you to all who served, who currently serve, and their families for the sacrifices they lay upon the alter of freedom.

05/23/2023

Always a true pleasure to see Kellee and Kiki! Thank you both so much! I’ve rode several horses for Sandhaven Performance Horses, and I haven’t thrown a leg over a bad one yet!

Sandhaven Sienna (and Sandhaven Never on Time) dropped off with Ryan Henderson to be started. Ryan is a careful, caring, effective trainer who pays as much attention to the nutritional status of the horses in his care as he does to their education. He has started all of the Sandhaven youngsters for years now, and through recommendactions and referrals has ended up being the trainer with the most experience starting Australian Stock Horses in the US. He's a great trainer and a truely nice guy. We love him!

04/20/2023

The horse community is a very tight knit group, and when something happens to one of us, we are all effected. Many of you know Ruby Lingo, and even though she may get upset with me over this post, I would like you to read it. Ruby is a professional horse hauler who has a nation wide reputation for going above and beyond for the horses she transports, and the owners she hauls for. Ruby is one of the strongest, hardest working, honest, dependable people I know. Unfortunately, Ruby was injured in a horse related accident by a horse she was hauling last Thursday. She was kicked and stomped by a horse she was hauling, in the trailer. Both bones under her left knee are dislocated and broken, and she will have surgery this week. Ruby will be down for a substantial period of time. I ask all of you that are willing, please reach out and help her in any way that you can. All of us with horses know that this could happen to any of us at anytime! Please keep Ruby in your thoughts and prayers, and think of her in her time of need.

I have setup a go fund me account for Ruby at: https://gofund.me/c1d7b5fc

Please share this post

04/02/2023

I really enjoyed putting 60 days on Legs for LeAnn Nalls. I especially enjoyed seeing LeAnn ride and enjoy him today. I think they are going to make a great team. Thanks again, LeAnn!

03/09/2023

03/04/2023

Thank you Kuy Creek Performance Horses for allowing me to put the first 30 days under saddle after being at the track on R Sweet Legacy. We knew he could run and so far he looks like he has all the tools to become a barrel horse! We love his mind, willingness, and athletic ability.

02/20/2023

I don’t sell many horses, mostly just train them, but this guy found a new owner this afternoon. I am really going to miss this one! Lori Wright, you sure got a good one. I’m happy to see him go to such a good home.

02/05/2023

What a special moment in Ft. Worth the other night! This man is awesome! Thank you for your service.

01/29/2023

Thank you LeAnn, for bringing me Leggs today. I’m looking forward to working with him.

01/27/2023

For the past few years, I’ve used different feeds for different horses, depending on their particular needs. It has been a struggle, since I take so many different kinds of horses, at different stages in their training. I’ve worked with a man, for a few years now, that I once blew off, because I thought he was your typical feed rep, trying to just sell you his companies line of product. Once I finally talked to him, I found that he always has the animals and owners at the very forefront in his thinking. He has spent countless hours looking at my animals, discussing with me what I like and don’t like in my animals appearance and condition while in training, and during competition. He has gone over total diet needs for all of my horses, covering every stage of training, and has better educated me to catch the early signs of special diet needs horses. He has done all of this, just to see my horses, and my program succeed.

This man just recently took all of the information we have shared back and forth, and designed a recipe for a feed that covers every single aspect of my program. I in turn, took this recipe to a feed mill, and had this custom mix made per his specs. I received my first ton of the feed over a week ago, and I’m already seeing the positive change I had hoped for in my horses. This special mix, along with the forage diet already in place, gives me no need to add supplements to my feed. There is a strong gastric support component, along with several others, that will help me tremendously.

Thank you, Justin A Ramirez, M.S. - Livestock Nutritionist. I appreciate your help, and friendship!

01/07/2023

Once again, Justin has put out some helpful information on feeding forage. I encourage anyone interested in learning more about feeding livestock to reach out to this man! He has certainly given me a lot of his time and knowledge. Thanks again, Justin.

Howdy y’all, happy new year!

My New Year’s resolution is to make the uncomfortable, comfortable. What’s yours?

One thing I wanted to touch on is intake. We have expected intake versus voluntary intake.

Common misconception is our horses and cattle eat 2% body weight (BW) if you put hay in front of them.

If you put out a round bale for your horses or cattle, they won’t just voluntarily eat 2% of their BW.

They can actually eat more, up to 3-4% BW if the forage is really good. They can eat also less, like 1.5-1.7% BW if it’s really bad.

There are many factors that affect intake included but not limited to: age and weight of the animal, maturity and type of the forage, as well as teeth.

Legumes like alfalfa are generally going to be more digestible than grasses such as coastal Bermuda.

What can affect this is maturity of the forage. You can get a pretty good idea of the quality of for age just by how quickly your livestock and horses eat it.
The more mature or stemmy the forage is, the slower the digestibility and generally they’ll back off quicker, hence voluntary intake.

On the flip side, if your animals eat the hay quicker than they normally do, that may suggest this batch is easier to digest.

Here is a quick tip on how to calculate voluntary intake. You need an average weight of the bale and on your animals, how many days it took to consume the hay, and an average percent waste.

For example, a 4 x 5 round bale of grass hay typically weighs around 950 pounds.

Divide that by however many animals and how many days it has taken to consume.

Ex: 950 lb bale / 10 animals = 95 lbs. Then 95 lbs of hay / 7 days = 13.6 lbs of hay on average consumed.

This will give you the as fed intake. But the caveat is this is with no waste. Make sure to account for it to get a more accurate representation.

Animal requirements are determined on a dry matter basis (without water).

On average hay will be about 88-90% dry matter.
So, when we get our as fed number,
we just multiply that by .88-0.9 to get the dry matter intake.

Now once you have your voluntary dry matter intake, simply divide by the animal’s weight and multiple by 100.

Now we have your voluntary intake percentage based on body weight.

Example:
950 lb bale / 10 animals = 95 lbs / 7 days = 13.6 lbs.
13.6 lbs hay x .9 dry matter (DM) = 12.24 lbs dry matter.
12.24 - .10 waste = 12.14 lb DM.

12.14 lbs hay / 950 lb animal x 100 = 1.28% voluntary intake by BW.

This is important to find out what intake you’re getting to know what to supplement (protein and or energy) and how much to give!

Remember, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it!

Hope this helps y’all understand this subject a little more.

Holler if I can be of any help.

God Bless and Gig ‘Em!

12/23/2022

𝟗𝟎-𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐑𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞.

(Via our new sister site, CalfRoping.com)

Some guys rope all their lives, putting decades into honing the craft of tie down roping. It requires passion and determination.

Larry Swanson has both in spades.

What he didn’t have, at least for the first half of his life, was resources, namely, time and money. Now that he does, Swanson is inspiring folks with his zeal for the sport, still in the saddle at age 90.

Yep, that’s right, Swanson just roped in the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association (NSPRA) Finals in Buckeye, Arizona on November 3-5, 2022 just a few days shy of his 90th birthday.

Though he was interested in rodeo from an early age, opportunities to compete were slim early on for Swanson.

“I was always interested in rodeo,” Swanson said on November 15, celebrating his 90th birthday by doing evening chores on his farm in Colon, Nebraska, just as he’s done for decades.

His early interest was bolstered by a high school friend a few years older who went on to college and joined the rodeo team there. He invited Swanson to team practices and got him entered in the ba****ck riding a few times.

“I tried to compete in bull riding, but I didn’t like that,” he added with a chuckle, a timed eventer at heart from the beginning.

Upon graduation, Swanson joined the Air Force. He served four years, two spent in Japan as an intercept radio operator from 1954-1956 in the wake of the Korean War. When he left the service in 1957, he returned to his farm in Nebraska and married his wife Jean, but Swanson still didn’t get his shot to hit the rodeo road.

“I bought a horse when I got out of the service to try calf roping, but I sold him a year later,” Swanson said. “I couldn’t afford to go anywhere anyway.”

Soon raising their four children, sons Roger and Russell and daughters Diane (Fromm) and Lisa (Egle), Swanson kept his head down working the farm, where he produced corn and soy beans, providing for his family.

𝐒𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝟗𝟎? 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://bit.ly/90_Year_Old_CalfRoper

Images by 4S Photography from the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association Finals in Buckeye, Arizona