Tuesday, January 20, 2009

It's all about horses

For Ord Buckingham, a fourth-generation Kaycee cowboy, horses have been and probably will always be a part of his life. “My whole entire being revolves around them," he said. "I’ve been around horses all my life. Without them, I don’t know what I’d be doing - nothing, I guess. It’s who you are and without that, you ain’t nothing.” Buckingham, with his family, owns a small spread a few miles east of Kaycee. He and his wife of 30 years, Carole, have six children. Ord’s occupation is "starting" young horses. Years ago, cowboys would call it breaking horses, but now, the more user-friendly terminology is starting horses. Which means Ord takes a horse and gets a 30-day start on it, working with the animal until it knows the basics. His work allows someone to come along and own it, ride it or make whatever he or she wants out of the animal. Local and national ranchers hire Ord to start their horses. “You can get hurt breaking horses," he said in reference to why he remains in business. "A lot of people lack the know-how or they lack the time or it’s a lack of want-to.” Ord has started horses and sent them to Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio and New Jersey....

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