I really don't remember when I wasn't riding colts. I know I started riding outside horses when I was around 11-12 years old. Back then the local farmers & ranchers weren't interested in payin' me a dollar a day to pet on um, so I learned to train pretty fast. A lot of them owners would only give ya 2 weeks to get them going. Every once in a while one would splurge and give me 30 days to get one going to where it wasn't gonna kill anybody. Those were mostly 3 and 4 yr olds. Chances were they were not even halter broke and if they were somebody had already tried to ride um and had given up. It made for a pretty exciting youth. I loved every minute of it!
By the time I was in my early 20's, I had a pretty good reputation. I could kinda set my own rules, and get more money too. I decided on what I was gonna' ride, for how long and started turning out some pretty good horses. They mostly went to farmers & ranchers in the area.
I started riding bulls and bareback broncs when I was about 18. I stayed with it until my early 30's. I took up team roping for fun. I was still riding outside colts, but started kinda specializing on making some of my horses into rope horses. I did that until 10-12 years ago.
I have always enjoyed the horses, but putting up with some owners was a real pain sometimes. They often had horses that were totally unsuited to their ability and what they wanted to do with them. So one day I just said, To Hell With It! I decided that from now on, I was just going to ride my own colts and not have to worry about fixing other peoples messes.
I started only buying weanlings that suited me and if they didn't turn out good, well it was no one's fault but mine own. People could come try one out and buy it if it suited them. It made my business really fun again! But something else was changing, the local population was shrinking and if I sold a good horse they were set for 20 years. The thought of having to get a real job was a very unpleasant thought! Thankfully, my mom talked me into getting a computer. Hot damn, I was back in business!
Since then, I've sold horses from coast to coast; from south TX to SD, just about all over this here US of A. Around 85% of my colts go to family's and trail riders. The rest go to ropers and ranchers.
I started with my equipment a few years ago. I have sold my training equipment all over the world. No one was as surprised as me, when my YouTube video on hobbling got over 1 million hits, shoot now it's over 6 million and adding thousands of hits a day. Read the comments on there sometime, a lot of people think it is just awful and cruel, but I tell them over and over, would you rather teach your horse to stand still when caught in something with soft hobbles and when you are there or in some wire in the middle of the night?
I've started hundreds of colts, but I might be more proud of my videos, than all of those horses. I think an awful lot of people have tried it. I like to think I've helped save a lot of horses from really bad injuries or death. My hobbles are softer, longer and do a better job than most you will find on the market. The nose piece, what can I say, it just works. The bit is a great bit to transition out of the ring snaffle and nose piece. I just leave that bit on my horses for their whole lives; it’s mild and all they need. You can see all of my training videos on YouTube, just search “PDJ47” to see all of my training & ranch videos.
PD Jones
