Lindsay McKenna Wind River Valley Author

January 17, 2017 by John Leave a Comment

Lindsay McKenna

Lindsay McKenna has led a full life, and it’s still going strong. She broke a wild horse at age 12, took flying lessons at 17, and joined the Navy in 1964. And, those are only a few of her accomplishments. Because of her military service, Lindsay McKenna is sensitive to military experiences. She writes what she knows, and she knows about veterans and PTSD. She has written so many novels dealing with military and mercenary subjects, she earned the nickname “Top Gun of Women’s Military Fiction.”

Because of her military service, Lindsay McKenna is sensitive to military experiences. She writes what she knows, and she knows about veterans and PTSD. She has written so many novels dealing with military and mercenary subjects, she earned the nickname “Top Gun of Women’s Military Fiction.”

But Lindsay McKenna knows about horses too. Her new books, the Wind River Valley series, deal with horses and ranching life. Because Lindsay has been around horses all her life, has even owned her own ranch where she bred and raised Arabians, I wanted to have her on the show.

Behind the Scenes

Lindsay is a wonderful storyteller. A funny thing about the interview. I have recorded over 100 different shows now and, as many of you know there has been an occasional glitch. Most have been minor problems with volume or a poor phone line. This podcast took two tries. Lindsay McKenna tells the story of being struck by lightning when she was nine. It’s an amazing tale. After our first conversation, when I went to edit the audio, as soon as gets to the part in the tale where the lightning strike takes place, there’s nothing but static.

Two days later I request another interview. Lindsay graciously agrees. We have another great conversation. Near the end, I ask her to once again relate the lightning bolt story. No more than thirty seconds in, the line goes dead. We reconnect several times with the same result. You’ll hear part of what happens on the podcast.

Military Adventure Romance

Now, I must admit, I’m not a romance novel reader. Lindsay McKenna created a whole new genre called Military Adventure Romance. Most of you know I listen to quite a few books on Audible. She has several there (Lindsay McKenna has written over 175 books and sold over 23 MILLION copies worldwide!). Almost all the ratings were 4 and 5 stars. Her new book is Wind River Rancher. We talk about the inspiration and reason behind the story. She sent me a copy and I’m looking forward to reading it.
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Links

Lindsay McKenna Website

Lindsay McKenna Facebook

About Us

Welcome to the Whoa Podcast about Horses and Horsemanship. My name is John Harrer. I began the podcast in 2012 because I wanted to learn more about horses and horsemanship. Talking with great horseman and women about their lives with horses and the history of horsemanship is my passion.

Contact Us

We have well over 100 episodes up now and you can find them all for free on iTunes, with our Android App in the Amazon store, and now Stitcher, or wherever podcasts are distributed. Get the Stitcher app and let us know how it works. We are on Google Play too! You can also find every episode and more about the show at whoapodcast.com. Please take a moment and join our email list. Get in on the conversation with Facebook and Twitter – just look for WhoaPodcast.

You are a big part of why we do this podcast. We really love getting your feedback. Please let us know your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions for the show. You can email us at: John@WhoaPodcast.com

I blog at TrainingJessie.blogspot.com and if you want to know even more – and I can’t imagine why – it’s all at JohnHarrer.com

Thanks for listening,

John & Ranae

Episode #83

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Legacy of Legends Ray Hunt – Tom Dorrance

January 3, 2017 by John Leave a Comment

Legacy of Legends

Carolyn Hunt & Buck Brannaman

The Legacy of Legends, a tribute to the horsemanship principles of Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance is happening March 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2017 at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth. The Legacy of Legends was co-founded by Ray’s wife Carolyn and Buck Brannaman.

According to an article in Western Horseman, Ray Hunt knew a lot about horses and was a pretty good cowhand by the time he was 30 years old. As a consequence, he started colts, shod horses, and day-worked ranches in the Hollister, CA area. But then a horse entered his life that opened his eyes to a new way of thinking.

The horse, a 4-year-old gelding named Hondo, had a bucking problem. Ray was quoted in the magazine article with his dry sense of humor, “I wanted to show him in a hackamore class,” he said, “but about the time I turned a cow down the fence, I’d come back in the saddle bronc event, and you can’t show a horse in two events at the same time. All I knew to fix the problem was what the cowboys said – just get a bigger club.”

Ray Hunt Meets Tom Dorrance

One of Ray’s friends was Bill Dorrance. Bill introduced Ray to his brother Tom. Tom showed Ray a few things that helped that horse stop bucking. Many of the concepts Tom used on the big gelding were new to Ray. A year later, Ray rode Hondo to a first place in the 1961 working cowhorse hackamore class at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

Ray learned as much as he could from Tom over the next few years and in 1971 began holding horsemanship clinics using a mix of the principles he knew and the ones he learned from Tom Dorrance. The pair changed the face horsemanship forever.

Although Tom died in 1999 and Ray passed in 2009 there are many who are working to keep their horsemanship principles alive. On today’s show, I speak with Ray Hunt’s grandson, Jaton Lord. Jaton is one of the participants of the Legacy to Legends event in Fort Worth in March of 2017. Traveling with his grandparents, Jaton spent summers going to clinics and seeing Ray’s horsemanship skills first-hand.

Editor’s Note 11/26/2018:

I received the following email from Rice Horses and I thought it important to add it here. -John

I believe the name of Ray Hunts horse was Hondo. If sound like you said, Honda. If I’m mistaken you said Honda I apologize.

Tom Dorrance died in 2003, not 1999.

Sorry but I think that’s important to be correct.

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