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Doug Williamson wins national title
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Posted by margiecuster Thu Oct 26, 2006 14:16:37 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments Southwest resident and owner of the Triple D Ranch, Doug Williamson, has achieved what only a few others can claim: induction into the Hall of Fame in the National Reining Cow Horse Association.

“As a horseman, it is a great honor because not very many people are in it and the ones that are in it are very famous," said Williamson. "I’m very excited too because I still have both feet on top of the ground instead of six feet under. This way’s a lot more fun.”

As both a trainer and a showman, Williamson proves that age is no barrier.  Although he is into his mid-60s, he is an extremely busy man. He spends a great deal of time on the road, taking various horses to competitions all over the country. The big money purses begin in September and conclude in February when the World’s Greatest Horseman Title is at stake.

Williamson is a two-time winner of the Snaffle Bit Futurity, a competition for 3-year-old cow horses with a current purse of $100,000. His 2002 win was on a horse he co-owns with Sandie Braden, called Doc At Night, earning one of the highest scores ever at 664.5.

The 1992 win was with Doc At Night’s daddy. But according to this experienced horseman, up to 80 percent of the ability of a horse is due to its mother, not its father. 

“The breeding is getting so fantastic,” said Williamson. “We used to have to make champions out of not very good horses.”

Doc At Night is now 7 years old, and his owner is eager to take the prize horse to the next World Championship. This competition is based on one rider, one horse and four areas of judging: cutting, reining, working cow horse and roping.

Cutting involves pulling a cow out of the herd and keeping it separate for 2 ½ minutes.

“Reining,” according to Williamson, “is more like figure skating. You do figure eights, stops, spins and stuff like that.”   

How well the moves are executed determines the score.

“The fence work is the part I think is the most exciting,” he said. “Taking a cow down the fence at 35 miles per hour. Turning it on the fence, one turn each way, then taking the cow to the center of the arena and figure-eighting it, or what we call circling it. That’s the crowd pleaser, right there.”

Team roping usually involves two horsemen running up to a cow, roping it, and turning it, first catching the front end and then the back end.

Because the cattle today are often managed by someone on a four-wheeler instead of a cowboy on horseback, the cows quite often lack respect for the horse. This causes all sorts of problems since there are huge point deductions for not being able to control the cattle during competition. 

Williamson says that the young, 2-year-old horses have to have their confidence built back up after being demoralized by these clueless cows.  After a while the horse learns how to manage them, but a lot of the time it’s just luck.  

“If the cow gods are with you then you are going to win,” he said.

The Triple D Ranch gives young horses a 90- to 120-day trial period to see if they have what it takes to be a champion.

“They’re either good or they’re not,” Williamson said. “The horses that are really good are like a really good cow dog. They already know how to do it because they were bred to do it.

It may take going through as many as 25 horses to find four or five really good ones. With today’s stiff competition, they can’t just be good, they need to be great. Williamson is especially excited to take a look at Doc At Night’s colts, who will be turning 2 soon. 

“I can hardly wait,” he said, “because they really look like they’re going to be champions. But it’s too early to tell right now.”

Horses compete much longer than most people think. Doc At Night’s daddy is still competing at the age of 17, and Williamson earned one award from a 21-year-old horse. With proper nutrition and supplements to keep the bones and joints healthy, the horses can have an active life into their later years.

Williamson and his wife, Carol, were both raised with horses. Williamson was born and raised in the southeast portion of Oregon, and his wife grew up near Bear Mountain Road, just south of Bakersfield. They met in the horse world and share their passion for a lifestyle which is all consuming.  Carol grew up around rodeos and competes in the non-pro cutting and cow horse events.

The couple share four children, two boys and two girls, none of whom have followed in their parents’ footsteps.  

Is Williamson sad that they have found other vocations?   

“Not at all,” he said. “There are lots of easier ways to make a living than what I do. It’s a very hard job. It’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So you really have to love this kind of life to be in it.”

Remarkably, Williamson’s parents at age 90 are still running 100 head of horses and five stallions on their ranch in Idaho, earning their own place in the Hall of Fame in the American Quarter Horse Association for the most amount of registered horses since 1945.

Having worked for Tejon Ranch in 1990, Williamson built their entire horse facility for them, putting them in the horse business. But today, he works for himself and runs cattle and buffalo besides the horses. He trains horses and watches the youngsters who work for him learn how to compete themselves.

With a career that began when he won his first competition at 8 years old, Williamson has been working hard for more than half of a century and is still going strong.

Like with his horses, it must be something in the genes.

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