BRODY’S LIFELONG PASSION FOR HORSES AND CATTLE all began with an old roan horse named Roany.
Roany was stubborn and rude and gentle…every kid’s dream and Brody’s best friend. Later came a black gelding. After acquiring him for free, Brody poured the next three years into the starved and wild thing of unknown origin who later became known as Gus. It was Gus’ correct shoulder which allowed for fluid motion, his good wither and slope of croup that taught Brody what to look for in a using horse. But most of all, Brody learned to see the heart–once wild and fierce–turn kind and willing. This led to an unbridled hunt for horsemanship. Raised on the rural west Texas and eastern New Mexico stateline in a ranching family, anyone and everyone he watched would impact the way he saw both horses and people.
He got the opportunity to start colts for horseman RJ Cluck (w world champion cutter) for the summer, and took it. The time spent was irreplaceable. Cluck said less than a dozen words to Brody the whole time, but horsemanship was in the air. Cluck’s herd of blue roans were fascinatingly uniform in size, shape, mind and temperament, but the youngest stood out to Brody: a filly with Monkey Cue Bar lineage. Her willing and trainable and bright demeanor flowed through her feet, and Brody knew she was special. The summer ended, and Cluck said “Good job. Take that filly with you.” When Brody thanked him and asked “Mr. Cluck, what makes a horseman?” Cluck’s simple answer was “The horses.”
Brody’s love for horses had only just begun. After founding CowPunch Ponies with his wife Mik and moving hundreds of miles to Catron County, NM, Brody began to piece together the tidbits he’d learned from all the horsemen along the way. The slow developing of his own training principles and techniques have grown from the many stellar horsemen he admired along the way.
He has now trained a variety pack of breeds in a variety pack of disciplines, including ranch horses, trail horses, reined cowhorses, amateur cutters, rope horses, and more. In 2020, he realized that learning to professionally trim/shoe horses would be a huge asset, so he traveled to Oklahoma for a summer to apprentice under legendary farrier, Craig Livingston.
Just after COVID-19, he added Provence Performance Horses to his resume–breeding quality American Quarter Horses with conformation built to use in the mountains, and minds begging to be taught. Somewhere around 2024, he added yet another company to the fold: Arctic Morgans, a breeding program of endangered foundation Morgan horses. As his family burgeoned from two to four to six, Brody juggled riding colts, feeding horses (endlessly, it seems), and raising most of the food they consumed via the garden and the pasture. The Lazy B Ranch in Duncan, AZ, contracted CowPunch Ponies LLC as “fixers” for their failing Horse Program, which took several years to accomplish, but once done, Brody went back to training for the public full time. Now in his 30s, Brody says that “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has blessed me with a capable wife, children, and many horses.” As time and maturity does, life provided many lessons over the nearly two decades Brody has been training, but thankfully they’ve all led to the realization that his number one passion was raising his children for the Lord. He endeavors to guide his family in their pursuit of the Lord daily, and squeeze in a little horse training on the side.
