Bo Wagner of Connolly's Saddlery: Crafting Legacy and Quality in Western Saddles

What if we told you that the secret to mastering the rugged Western lifestyle lies in the craftsmanship of a saddle? Join us for an engaging episode of "Harness Up" where we chat with Bo Wagner from Connolly's Saddlery in Billings, Montana. Immerse yourself in the rich history of this family-owned business, which has been perfecting the art of saddle-making since 1912. Bo shares his family's journey since taking over the shop in 1995, emphasizing their dedication to traditional techniques and high-quality gear that caters to rodeo enthusiasts and a diverse range of equestrian needs. We also pause to honor the victims and heroes of 9/11 with a moment of silence, reflecting on that day's profound impact.

Explore the rising popularity of rodeo events and the essential role quality gear plays in the ranching lifestyle as we highlight young bull riding stars like Jacoy Hale and Dakota Lewis. Discover the stark contrasts between ranching in the rugged West and farming in the East, and gain appreciation for the resilience required to succeed in these environments. We also delve into the challenges of preserving multi-generational ranches amidst rising operational costs, and stress the critical role farmers and ranchers play in feeding America. Lastly, we showcase the exceptional craftsmanship of Herman Oak leather saddles and the customization available for various riding disciplines, featuring a stunning tooled barrel saddle made for the YRA. Don't miss the chance to learn more about Connolly's Saddlery's exquisite products and their commitment to quality.

Chapters

• 0:00 Western Saddle Shop Legacy and Support
• 11:10 Rural Lifestyle and Ranching Quality
• 21:16 Preserving Western Ranching Heritage

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Good morning everybody. Stephen here with Haste Draft, horses and Mules, and welcome to the podcast Harness Up. I know it's been a while we've been off about a month, we've been kind of busy but we're glad to be back and we've got a lot of exciting podcasts coming for y'all. And the first one I want to start out with is this young man sitting right here and we're here in Billings, montana this morning and I'm sitting down here in downtown at this saddle shop and I want to let him tell you who he is and exactly what they do here, and y'all are gonna be real interested in what he's got to say.

Speaker 2: 0:29

Perfect, well thanks, steven, for having me. Yes, sir, I'm glad to be here. Yeah, oh, this is great. My name is Bo Wagner. We're here at Connolly's Saddlery in Billings, montana. This is a family-owned store and actually it's been around since 1912 and the Connelly's family started it back then. They progressed through the years and then our family took it over and bought it from the Connelly's family in 95. And so we've owned it for almost 30 years now and, yeah, it's been great, and there's not very many of us small family owned western stores, salary shops anymore.

Speaker 1: 1:24

And so there's very few of us.

Speaker 2: 1:26

But it's it's exciting, so I'm I'm glad that you guys came in and we got to meet the reason I'm here.

Speaker 1: 1:33

A lot of y'all may have seen on the YouTube live. I know a lot of y'all may watch our YouTube too. I was driving down the road in Liberty there at home on a team of horses and my hat flew off. And I only wear American hats because I like them so much, they fit right and they're good for my head. And so I was out here in Montana. I still hadn't got a new hat and I said I've got to find a new straw hat. And I got on Google and typed in American hats for sale in Montana and it showed up this fella and I said we're going to go there and find me a new hat, walked in, found my hat. He shaped it for me. I was out of here like that and it was great, so I got me a new hat. So some people said that I lost that hat. It was an excuse to get a new one hey, sometimes you need that, though I didn't want a new one.

Speaker 1: 2:20

You know how it is when you get a hat and you get it broke in and it's just your hat. That's just right, even how it gets dented up here up top and weak, and you know where to feel. It's just, it's crazy. But, I got a new hat and he shaped it. He looked right at my old, another one I had, and fixed it right like I like it. Good, good deal. But yeah, we're here in Billings this morning and you know what today is, don't you? 9-11. That's right.

Speaker 2: 2:47

Yep.

Speaker 1: 2:48

Yep, so yeah, today's a day to remember when was you in 9-11?.

Speaker 2: 2:53

I was actually working in a sports marketing company in Charlotte, North Carolina. You were back east, Yep Yep Sitting at the office and went across the street to a Walgreens and bought a small TV so we could all watch it. So yeah, how about?

Speaker 1: 3:10

you. I was in ninth grade at Placid County High School in Kentucky. In history, oh wow, and that's when we seen it on TV. They pulled it up for us. Let's do a moment of silence just for the victims and all the heroes of 9-11. Let's do that for them. Yep, that was a shocking day.

Speaker 2: 3:44

Now we can look back on it. Yeah, I was watching the news this morning. You knowing the videos and boy, just absolutely tragic and yeah, well, you're here in the heart of western country. Oh, man, this is the west, yes so you got these saddles.

Speaker 1: 4:00

I'm looking at back here. I want to know about these. Let's talk about your saddles, yeah uh.

Speaker 2: 4:05

So, like I said before, the store started in 1912. It's kind of a leather shop, harness shop. They started making saddles then as well and it progressed throughout the years. It was actually Conley's brothers that kind of started this whole thing. Actually Conley's brothers that kind of started this whole thing.

Speaker 2: 4:26

So over the hundred and I guess, 12 years of the store there has there's, there's been four stamps of the Conley's, and when we bought the store in 95, conley's was not making saddles and they hadn't for for several years at that point, and so that was one of the things that we wanted to bring back, and so we spent several years interviewing and finding the right saddle maker that would fit our team. We wanted to ensure that it was, you know, herman Oak, all leather. We wanted to make sure, you know, herman Oak all leather. We wanted to make sure, you know, we were hand tooling, it was nothing by machine. And so we spent a lot of time and put that effort in, and so we've got the fourth stamp of the Conleys, you know, official, handmade uh over since since 1912. So, uh, it's, yeah, it's been very good. We've got several trees, uh that we put, you know, put the saddles on.

Speaker 2: 5:35

Um, we do. You know we try to keep a fair amount of saddles in stock. Um, I see that, but it we do. The majority of ours is custom.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Are you building these mainly for the rodeo industry, or is it just a huge mix?

Speaker 2: 5:52

It's all over the place because we've got a, you know, we've got a Ranch Association. We've got a Will James, we've got a Wade, you know, and then we do have a Roper. We've got a light all around. Know, our barrel saddles. We've actually we hand designed our barrel tree and so it it's a, it's an exclusive that that tree can only come from us and it's been. It's been great, you know, over here we've got pictures. We've been a part of the, the WRA, the Women's Professional Rodeo Association. They have a program called the Saddle Rotation Program, and so what that is is every qualifier that goes to the NFR gets a saddle, and so there's only a handful of saddle makers in the country that are able to participate. That and we've been fortunate to do that for for several years and it's a, it's a cool program that we get sorry about that, guys.

Speaker 1: 6:49

We had to pause for a minute. He had a customer come in, so, but we're back, so don't worry about that. I don't really remember where we was.

Speaker 2: 6:56

Uh, yeah, we were just just finished up on the thePRA and that saddle program. But yeah, the saddles are a big deal to us and providing that quality and fit for the horse and for the rider.

Speaker 2: 7:15

Well, the young man that came in was over there looking at us. What's going on with that? Yeah, so it's a summer youth association called the YRA. It's a summer youth association called the YRA and we've been a partner and sponsor with them for years. But we do their trophy saddles for their year-end winners. And he was actually getting a pair of boots but realized their banquet is next week and we finished up their saddle so he got a sneak peek at his championship saddle. His dad said he cheated.

Speaker 1: 7:41

He was actually sitting on it but we won't say no more than that. But that's good that you support all that stuff with your saddles and it's really good. Them young kids are the future of this industry, completely completely, and there's several of them.

Speaker 2: 7:57

We've been fortunate to be involved with several different associations and organizations and and it's and part of what's neat is a lot of them, you know they get to customize their saddle the way they want, instead of it just being a a standard. Uh, we let them pick. You know, what tooling do you want? What type of seat do you want? You want your initials on it, do you want your name on it? And so it's been really neat over the years, and we've got a couple of books over here of just how they design it. It's cool because some of them I mean some of these kids that'll be their only saddle they ever have. And then we have some. They've got five, six, seven of ours.

Speaker 1: 8:38

I guess it's the difference in the families how much money they got.

Speaker 2: 8:45

Yeah, so it's cool, we're privileged to be a part, especially in those youth associations, because, you're exactly right, those are our future. I mean, it starts in the youth, goes to high school, college and then, whether they go on and get their pro card or not, it not, it doesn't matter, but that's still the foundation to be a part. And you know, and that's especially around here, there's so many family ranches. You know that these are fourth, fifth, sixth generation ranches around here, and to have their kids come in and oh hey, I know my dad has that that will James saddle. You guys made for him and I'd like one too, and so it's it's neat to to just continue on and support that you've got that type person.

Speaker 1: 9:34

You've got that customer, the long life generation generation type customer yep. But in the past four or five years Yep, you know what I'm getting ready to get into Yep, yep, I've seen it in our industry major. Yep, something's going on.

Speaker 2: 9:52

Completely, completely, and you know we've seen it throughout the decades of. You know, the movie Urban Cowboy comes out and then 8 Seconds comes out, and this season of time it's the Yellowstone craze. Now, good or bad, whether you like it or you don't like it, the amount of money that it's created in the economy, especially in Montana. Now, there's been some negative connotations to that as well, don't get me wrong. But the hype of wanting to be a cowboy, to wanting to be a John Dutton or a Rip or whatever you know, and we have people walk through the door like, look, I know nothing about anything, but when I leave here I want to look like John Dutton.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Like okay, Do you see a lot of rips walking?

Speaker 2: 10:50

There's a few, there's a few. So it's interesting to see that change. But here's the deal. Change. And but here's the deal. It's good for the western way of life. And to I mean the the rodeo uh, craze right now. I mean ticket sales for for a pbr bull riding or a rodeo.

Speaker 1: 11:14

They're higher than they've ever been in the last couple years we went, we jacoy hale, yeah, young rider, yeah, did a podcast with him. Yeah, I actually met one of his relatives in ganado, arizona. Oh no kidding.

Speaker 1: 11:26

He kind of turned me on to jacoy and said do a podcast with this young man oh funny and we went to louisville, kentucky, stayed at the height and went to the pbr event and did a podcast. Yeah, yeah, and I was like that ticket is very expensive actually going up tomorrow, the next day, to do one with Dakota Lewis.

Speaker 2: 11:44

Oh yeah, Up in.

Speaker 1: 11:45

Browning.

Speaker 2: 11:47

It's funny with Hale, so I used to. I partnered with Ty Murray on his event in Albuquerque. Okay, we did that for 25 years and every year it was very important for Ty to do an invite and Jacoy got invited.

Speaker 1: 12:04

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 12:05

And it launched him.

Speaker 1: 12:06

We're talking about you, if you're listening.

Speaker 2: 12:08

Yeah, so it was very cool to now watch him. And now he's on. You know part of the PBR teams.

Speaker 1: 12:14

He is such a good kid Like that boy is.

Speaker 2: 12:19

I don't know him, so I wasn't able to meet.

Speaker 1: 12:20

He's my friend but that's texting pizza. We text back and forth he's a, he's a good kid yeah let's you ought to listen to his podcast on I will do that where he come from and where he's at now.

Speaker 2: 12:32

It's, it's really good that's, awesome that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 12:36

So you got your saddles, you got. You know we could, we know you got American hats yep yep. What else here that? What's something different here? You sell that people may want. So you got your saddles, we know you got American hats. Yep what else here.

Speaker 2: 12:46

What's something different here? You sell that people may want to come look at. You know we carried honcho boots for years. They got bought out and got shut down. So we we became acquaintances with, with Randy Watson I say the boots, yeah, and, and Randy, he was president ran Justin boots for 40 plus years and then he started his, his own, and I flew down and met with those guys and you know we wanted, we wanted something of quality and so for them to, you know, to provide an all leather. It's a handmade, it's got a steel shank in it, it's it's a great boot and so that fit our you know our realm here, because we we want to try to provide products that are going to last. When products get put to the test they can be. When you're four miles from the ranch house, out in the hills moving bulls or finding heifers or whatever it might be, you got to have something that's gonna work you know, you don't want something that's gonna break.

Speaker 2: 14:07

You don't want that that chin strap break your cinch, you know, your latigo, whatever it might be, and so we want to make sure that that what goes out of our store is is quality. And so we found that with Watson Boots. Obviously we found it with American Hats, and that's why we started creating our own saddles again, because we wanted something of quality.

Speaker 1: 14:31

It's so crazy, man like being out here. I come out here a lot. Yeah, I'm used to this area. I know the people, I love it. I love the lifestyle. I appreciate it more than anything. Yeah, I'm used to this area, I know the people, I love it. I love the lifestyle. I appreciate it more than anything. Yeah, it takes one tough rancher to make it out here.

Speaker 2: 14:49

Oh man.

Speaker 1: 14:51

Yeah, you ain't a kiddin'. I mean, it's so different, like back home, it still blows my mind we was driving out. We drove this time instead of flew. Okay, I'm going through Wyoming on 90.

Speaker 2: 15:02

Yep.

Speaker 1: 15:03

And I see all this land on both sides of the road and I see these cows in the middle of sagebrush and nothing but brown grass and I just can't grasp my brain. How is that cow living? Yeah, but I talked to a guy at Western Ranch yesterday, yeah, and he said you wouldn't believe it. He said that brown grass.

Speaker 2: 15:31

A few bites of that has so much more protein for that cow than your pretty green grass back east. Yeah, no, it's a whole different.

Speaker 1: 15:38

You know really ecosystem to a certain degree up here, to a certain degree up here, you know, and obviously it takes a heck of a lot more acreage to run uh, you know your cow calf versus where you're at ducky and you know in any of those southern, even in texas. Well, yeah, I mean, but like back home, you got a hundred acre farm that this farmer see back home it's farmers, not ranchers, sure? No, no ranches. That farmer back home it's farmers, not ranchers. You don't have no ranches. That farmer back home with 100 acres has a huge piece of land and he is a top dog Out here. 100 acres ain't nothing. No, you're a hobbyist.

Speaker 1: 16:13

I was in Three Forks one time with a customer of mine. He's passed away now. Super good guy, you know where the Buffalo Chump is and the Tobacco Roots One of my favorite places in Montana. Mark it down. Those Tobacco Roots mountains. I love them. Me and him was riding mules along the highway. He said down there's my hayfield Steven. I said wow, that's 200 acres of alfalfa. I stopped that m at Mule. I said let's stop for a moment. That's 200 acres. He said yeah. I said dang, no way you cannot look at 200 acres at once back home, yeah you can't out here you can look at thousands at once.

Speaker 1: 16:55

Yeah, it's just the difference in the place. But going back to quality, you ranchers and stuff out here you use cattle, you use horses to work cattle. Yeah, back home they don't do that. Sure, sure, the farmer gets on his side, beside his forward, on, goes and gets it done. Yeah, it's a different lifestyle.

Speaker 2: 17:15

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:16

Yeah, the Western stores back home. Okay, we got a good Western store in Nicholasville, kentucky. Shout out to Luke at the Boot Store. Thank you, buddy. They're cool people. I support them. It's a whole different world. Sure, they're selling to those weekenders that want to go to Keeneland and kind of look like a cowboy at the horse race, or the Yellowstone guy that wants to be that Out here. You're selling to a whole different type person.

Speaker 2: 17:44

Yeah, it is, and obviously there's some tourists and there's some folks in Billings that wouldn't know the front end of a horse, and that's okay. Oh yeah, it's fine, and that's part of it. And we have some folks come in and aren't knowledgeable in that, and that's fine. That's part of why we're here To help them, because we want to help educate, because, I mean, agriculture is our number one industry in this state and it is by far, and so the way to continue that is to educate and promote, and that's what we want to do in our little niche.

Speaker 1: 18:25

Like we do clinics teach people how to drive horses. Sure, we did one here in March at Miller's Horse Battle. Yep, right down the road, I'm going to tell you something. We had like seven people sign up to be in the arena with us, hands-on brought their horses. We had like seven people sign up to be in the arena with us, hands-on brought their horses, I think. Out of those seven don't quote me, I'm trying to think If somebody's listening that was there, I'm sorry if I messed it up Five of those were women. Oh, yeah, probably under 30. Sure, sure, I want to tell you one thing If I was going to a driving event or something to compete, I would take my wife and them women.

Speaker 1: 19:07

Now, yeah, over anybody. Yeah, them women. There was a young lady there from here in Billings. She come in there with a Gypsy Vanner stud and a Gypsy Vanner gilding, never drove much, she rode, she was knowledgeable. Yeah, yeah, that woman said she was determined I'm gonna drive these horses. Yeah, she dug in these ladies in today's industry they're tough, oh man yeah, they're.

Speaker 2: 19:33

That's the thing is. You know you, you go out to some of these ranches and they're, it's, it's the full spectrum. Yeah, but don't, and they're, it's the full spectrum, but don't underestimate, they're handy, it's like my wife.

Speaker 1: 19:46

If I'm gonna worm horses I say I go straight to her, go worm them. She can go right up to them and just perfect, she just got away with them.

Speaker 1: 19:58

She's got away with horses that I don't, don't absolutely, it's just the way it is. But yeah, this is a nice story. I'm glad I found. I appreciate the opportunity to come in here, and that's great. One thing I am noticing, though, here in billings, going back to agriculture, the sugar beets yep are beautiful, the corn, but in the past 10 years I've been coming out here, those fields are just going like this, shrinking All out here. I don't know names, but you come out of Laurel, I think it's 401. There's a road that runs through Laurel and you go through town by the cemetery and up and straight out.

Speaker 2: 20:42

Oh going north there.

Speaker 1: 20:43

Yeah, yeah. And then you can turn right at that little pavilion to come into Billings. Yep, that used to be a lot of farmland, yep, now it's just houses, houses, houses.

Speaker 2: 20:52

Yeah, and that's the the sad part, uh, to a certain degree I mean. But yeah, the the west end of Billings and Laurel are basically connecting and that was all prime irrigated farmland and you know, unfortunately, how our, our culture and society goes, is you know it?

Speaker 1: 21:16

it's not easy being a rancher.

Speaker 2: 21:17

it's not easy being a farmer, that's true. I mean, though it's it's razor thin margins and it's only getting worse, and the cost to operate these farms and ranches has increased significantly. And I mean, right now the cattle prices are good, the horse market's good, but just the cost to operate is so much higher. And so then when you get a, a pretty cash offer, you know it's hard to sustain that, and that's the sad part of seeing a lot of these ranches that have been four, fifth, six generations that aren't able to continue, and it's sad. And now there's those that are grown and are gonna fight through it, and it's not like this is the first time.

Speaker 2: 22:05

It's been difficult, but you know me as as a, as a group and as an industry, have to keep coming together and figuring out how we can sustain our way of life, because, whether the, the people on the coast want to believe it or not, we feed America. Ain't that the truth? And so we're that backbone, and so we want to do our part, and however that looks like to, to keep them working hard and supporting them and providing them with, you know, with products to to help keep that way of life alive and thriving, because at the end of the day, even if you've never been around a horse, you don't ever been to a ranch or anything like that there's still something in every little boy and girl that wants to be cowboy. There is, you know.

Speaker 2: 23:06

It's just there, it's there, it's there, and we just got to keep pushing that down the road.

Speaker 1: 23:13

It's awesome really if you sit and think about it. Yeah, I like that statement you made. That's a good one. That could be a quote from you right there there's still something in every little boy. That's good man. That is true, that's good. You mentioned something earlier that I got a question about. Okay, I know some about saddles. We drive horses. We ain't riding horse people. You said something about Herman Oak. What is that?

Speaker 2: 23:39

So, it's just a type of leather. It's a higher quality. It's been tanned a little bit differently. It's a little thicker. That we just. We found that that's the high level of leather that really works well. It sustains longevity, but it's also malleable to the horse end of the rider. For a little bit more comfort.

Speaker 1: 24:11

I'm glad I asked you, because I thought you were talking about oak trees.

Speaker 2: 24:13

Oh yeah, Sorry, no, it's just the type of leather that's really high quality.

Speaker 1: 24:19

Oh, yeah, let's do this. This is on video too, but I want you to get one of them saddles, and bring it over here, oh, and kind of show the people on the YouTube channel and stuff your saddles Absolutely Beautiful saddles, guys. I want to just show you all a little bit and let you see one of his favorites maybe, or one he really likes, or something.

Speaker 2: 24:36

I do.

Speaker 1: 24:37

Well, this is a barrel saddle that we did for the YRA.

Speaker 2: 24:44

Oh, cool. And so this is a barrel saddle. This one has a tooled, leather inlaid seat and you know it's the barrel saddles said it's our custom tree and we spent a lot of time trying to design that. The barrel saddles, it's our custom tree and we spent a lot of time trying to design that. You're not gonna find a saddle that fits every horse. It's not possible. But we spent a lot of time designing the bars and the angles of our tree to try to fit the majority as best we can. We try to have that deep seat. You know, and that's the thing, the saddle depends on what the rider's doing. You know, if you're out on the ranch for 12 hours a day versus barrel racing or steer wrestling or roping or you're cutting, you know you've got to have the right tree for that process. Yes, sir, you know. I mean you don't see a football player wearing basketball shoes.

Speaker 2: 25:48

You know that's true, there's different tools. You know that's true, there's different uh tools and so you know we we try to take pride in in what we make and uh in providing various options. So you know we we want people to to ride the saddle for for them, the horse. But they can. They can get it customized to fit them what's the red on it here? Uh, so that is a sponsor logo, okay cool. Yeah, rodeo rigs, so somebody will get this yep, yep, they come in real soon, yep yeah, they're banquets next week, so we've got uh four of them here.

Speaker 2: 26:25

We're just finishing up the fifth one and we'll uh take them over to them as the tool.

Speaker 1: 26:30

You can't see it in person, but if you're ever out in billings, come by this place. This tooling is unreal, it's just beautiful, thank you. It's really quality. You can tell it's top notch. I like the rawhide stirrups too. Yeah, that's rawhide. Right, it is.

Speaker 2: 26:43

Yep.

Speaker 1: 26:44

Yep Exactly.

Speaker 2: 26:46

Looks good.

Speaker 1: 26:47

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:55

That's fun. Can they get online and see these? Yeah, so we try to keep all of our. We have our in-stock saddles online and then we have we try to keep a lot of our saddles, just so people can kind of see a variety of tooling patterns and seat patterns and things like that from our saddles. And you know we used to have a map in here and you know we've shipped saddles to pretty much every state.

Speaker 1: 27:17

So they can order a saddle online?

Speaker 2: 27:18

Yep, they can order a saddle online and we've got all of our hats and boots and everything else, and we ship a lot of hats too, checked out your website last night.

Speaker 1: 27:25

It's really good. You all should the blog. You got some good blogs on there, yep, yep. You should really look at the website. Tell them the website, it's just.

Speaker 2: 27:32

Connelly Saddlerycom better spell it out that's C? O N N O L L Y S A D D L E R Y dot com. My wife's a connery. Oh, she was saying that yesterday.

Speaker 1: 27:46

North Carolina. Yeah, yeah, but it's C O N L E Y a little spell difference there.

Speaker 2: 27:52

Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 1: 27:54

So we talked about the Saddles. Is there anything else you want to talk about that? Maybe people need to know about this place.

Speaker 2: 28:04

You know, like I said, I think we covered a lot. We're small, we're family owned, but we live the Western lifestyle and we just want to keep supporting that. And what's interesting is folks from Kentucky showing up. We've now become friends, we've got your new hat, but you know, you come out here, you have a lot of business out here, you do a lot out here and that's it's such a tight knit, it's such a small world and that's what's fun is to be in here and to hear the stories and to just to meet people like you. And now I guarantee we'll run into each other a fair amount now.

Speaker 1: 28:45

Montana has been so good to us. I came out of here a little story 2015. Okay, I started. Really, we used to sell all riding mules. I pushed them. I loved riding mules yeah, still do, but unfortunately they're hard to find and yeah, so we'll talk about that on another day.

Speaker 1: 29:05

But 2015, I was working at the Ford dealer, somerset, kentucky, okay, and I'm sorry 2017. 17. And I said to myself I'm going to take a little trip, I'm going to just, I was selling so many mules, it was unreal, yeah. And the manager walked in. I was selling mules at work, a lot. I was doing a lot of mule stuff at work and really wasn't worried about the Ford company. The manager walked in one day and said are you gonna sell them, stupid crooked legged donkeys, or you gonna work for me? It hit me the wrong way and I just stood up and said I'm gonna sell them, darn donkeys, I'm out of here. And I walked outside and realized I didn't own a vehicle Because I drove a demo. So long I didn't have my own vehicle. So I walked back in, bought a new truck, financed it through Ford, then left.

Speaker 1: 30:05

And that was the start of my journey, but I've been full-time at this since 2017. Wow, but I had a load of mules. I loaded them up in my stop trailer 14 of them Come out here on a wild harry with an Amish friend of mine and we had nothing sold, not a single mule, and we started. We went toward Missoula.

Speaker 2: 30:28

Yep.

Speaker 1: 30:29

You ever heard of the Potomac Valley up there? Yep, yep, it's beautiful, it is. There's a ranch up there on Petette Turner Turner Ranch. I pulled in that place and just went in there. Howdy, I'm Stephen Haste. I've got a load of mules I'd like to show you. They looked at them all. They didn't buy none of them. They said we've got people looking for mules. Let me give you these names and numbers. You call these people and I'll have some other people come here and look at them.

Speaker 1: 30:59

We stayed here two weeks and we sold that whole load. No kidding, yes, that was the kickoff, really. So been doing it since 2010,. But that really showed me, man, I can do this. I got something going here and since then it's just went. The Lord's blessed us. He's been good to us. The good Lord has treated us with nothing but grace. We don't deserve it, but it's been good and I sure thank him for everything he's done for the business and us. I do too, and without him we got nothing. Exactly, exactly the business and us. I do too, and without him we got nothing, exactly, so exactly. You got some people coming in in the broncos. Oh, all right. So we're going to end this, okay, sounds good, but thank you so much we got the website.

Speaker 1: 31:41

Everybody, you're welcome to come out here and visit him anytime. They treat you with kindness and a smile and it's a super good story. We're going to get off because he's getting busy, but we're glad we got to do it, so appreciate it. Check us out on the web, wwwdrafthorsesandmulesforsalecom, and if y'all need anything, give us a call. Until the next one, we'll see you soon.