The WRANGLER Horse and Rodeo News is an equine and rodeo publication with circulation in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, Utah and Idaho.
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42 • The WRANGLER • August, 2024 "We have this great team of people; what's the last thing that we can do to move the needle?"-Garrett Henry buiLding better horses. That was one father's goal when he set out to provide his children with the opportunity to not just compete in rodeo, but to excel. He knew that the type of horsepower they would need was going to require an investment. In the early 2000's, Cattle rancher Mike Henry purchased Frenchmans Easy Doc. As years progressed, his sons Garrett and Blake, began to have great rodeo success. Reflecting back, Garrett believes that his dad was just looking to raise some nice horses, and to give the boys a job starting colts and making something out of them. Garrett laughed as he recalled his father sharing his sentiments on why he invested in the horse business. "He joked around about it, but at one time we had a herd of sheep, and sold the sheep and bought horses, because he wanted his boys to come back to the ranch. He was afraid if he made us sheep ranchers instead of cowboys, we might spit the bit and runoff." Years have passed, and the Henry family honors their father's legacy by continuing his dreams with their successful performance horse breeding program. One iconic mare that has landed the 88 Top Hat brand front and center is Patrionic Dash, by First Down Dash out of Patrionic (Game Patriot), commonly known as 'Mable', ridden by 4 x NFR qualifier Stetson Jorgensen. Owned by 88 Performance Horses, Mable has been a blessing to the Henry family, and is just one of the many success stories linked to their breeding program, with lifetime earnings of more than $1,083,967 in steer wrestling alone. Their breeding program has continued to evolve over the years. Private Treaty sales, and word of mouth had worked well for quite some time. However, the need to give all of their customers the chance to choose from the complete lineup of sale colts all at once began to surface. Logistically it made more sense. With that came the birth of the inaugural 88 Ranch Performance Horse Sale in February of 2022. Since then, the ranch has offered a large selection of two-year-old prospects, annually through their 88 Remuda online sale platform. This sale platform has allowed them the ability to place the colts in the right homes. Sale graduates have gone on to be successful in all areas of the rodeo and ranching world. Predominantly, they can be traced back to leaderboard standings in the barrel and team roping. By Reba Talbot m o v i n g t h e n e e d L e : m o v i n g t h e n e e d L e : 8 8 r a n c h P e r f o r m a n c e h o r s e s 8 8 r a n c h P e r f o r m a n c e h o r s e s i n v e s t s i n n e W b L o o d i n v e s t s i n n e W b L o o d Sheiks Jean Fly. Photo Credit: ECE Equine Marketing. All Photos Courtesy of 88 Ranch Performance Horses. Cash Flow Queen ridden by Troy Brandemuhl owned by Clay and Lisa Fordyce