Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
SPIRIT OF THE WEST
by Hugh McLennan
December- January 2009
Brent Trout
The Art of Cowboy Up
Hugh McLennan
The rocky trail that brought trainer Brent Trout to the colt-starting demonstration at the Ivan Daines Country Music Picknic wound through a lot of adversity. As a young man, Brent was diagnosed with Alport Syndrome, an inherited genetic disorder. He suffered kidney failure, severe hearing loss and his eyesight deteriorated until he was legally blind.
Successful kidney and lens transplants made it possible for him to pursue his love of starting colts. During his recovery period, he devoured every piece of information on horse behaviour he could find. He started training colts in earnest. In the round pen at Daines, Brent knew the three-year-old stud had only been haltered a couple of times and showed all the symptoms of a colt that would be tough to start. Knowing he had only three round-pen sessions with the spooky stud, he did an impressive job winning respect and getting him saddled. When the colt felt the cinch he reacted with a long and violent display of bucking.
Brent had his paint gelding, Check Mate, tied outside the round pen. Brent walked over, slipped the halter off the paint and walked to the middle of the arena with the paint following at his elbow. Then, Brent scuffed the ground with his foot and the paint dropped to his knees and lay down. Brent straddled him and — without even a neck rope — rode the paint to the round pen, sidepassed up to the gate, opened it, rode in, closed the gate and proceeded to work the colt from the back of the paint. When the colt showed signs of accepting the saddle, Brent let the paint out of the pen and announced that it was time to get on the colt.
He explained that normally he'd take more time with this kind of horse, but he wanted to show that it was possible to ride one like this in the first session. Brent swung into the saddle and quickly got the colt walking out. It didn't take long for the colt to bog his head and blow up. Brent rode it out and, when the stud's head finally came up, he loped nicely around the pen. He bucked two or three more times in that first session, but by the time Brent got off and unsaddled him, the stud looked much calmer. Two more sessions — including a wild ride outside the round pen, with Joel Martens making like a pick up man on a filly he had out for the second ride of her life — made for an entertaining spectacle of horsemanship. Even the old hands gave a lot of credit to this young cowboy.
Near the end of our Spirit of the West interview, following his spectacular dis-play, Brent related a story he'd read during his hospital stay that inspired him to pursue his dreams.
The story described a young bird that had tumbled out of its nest. The fledgling was stumbling along and cursed those feathered appendages every time he tripped on them. He looked at them as burdens, not blessings, but eventually he ran and flapped and flapped and ran until he was flying. Once he was in the air, that bird realized his perceived burdens were really his wings.
by Hugh McLennan
December- January 2009
Brent Trout
The Art of Cowboy Up
Hugh McLennan
The rocky trail that brought trainer Brent Trout to the colt-starting demonstration at the Ivan Daines Country Music Picknic wound through a lot of adversity. As a young man, Brent was diagnosed with Alport Syndrome, an inherited genetic disorder. He suffered kidney failure, severe hearing loss and his eyesight deteriorated until he was legally blind.
Successful kidney and lens transplants made it possible for him to pursue his love of starting colts. During his recovery period, he devoured every piece of information on horse behaviour he could find. He started training colts in earnest. In the round pen at Daines, Brent knew the three-year-old stud had only been haltered a couple of times and showed all the symptoms of a colt that would be tough to start. Knowing he had only three round-pen sessions with the spooky stud, he did an impressive job winning respect and getting him saddled. When the colt felt the cinch he reacted with a long and violent display of bucking.
Brent had his paint gelding, Check Mate, tied outside the round pen. Brent walked over, slipped the halter off the paint and walked to the middle of the arena with the paint following at his elbow. Then, Brent scuffed the ground with his foot and the paint dropped to his knees and lay down. Brent straddled him and — without even a neck rope — rode the paint to the round pen, sidepassed up to the gate, opened it, rode in, closed the gate and proceeded to work the colt from the back of the paint. When the colt showed signs of accepting the saddle, Brent let the paint out of the pen and announced that it was time to get on the colt.
He explained that normally he'd take more time with this kind of horse, but he wanted to show that it was possible to ride one like this in the first session. Brent swung into the saddle and quickly got the colt walking out. It didn't take long for the colt to bog his head and blow up. Brent rode it out and, when the stud's head finally came up, he loped nicely around the pen. He bucked two or three more times in that first session, but by the time Brent got off and unsaddled him, the stud looked much calmer. Two more sessions — including a wild ride outside the round pen, with Joel Martens making like a pick up man on a filly he had out for the second ride of her life — made for an entertaining spectacle of horsemanship. Even the old hands gave a lot of credit to this young cowboy.
Near the end of our Spirit of the West interview, following his spectacular dis-play, Brent related a story he'd read during his hospital stay that inspired him to pursue his dreams.
The story described a young bird that had tumbled out of its nest. The fledgling was stumbling along and cursed those feathered appendages every time he tripped on them. He looked at them as burdens, not blessings, but eventually he ran and flapped and flapped and ran until he was flying. Once he was in the air, that bird realized his perceived burdens were really his wings.
Thx for posting that,another contributor to CC I enjoy is Bryn Thiessen,I bet shortgrass would love to read his reflections.... 
