(bright music) (horse neighing) (upbeat music) [Narrator] Horses are athletes, companions, workers.

They helped homesteaders settle this place we call home.

Today, the jobs Nebraska horses do might surprise you.

[Kathy Anderson] It's just like training a human athlete.

What are they good at?

We're not all gonna be Olympic swimmers or runners, but everybody has something that they can do.

(upbeat music) [Sgt.

Kevin Vodicka] It takes a special horse to do this job.

They've really got to be kind of desensitized.

[Jess Helgoth] The horses are the most important really in the rodeo, because there's so many events that include a horse.

[Dan Weeks] They were quite fascinated by these very unusual, pure white horses.

And they were also amazed by the tricks and the way these animals could perform.

[Justy Hagan] Using horses to help children with special needs, or adult with special needs.

It gives them something that they can be successful at.

[K.C.

Peterson] A horse on a movie set, these horses have to have a lot of patience.

They have to be exposed to everything.

Anything you can think of, you better have them exposed to, before you ever take them on a movie set.

[Jerry Rowse] You have all different levels of riders.

And them horses have to put up with some stuff that they normally shouldn't have to put up with, but it's part of it.

[Chris Kotulak] Nebraska really had storied glory days.

When Ak-Sar-Ben disappeared, Fonner then rose to the top as carrying the mantle for thoroughbred racing in Nebraska.

[Craig Haythorn] We primarily do everything horseback, I probably horseback over 300 days a year.

(gentle music) [Narrator] The jobs performed by horses across Nebraska make them valuable animals, but the bond between the horse and human is like no other.

[Jim Brinkman] If you get the horse bug, if you like horses, you're stuck.

I mean, it's like a disease, and people, they will do anything they can to have their horses.

[Dylan Petersen] Horses can do anything, you know.

They can connect to you personally.

Like this horse, you know, we just get along so well.

[Narrator] Saddle up and come along as we ride along with Nebraska's working horses.

(gentle music) Before we look at some of the jobs horses have today, let's venture back in time to the 1900s and a couple of twin brothers named Cal and Hud Thompson.

Dan Weeks: They were brought up on a cattle farm, and they were apparently pretty talented cattle breeders, and bred very high-end Hereford cattle.

They were reputed to have sold one bull for $10,000 back in the teens or '20s.

At some point in the 1910s, they became fascinated with the idea of breeding white horses.

And at the time white horses were considered an anomaly.

In fact, many people considered white horses to be inferior animals that should be destroyed.

They said, "They're albinos.

They're blind.

They're weak.

They have bad constitutions.

They shouldn't be bred."

[Narrator] Dan Weeks is writing a book on the White Horse Ranch.

His fascination began fresh out of grad school in the 1980s, when he traveled to the ranch and met Ruth Thompson.

[Weeks] These horses that the brothers were interested in breeding had pigment in the iris of their eyes, so they weren't true albinos, and they could see just fine.

So, they started a breeding program, but at some point in the '30s, Hudson Thompson decided he wanted to be a minister and Cal bought him out and met Ruth Thompson.

[Narrator] The horses the Thompsons bred became the only horse breed to originate in Nebraska.

[Weeks] Ruth used to say, "We breed for color, not for type."

Now they bred all different kinds of horses, Morgans, Quarter Horses, Arabians, Belgians, ponies, all different types.

But what they were really looking for was horses that were intelligent, that were adaptable, that were easy to work with and that produced pure white pink skinned horses.

So, the American Albino was what they first called the breed.

They later changed it to American White because the horses are not true Albinos.

(gentle music) [Narrator] People were fascinated by the pure white horses that came from the White Horse Ranch.

So, to celebrate the horse breed they established and to promote their horse training method, Cal and Ruth started a horse training school.

[Weeks] They were also amazed by the tricks and the way these animals could perform.

They could dance, they could bow, they could count their age.

They could push baby carriages.

They could turn cream separators.

They could do all kinds of things.

[Narrator] Eventually they created a traveling troupe and took the act on the road.

[Weeks] They ended up touring all over the country and throughout Canada.

They performed with the greatest horse people of the day.

They performed with the WLS Shrine Circus.

They performed with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.

Some of the most spectacular tricks that these gals did was Roman riding, which is when the horses are all next to one another, stacked up in a line and jumping five horses.

So that would mean that this gal would be straddling with her legs, the two outside horses, there will be three horses underneath her.

They rode bareback with no bridle, and those five horses would, all at the same time, jump those hurdles while this gal was essentially doing the splits on top of them without holding on to them.

The White Horse Ranch quickly became famous.

It was featured in just about every publication in this country, from "My Weekly Reader" to "Life Magazine."

"Life" did a full feature article on them in 1945, talking about the ranch and the show.

[Narrator] The White Horse Ranch glory days were short and sweet.

[Dan] 1948 to 1952 was probably the height of the Thompson's White Horse Troupe touring.

[Narrator] When Cal passed away, the ranch and troupe slowly faded into history.

[Weeks] The night before the 1963 show, Cal, who was epileptic, had an epileptic seizure and died in his sleep.

Everyone said that all the animals kind of went nuts.

One of the studs kicked all the siding off his box stall in the barn.

His dogs went around looking for somebody to come help.

And apparently it was just this sort of apocalyptic scene that somehow the animals sensed what had happened to Cal.

(gentle music) After that, it was not something that Ruth could carry on alone.

[Narrator] Warner Brothers created two Hollywood shorts about the ranch, "Ranch In White" and "Ride a White Horse."

Today, much of the history is housed just down the road from the ranch in the White Horse Ranch Museum in Naper and the White Horse Museum and Heritage Village in Stuart.

(birds chirping) (upbeat music) (cart rattling) Farther west in Lewellen, K.C.

Peterson trains horses for modern day Hollywood movies.

And, like the Thompsons, he grew up in a horse performing family.

[K.C.

Peterson] My whole family trick rode.

I travelled all over trick riding then got into the studio business, furnishing livestock for the movie business, and did a little bit of everything for the studios.

[Narrator] K.C.

has over 40 years experience with Hollywood providing livestock to "Cowboys and Aliens," "Far and Away" and "Maverick."

Peterson: The first movie I worked on was "Heaven's Gate" in 1979.

We provided several teams in that, and had a falling horse on it.

The last movie I done, "The Lone Ranger," I had the lead white horse on it, Leroy.

(upbeat music) [Narrator] Leroy was one of several horses who played the role of Silver in the movie.

(file scraping) Today K.C.

is a traveling equine dentist.

He also manages the Otter Creek Ranch, where he always has horses on hand in case Hollywood calls.

Peterson: A horse on a movie set, these horses have to have a lot of patience, and they can't have any kind of spook, of any kind.

'Cause if you're going to put an actor on 'em, they get in front of the camera, them horses gotta stand like a statue and you can't have a horse that has any kick, any bad habits.

I mean, them horses gotta be dead, dead broke.

You can't take any chances.

They gotta be exposed to everything, I mean, gunshots, flags, ropes, anything you can think of.

You better have them exposed to before you ever take them on a movie set.

Whoa.

[Narrator] K.C.

says how much a horse gets paid depends on the role it plays in the movie, just like with human actors.

[Peterson] Say a lead actor's riding a horse, those horses like that, you get $250 a day out of them.

ND horses, that'll get you $75 to $100 a day.

And they feed them, take care of them.

So, most of them, you're looking at a four or five month job, on a good size feature movie.

This horse's quiet enough to make a picture horse.

If I still, doing any picture work, this horse here would make one you could put an actor on.

He's got the kind of mind.

And he's only four years old.

He's just got the perfect mind.

Down, Sunny, down.

Down.

Good boy, good boy.

Yeah.

That's a good boy, yeah.

This is the kind they look for.

There ain't very many with a mind like this.

He's just got the perfect mind.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) [Narrator] Let's face it, Hollywood doesn't come calling in Nebraska everyday.

A more common sight is for people showing their horses at horse shows.

There are several types, Western style, like western pleasure and trail and European, like dressage and jumpers.

Kathy Anderson: Like a lot of states, we do have a strong horse show side of it.

It's not all the rope horses.

It's not all the ranch horses.

(upbeat music) [Jet Thompson] The horses are judged on their conformation, their grooming, their body condition.

And then the horse is a prop that an exhibitor performs a pattern with as they're trying to maneuver through an obstacle course in a sense of maneuvers that the judges put forward for them to demonstrate their abilities in showing that horse.

[Narrator] Jet Thompson is president of the Nebraska Quarter Horse Association.

He also chairs the committee for the Cornhusker Classic Horse Show, which takes place at the Lancaster Event Center in Lincoln.

Thompson: We have exhibitors here competing from Washington, Oregon, as far away as California, all the central United States are represented here.

We've got some people here from further over on the East Coast, as well.

[Narrator] Kathy Anderson is extension horse specialist at the University of Nebraska.

She's also a judge at horse shows, and is training one of her horses to show in trail, which they participated in at the Cornhusker Classic.

[Anderson] It's a class where you take your horses over a variety of different obstacles.

The horse that I have, she's fairly young and hasn't been shown a whole lot in trail and I haven't shown a lot either.

So we're both kinda green, as you might say, trying to figure it out.

[Narrator] A lot of horse people show their horses.

Western shows may seem more common in Nebraska, but there is a strong European show presence, too.

[Anderson] The United States Dressage Federation was actually founded here in Nebraska, actually right here in Lincoln by Lowell Boomer.

He took the initiative and founded that organization here in the state, which now is huge.

And it's based out of the Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky now.

[Narrator] Boomer also founded The Dressage Foundation, which is located in Downtown Lincoln.

[Anderson] And that's a granting organization that helps promote education for trainers, for horses, for riders and those different kinds of things.

And that's still based in Lincoln.

(upbeat music) [Narrator] Did you know a horse's legs move differently depending on the speed they are moving?

[Kathy] The walk is technically a four-beat gait where each legs moves independently.

So if you watch him, you can count them out, one, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

The trot or the jog is a two-beat diagonal gait.

The diagonal legs will strike the ground together.

So it would be the inside front, outside hind will hit together.

Outside front, inside hind will strike the ground together.

So it would be a one, two, one, two.

The lope is a three-beat gait.

They push off with the outside hind leg and then the diagonal pair strike the ground together, then the inside front strikes the ground.

So a one, two, three.

(gentle music) [Narrator] So far we've seen horses performing in shows, movies and competition.

Let's look, now, at a different kind of horse, performing in a different way.

[Anderson] It's just like training a human athlete.

What are they good at?

We're not all gonna be Olympic swimmers or runners, but everybody has something that they can do, and it's taking them and molding them to make them the best at what they can do.

[Narrator] Race horses are thoroughbreds, and perhaps no Nebraskan knows thoroughbreds and thoroughbred racing better than Chris Kotulak.

He grew up in Omaha and taught himself how to call horse races while working at Ak-Sar-Ben Race Track as a teenager.

His career path took him all over the state, country and world before he came back to Nebraska, where he is the CEO of Fonner Park in Grand Island.

[Chris Kotulak] Nebraska horse racing, paramutual horse racing, started roundabout 1920 at Ak-Sar-Ben, Ak-Sar-Ben Field in Omaha, Nebraska.

Nebraska horse racing became very strong, and particularly in the 1980s, the early 1980s, Nebraska was a top 10 racetrack, which means you could mention it in the same category as a Belmont Park or Churchill Downs or Santa Anita Park.

A top 10 racetrack was huge.

We had not only a tremendous following of race fans who would attend the races at Omaha at Ak-Sar-Ben, but the horses and horsemen that came were of the top ilk of horses.

Nebraska really had a storied glory days.

There were times some of my buddies in high school worked in the security department and all they did was park the buses.

80 buses at a time would come up from the Kansas City, St. Joe, Missouri area on weekends.

And those days are gone now.

Ak-Sar-Ben is gone now, as we knew it in Omaha.

There's Horseman's Park now, a shadow of the former Ak-Sar-Ben.

But what happened was competition.

Back in the '80s, there was not the influx of competition.

Dog tracks, Kenos, casino gaming, other racetracks, the lottery.

[Narrator] Chris is hopeful that Nebraska's struggling horse racing scene is about to make a comeback.

Hope lies with 2020's gambling initiatives passed by the state's voters.

[Kotulak] With the three casino initiatives that were voted overwhelmingly by the Nebraska public that voted on November 3rd, 2020, now casinos may be at a licensed racetrack.

It has been a tremendous boost for the horse racing industry for casino operations to share their profits into the coffers of the thoroughbred industry.

And specifically in Nebraska, it is the life raft that we needed.

(trumpet blaring) (gate thudding) [Narrator] Whether or not Nebraska's horse racing's future lies on the success of gambling at race tracks remains to be seen, but even as other tracks faded away, Fonner Park has found its niche and has been able to persevere.

[Kotulak] Fonner Park is interesting.

They were sort of the little B-track in Nebraska horse racing.

Everybody was below Ak-Sar-Ben back in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

But when Ak-Sar-Ben disappeared, Fonner then rose to the top as carrying the mantle for thoroughbred racing in Nebraska.

Back in the early '90s, we had $100,000 stakes race that was really beyond what it should have been for the quality of horses we had then.

But we just were sort of like the little train that could.

We just kept chugging along.

And since 1954, we have had racing uninterrupted.

(crowd cheering) But the thing about Fonner Park is the community that surrounds it.

They realize the importance of the entertainment element that it is for central Nebraska.

And that has really helped carry Fonner through some dark days.

And we believe with the advent of casino initiatives passing in the state, Fonner Park Association, with Elite Casino Resorts Incorporated, we are going to see that rebirth, that strong rebirth of the thoroughbred industry, specifically at Fonner Park and hopefully statewide.

[Narrator] Also driving Fonner Park's success is the people running it.

They know it has a special place in the horse racing industry.

[Kotulak] A lot of times people ask, "Why does Fonner Park run in February?

It's Nebraska, man."

Well, that's when we have our opening, our opportunity to run.

There's a finite number of horses in the United States, and we can't run maybe in the prime summertime dates.

We know for the niche that we have, for the class of racing that we have, that's our opportunity.

We can get 11 consecutive weekends.

Not only will the horses and horsemen be here, but the folks that will come to our races themselves, particularly the Ag set, the ranchers and farmers, before they get too busy out in the fields.

(gentle music) [Narrator] Chris's passion for horses is evident when you see his interactions with them.

[Kotulak] I love about the horse something that is unheard.

And that is a horse typically doesn't make any noise.

Maybe they'll knicker a little bit when you come up to them, but they're this big giant, heavy, warm mammal that might weigh 1,000 pounds.

And they communicate with you in a different kind of a way.

And I'll miss that if I didn't have a horse going out and just feeling that horse without maybe even touching them.

[Narrator] Of equal passion is his want for retired race horses to end up in good homes when their racing careers come to an end, something he not only preaches but lives out.

[Kotulak] My wife and I have a horse name K Company.

Now K Company is a retired thoroughbred racehorse.

[Announcer] Has company in the likes of K Company.

The two running heads apart, they're four to the good, still Red Guard reward third, but it's down to these two, K Company and Barney R to the wire!

(Chris laughing) [Kotulak] I love to ride horses.

I love to hack through the woods, go trail riding, maybe take a jump here or there.

Good boy.

When his racing career was over, the owner and trainer gave him back to us.

So we have had him since he was about, I believe, a seven year old.

And he's my horse, K Company, the big thoroughbred, and my wife has an unregistered buckskin Quarter Horse.

And his name is Cameron.

We call K Company K Co.

So Cam and K Co are buddies.

And my wife and I love to go out and trail ride with him in the woods.

We like to go camping with him.

But he's an example of how a race horse, when they finish their career, most states, age 12 is as old as a horse may race, but they have so much more to live there afterwards.

Many of the show jumpers that you see are dressage horses, are age 14, 15, 16.

So a horse has so much more to give beyond their racing career.

And I want to encourage that, that people look to get a retired race horse just as Kay and I have done.

(gentle music) If you're a Kotulak horse, you are spoiled, I would have to think in general terms.

You get a square meal in the morning.

That's when I feed, or later in the afternoon, that's when Kay feeds.

They've got ample brom grass to graze on throughout the day, and we'll throw them some alfalfa as well.

They get their carrots, they get their sweets.

My particular horse will eat just about everything you put in front of him.

K Co is a card.

He loves the rain because he loves to roll around and get turned into a pigpen.

He loves the mud.

But he's usually instigating Cam out there in the pasture somehow to get him to play.

(gentle music) (hooves thudding) (upbeat music) [Narrator] Horse racing's history is long in Nebraska.

Another sport has a history that is just as long, if not longer.

[Jess Helgoth] The history started back when ranchers just kind of started trying to break broncs and just kind of grew from there into the bull riding, calf riding.

All of our events except for bull riding basically cover a horse.

I mean horses are the main thing in a rodeo.

And we have a lot of them go through our rodeo.

It's like a kid, almost, to these cowboys and cowgirls their horse.

[Narrator] When you think of rodeo, you might picture how horses are used.

Maybe one use that gets overlooked is running the flags.

Dylan Petersen is on Burwell's High School Rodeo Team and also runs flags between events at the Burwell Rodeo.

[Dylan Petersen] I have a really old rope horse.

Her name's Taco and she'll be who I'm running flags on this week.

So she's a big brown horse, and she's pretty gentle.

All the kids love her 'cause she's just pretty chill.

This is Lefty.

She's a Quarter Horse buckskin.

She's my main horse, anything from roping to poles and barrels.

So, when I take her to high school rodeo, I run poles on her.

And she's my backup barrel horse, she's the best all-around horse that we got.

And she's injured right now.

I've been riding in the Grand Entry ever since I was able to ride a horse.

My dad would let me, 'cause I would just beg and beg and beg and he didn't want to ride in the Grand Entry, but I did.

So, he would take me every night of the rodeo, and I'd ride in the Grand Entry.

[Narrator] Once the Grand Entry Parade winds down, the main event gets underway and as expected, horses are the stars.

(upbeat music) [Helgoth] A lot of people think cowboys are crazy.

I'd say no, we're not crazy.

We're probably just some of the toughest people in the world.

(gentle upbeat music) -(crowd cheering) -(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) (gentle music) [Narrator] No matter what a horse does at a rodeo, to get to this point takes years of practice and training.

A horse's destiny might even start before it's born.

Not too far from Burwell, in Ericson, is the Pitzer Ranch.

The ranch has been breeding rodeo and show Quarter Horses for years.

[Anderson] The Pitzer Ranch, they're pretty much icons of Quarter Horses.

And they had Two-Eyed Jack, which was one of the very prominent horses back there, in the '70s and early '80s.

That was a very important horse to the Quarter Horse industry.

The Pitzer horses evolved to be a little bit more of the roping types of horses.

[Jim Brinkman] My granddad started this place back in the '40s, and he came from a gypsy horse trading family, so he was very knowledgeable.

They traded a lot of draft horses and mules and stuff like that in those days.

I took over from him when he passed away in the '90s.

Horses were kind of in his blood.

He did very well in the Quarter Horse industry.

He had a horse called Two Eyed Jack that is the number one sire of all-time with the breed with like 120 AQHA champions.

(gentle music) We've sold horses to Brazil, Australia, Europe, most all the South American countries and Central American countries.

We've had people come here from Africa and Israel and everywhere that people want to play with horses.

They end up here, and they spend a little time, maybe train a few horses for a while, stuff like that.

[Narrator] Today Jim Brinkman is carrying on that worldwide legacy started two generations before him, and with the next generations coming up, he's hoping horse breeding remains in the family for years to come.

[Brinkman] My son and daughter are both working here at the ranch and have families, and I've got three little grandkids, potentially, we're planning on this thing going on for generations.

[Narrator] Breeding some of the world's best Quarter Horses is no small feat.

[Brinkman] The gestation on a horse is 11 months, 11 days.

You basically breed your mare a year later, you get a colt.

We get them in at about two to three months of age, break them to lead, vaccinate them, brand them.

We do the vaccinations and stuff again, right before the fall sale.

We'll sell a lot of them as baby colts, keep quite a few of them that we just, you kind of just feed them and take care of them until they're two year olds.

And then we start riding them when they're two.

Ride them for a couple of month, turn them out again, get them in when they're three, do it again, the better end of them, you just kind of say hooked on them.

The others you kind of turned out.

And then when they're four, five, you basically go after them pretty hard and stay right at them.

Kind of by that point, you're starting to be able to tell if he wants to be a head horse, or if he wants to be a trail horse, or a cutting horse or whatever he wants to do, you can kind of tell that by the way he's riding and you kind of aim him toward the direction he wants to go.

And then, you typically, around here, if they're between four and six, we probably have got him sold or they're selling on our sales.

[Narrator] The Pitzer Ranch holds two sales a year on site.

[Brinkman] The fall sale will have about 550 head on it.

There'll be about 300 of those baby colts and the rest of them would be broke geldings, mares.

Some brood mares, stuff like that.

It's a two day sale.

(upbeat music) The spring sale we sell about 250 head.

It's pretty much all broke horses because we can get a lot of horses rode in the winter time.

And so it's pretty much a riding sale.

We've been doing sales since 1966, and I'm not good enough with the math, but if you'd run about 800 heads since that long, it's a lot of horses.

(gentle music) There's a lot of feed in Sandhills, and the ground's pretty good for horses.

The deeper sand in all the hills develop a horse with some good muscle tone and the feed resources are a big thing.

[Narrator] What makes the Pitzer Ranch a success?

Well, they breed good horses, but as Jim explains, it's the horse people who buy them that keep the business going strong.

Brinkman: If you get the horse bug, if you like horses, you're stuck.

I mean, it's like a disease, and people just, they will do anything they can to have their horses.

And so they're very enthusiastic people and they really like their horses.

So, we've sent them about everywhere.

(gentle upbeat music) [Narrator] Did you know how a horse is built, or its conformation, determines what job it will be best at?

Anderson: So when we're talking about balance is that a horse is proportioned.

And so what we really want to see is that the length of their back is pretty much the same as the length of their shoulder and the length of their hip.

We're looking for the length of the neck here and we want that neck to be the same length as these areas or a little bit longer.

The other thing that we're gonna look at as far as basic balance is the horse's head.

And so we want the head to be as long as those areas or a little bit shorter.

What the structure area is that we always talk about a horse with a 45 degree angle, okay, and if that horse has a good 45 degree angle, the withers set far back on the back, making for a shorter back, okay, which all go together about how a horse can use their front end and how they can stride out and be athletic.

From behind, we're looking at those horses and the amount of muscle and stuff that they have.

We want them wider through the stifle than their gaskin region here, okay?

The push, the power, when you want to push on the gas, it's all gonna come from behind.

I'm really, really big on a horse with big eyes that are wide set.

The more vision those horses have, they will tend to be quieter.

(gentle music) [Narrator] While the Pitzer Ranch is a family ranch breeding horses for generations, there is a ranch near Arthur that goes back even farther.

[Craig Haythorn] My great-granddad came here in 1884.

He was a stowaway on a ship from England with a load of Hereford bulls.

And they didn't find him until he was about seven days at sea, so they let him stay.

And they ported kind of around the Galveston, Texas area.

And then he came up the trail and later homesteaded at Arthur and then the ranch evolved from there.

Supposedly my granddad, had the first registered Quarter Horse in Nebraska back in the early '40s.

And then, my dad, they rode cutting horses, roped calves, roped steers for years.

So horses were a necessity for the ranch, and then they just basically evolved and got bigger and bigger.

And then when I got into the horse deal and we probably increased the numbers, and now we have decreased 'em again.

[Narrator] Horse breeding may not be as big a part of Haythorn Land and Cattle Company as it once was, but horses are still vital in the ranch's day-to-day operations.

[Haythorn] We primarily do everything horseback.

Calving, branding in the fall, preconditioning, shipping in the winter, if we have to doctor anything.

We do everything horseback.

I probably horseback over 300 days a year, I would guess.

(gentle music) We're a true family operated ranch.

A lot of its absentee owners anymore.

We're probably in the minority.

So many families anymore, nobody wants to come back to the ranching industry.

I'm the fourth generation.

My grandchildren are the sixth generation.

So we're very lucky.

Not only one, but both sons came back from college and wanted to ranch.

[Narrator] After being in the horse breeding industry for so long, Craig has a good idea what people are looking for in a horse, and he knows what he likes in a good working ranch horse, too.

[Haythorn] Color is a big thing in the horse industry anymore, but we had color when it became popular.

So, we've been lucky with color for years.

I look at their eye, big soft eye.

I like a good sized horse.

We like lots of body.

Good mind.

Speed.

Like all of it put together.

(gentle music) To me it's heaven everyday.

People ask me, "Well, which part do you like?"

Well, I like every bit of it.

That's the reason I'm here every morning and here at night.

That's all I've ever wanted to do is ranch.

(gentle upbeat music) [Narrator] We can't all live on a ranch or own a horse, but it is still possible to get the ranching experience, even if it's just for a week.

The Rowse's 1+1 Ranch in Burwell has a variety of horses to help make their guest ranching experience a success.

[Jerry Rowse] They gotta be really forgiving is probably the biggest foremost thing comes to my mind.

You have all different levels of riders.

And them horses have to put up with some stuff that they normally shouldn't have to put up with.

But it's part of it.

Tammy: You see them, the guests kicking and pulling at the same time, you're giving them two different signals.

So these horses, you are right, have to be very forgiving.

[Narrator] It turns out K.C.

Peterson's Hollywood trained horses make good guest ranch horses, too.

Recently, the Rowse's bought a horse from K.C.

But, not surprisingly, a lot of their horses also trace back to the Pitzers.

[Jerry] Most of our horses go back to the Pitzer Ranch breeding, Howard sold us our first stud.

And we raised quite a few horses at one time.

Of course, not as many as them, but we raised our own horses, and they're just a really good, reliable, stout, sensible ranch horse.

[Narrator] Jerry and Tammy Rowse started their guest ranch almost a quarter century ago.

[Tammy] We purchased some land here from some family and had a ranch house on it.

So I went to Jerry, and I said, "Well, I think we ought to try a guest ranch.

We have a house that they can stay in, we have all kinds of horses, all kinds of levels of horses and we have the land."

I said, "I think it'd be nice that they understand why we ranch and why we do what we do."

His comment to me was, "Who in their right mind is going to pay you to come out and do what we do every day in our lives?"

And I said, "Well, I think there are some people that will be interested in it."

[Jerry] We've got your stirrups adjusted, we got your saddle height.

Go on and step up on there.

[Narrator] About 50% of the clientele are repeat visitors, often from Europe, wanting to live out their dream of being a Western cowboy from the movies, but Chris McCrary and his wife, Leyla, are first time visitors from St. Louis.

[McCrary] It's actually a 40th birthday present.

Me and my wife like to go horseback riding, and we go anywhere we can find nice places to go.

We're kind of looking for a different experience than just a regular trail ride.

So, when we got on the internet and saw that this place offered riding around and actually working with cattle and doing just regular stuff around a ranch, a real live working ranch.

That's something that really appealed to us, so we decided to come here.

So far, it's amazing.

We had a great day riding.

We rode for about six hours.

It was a beautiful morning.

There's a ton of great pasture land we rode through and saw a lot of cows.

We're checking them for pink eye and foot disease and trying to get them out of their little hiding places so we could take a look at them, and just checking on some of the equipment around the ranch here.

It was just awesome.

A lot of fun.

[Narrator] Like Nebraska, Rowse's 1+1 Ranch is not for everyone, but for those seeking a working vacation away from the norm, this may be just the place.

[McCrary] I tried to explain to my brother, he said that he'd rather be on the beach.

And we've done the beach vacations, we wanted to go somewhere where we were riding across land and going where we wanted to go.

That's the experience we were looking for.

And that's exactly what we got.

(drill whirring) Do we have this one right here?

Jerry: Yeah, we gotta get that one for sure.

[Narrator] Not to be confused with the typical dude ranch, the Rowse's 1+1 Ranch is a working ranch, and when guests stay, they must help Jerry with whatever ranch chores he's working on at the time.

[Jerry] All right, we did something right.

[Chris] Go, number two.

It varies day to day.

It may be just riding all day, checking water, making sure the cows that you see that day are healthy and moving cattle from one pasture to the next in our rotations and what have you.

You just never know for sure when you come here what you're gonna get involved in.

Tammy: We don't set up, make up anything for them to do that we aren't really actually doing.

And it's really hard 'cause a lot of the guests call and want to drive cattle.

I try to explain that it's really hard because on a real working ranch, Mother Nature dictates a lot of what you're gonna do.

They understand once they get here and get involved that, I see, I understand what you're saying.

What's in here.

It's a tough life, but it's the best.

I don't know how to really explain it.

Probably our guests have brought that more to my mind, 'cause we took it for granted for so many years.

It's great country, great people.

I think it's the best.

(gentle music) [Narrator] Did you know there is a method to make a horse do what you want?

Anderson: To ask this horse to go forward, I'm gonna lightly put pressure with my legs, with my calves and I might talk to him a little bit so we use a combination of voice cues and legs cues to get our horses to move.

And they're all gonna be trained a little bit different but these are some of just the basics.

So here, just to get him to walk, I'm just kind of using my seat, lightly be using my legs to get him to move forward.

I'm really, with as sensitive as he is, applying outside pressure, outside leg and I can get him to come down here and do a pivot just off of my reins, just off of my legs.

Whoa.

And go the other way using my other leg, my outside leg, the outside rein, to get him to ahead and turn around this direction.

Whoa.

When I want him to stop, I'll put backward pressure on the rein, I'll change my seat and I'll tell him to whoa.

Whoa.

And then the next thing is to back him up.

I'll just pick on the reins, hold them back a little bit and give pressure with my legs and get him to go ahead back.

Sometimes you'll say the word back to get him to go ahead and back up.

(gentle music) [Narrator] The work of horses goes beyond Nebraska's ranches and farms.

Some more modern uses of the horse bring us to Nebraska's largest city.

[Sgt.

Kevin Vodicka] We started back in 1989.

A gentleman by the name of Donovan Ketzler.

He approached the mayor at the time, which was P.J.

Morgan, He thought it'd be a good idea to have a mounted patrol unit in Omaha.

He said he would donate two horses, the tack and saddle and training for two officers to kind of test it out in Omaha.

[Narrator] Sergeant Kevin Vodicka has worked at the Omaha Police Department since attending UNO as a criminal justice major.

He is now in charge of the mounted patrol unit.

[Vodicka] We currently have nine horses, we're waiting on two more horses that come from Georgia, so we'll have 11 at the end.

We've kind of got a mixed bag.

We have some draft crosses, which are draft horses crossed with other types of horses, and we have some Quarter Horses.

Back when we started, we took donated horses, so usually one out of 10 horses would make the unit.

Now that we've gone to purchasing horses, we've upped our percentage rate to three out of 10, four out of 10 will make the unit.

[Narrator] The horses that become officers each have their own badge number.

Kevin's horse, Diesel, used to wear number 1702 until a retired mounted officer donated his badge to him.

Now, Diesel proudly sports number 1393.

Vodicka: It takes a special horse to do this job.

(dramatic music) They've really got to be desensitized to all the cars, the sounds, and just the natural sounds that everything makes.

[Anderson] Those horses need to be very tolerant, not get rattled in situations, because they're very good there about picking and knowing what kinds of things will work with their horses.

And they're good about testing them and trying them.

They want horses that they've got some size to 'em because if they're taking them out in a group, you know, they can't have a little horse 'cause they want to be a little bit up and over the group.

But also they need to be very tolerant, because at times there are shots fired and there's loud noise and stuff like that.

And those horses just have to be very even minded and not let anything bother them.

Vodicka: Usually 10-year-olds are about the sweet spot for us, because we can probably get a good 10, 15 years out of them, if they keep good health.

[Narrator] A horse needs training to be a police horse.

And for the human officers, they need training to patrol on a horse, too.

[Vodicka] Right now, we're probably half and half in our barn with horse-experience and non-horse-experience.

I myself did not have any horse experience when I first came to the barn.

And I ended up liking it, and I'll probably finish my career as a police officer down here with the horses.

Each officer is paired up with a horse.

They ride the same horse every day.

That helps them develop a bond between the horse and the rider.

Once you start riding your specific horse, you know the horse, and the horse will know you.

Diesel is my horse, he's an 11-year-old draft cross, he's a Friesian crossed with a Bertrand.

He was actually donated from Kansas City Mounted Patrol when they disbanded.

So he was on their unit for about a year.

Dumplin' is a Belgian mare.

She's the only girl in the barn.

She came from Georgia.

She's going through her training period right now, but she is actually doing really well.

(gentle music) [Narrator] The mounted patrol's precinct is the old market.

While they can do anything on horseback that any other officer can do, one thing they have going for them is approachability.

[Vodicka] They say one horse cop is equal to about 10 cops on the ground, just because we can see over everything, we can move crowds really well.

I mean, my horse is 1,500 pounds, if I ask him to move a crowd, you're going to move out of the way for a 1,500 pound animal.

We're really good with community relations.

People are more apt to coming up to us and talking to us when we're on a horse than they would if we're just standing on the street corner.

Kids love us, we're good therapy for old folks' homes and the disabled homes will come here and do a lot of tours here in the barn, and they absolutely love it.

We're just a real good community tool.

(people laughing) [Woman] See ya later!

[Narrator] Omaha's Mounted Patrol is thriving in a day where many are disappearing.

One reason for that is the support from the community.

Vodicka: Now we're the only one in the region.

We started the Kansas City Mounted Patrol probably about 20 years ago.

They've disbanded.

Des Moines had a part-time unit, Wisconsin has a part-time unit, but we're really the only full-time unit in this region.

(gentle music) This facility was built in 2004, 2005.

ConAgra basically built it for us.

They lease it to the city for a small amount every year, and it's probably about a 4 to $5 million barn.

This arena area is heated, so we do a lot of our training in the winter in the arena.

We'll work on formations, or equitation, which is riding.

So we'll work on that.

We'll work on desensitizing them to stuff.

With our horses, you have to keep riding them, keep them going, and keep them in shape.

In the stall area, where they live, it's not heated or cooled.

It's the ambient temperature that's outside.

So it's either really hot or really cold.

We keep it that way because we want them to grow a coat, a winter coat.

Because if we kept it cooled or heated during the seasons, they wouldn't grow that winter coat, and we do ride during the winter.

We kind of say our horses are divas.

We have a barn manager that works Monday through Friday here, and all she does is take care of the horses.

So she'll clean the stalls, she'll make sure they're all healthy, and just keeps on eye on them during the week.

And then on the weekends, the officers have to do the stalls, and take care of the stalls.

It's a good place to be for a horse.

(gentle music) (upbeat music) (bright upbeat music) [Narrator] Horses are good therapy for their owners.

And, at several places around the state, horses work as therapy horses.

One of those places is Horses For Healing in Firth.

[Justy Hagan] I grew up with horses out in the Sandhills on a small ranch riding and showing and rodeoing.

Personally, they were good therapy for me as I was growing up.

[Narrator] Justy Hagan owns horses and teaches riding lessons.

Several years ago she met Kari Hoeft when they both worked at the same barn.

Justy had dreams of starting a horse therapy business, and with Kari's business savvy, that dream became a reality.

[Kari Hoeft] We wanted to provide services to those individuals that have different abilities.

We also wanted to have an avenue for people to conduct research with it as well.

One of the biggest barriers that we find in the equine industry is having the accurate research so that people understand the value that using horses for any assistance in therapy is beneficial.

Anderson: It's getting more and more recognized, because there are both psychological and physical benefits of working and riding the horses.

Hagan: It's using horses to help children with special needs or adults with special needs.

It helps with their movement because the horse's movement is similar to the person walking.

It helps relax them.

A lot of our kids get really relaxed while they're riding.

Ride past it just a little.

It gives them something that they can be successful at when other things, activities, they try, they can't be successful.

Yay!

How's that?

[Hoeft] It teaches a lot of non-verbal skills as well.

So there's a lot of confidence that we see in riders.

There's a lot of understanding, possibly, your own self-regulation because horses will mirror your behaviors a lot, where they will tell you in a way that's not as defensive, as provoking as if an individual was telling somebody something.

The horse kind of naturally tells you, and that's a nice feedback for people.

-Hagan: Patience is another.

-Hoeft: Patience.

Hagan: 'Cause when they get impatient, a lot of times the horses just won't do anything.

Or they'll do whatever they want.

[Narrator] Like with the Omaha Mounted Patrol, it takes good tempered, easy-going horses to make good therapy horses.

[Anderson] Usually you have the right horses there that are very quiet, very agreeable, almost like a big puppy dog.

And so there's a lot of benefit to those people also making that connection with this big animal that just wants to be petted and just wants to get along.

[Narrator] Horses For Healing uses a variety of horses with a variety of different backgrounds.

[Kari] A lot of these horses have a demeanor and a personality that they are accepting of a lot of new things and a lot of different environments.

That's what is necessary for us to do what we do is we need to have a certain horse that is open to those new environments and won't get upset about those.

[Hagan] And most of our horses in here are anywhere from like 14 years up.

Usually you don't use real young horses like seven or younger because they're still learning.

They're like teenagers.

So, a lot of these horses are older, and they've been around, and they've seen lots of stuff.

And they're all pretty mellow.

[Narrator] One of those adaptable horses is Jet.

[Hagan] Jet's, he's a cool horse.

He is one that I started training, and he's been team roped on.

I run barrels on him.

I've roped on him.

He's been to some high school rodeos.

And I also do lessons with him.

And we also use him for a therapy horse.

Try that.

Yes, yes, I know, you're excited.

Yes, yes, yes.

He has the personality to enjoy being around people, and he won't run unless you make him run.

Okay, Jet's very laid back.

So that makes him good.

(tongue clicking) There you go, tell him easy.

Pull back just a little.

There you go.

[Narrator] Each rider is paired with a horse depending on their ability or needs.

And the team helps the instructor and rider throughout the sessions.

[Hoeft] A lot of our riders come to us with a variety of different abilities and different experience with horses.

What's last.

Poles, all right, Jason.

How do we get our horse to go?

What do we say?

[Jason] Go.

[Hoeft] Good job, and we're gonna walk.

So, oftentimes you'll have somebody that's leading the horse.

There's also somebody giving the instruction for the lesson.

Mailbox is first, yep.

And we'll go put that in there.

How do you get Doc to walk?

What do you say?

A lot of our riders, we have a side walker on each side of them, and they are there for their safety, and to spot their safety.

They're also there to help remind them of certain cues for how they do.

So, all of our riders are learning how to ride a horse.

This isn't just a pony ride that they are sitting.

We are working on skills for them to independently ride a horse.

-Hagan: You in there?

-Yeah.

[Hagan] Okay, get your reins.

Now try this.

[Narrator] Sarah Lefferdink sees the benefits for her daughter, Audra, and those benefits not only impact the riders but the caregivers, too.

Sarah Lefferdink: Audra is 12 years old.

When she was in utero she had brain damage.

So her walk is different.

The left side of her body is weaker than the right side.

Her hips aren't aligned the same way as ours are.

And so the horseback therapy helps keep her hips in alignment, her posture up, stretching her heels and her tendons down, her muscles keeping her body relaxed and so that she's not as tense all the time.

She also has disruptive mood disorder, real irritable, and the horses help her calm down emotionally.

[Hoeft] Sometimes the caretakers, some of the individuals that ride out here, they might not be able to participate in soccer or basketball or stuff like that.

And so for their loved ones, to see them riding a horse and participating in things and doing things, especially because it's something that not everybody gets to do.

So they can also go back to school, and they get to ride a horse every week, and that can have some nostalgia and excitement to it as well.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) [Narrator] Horses have been a part of Nebraska's history from the beginning.

It's easy to think of them as pleasure animals, which they are.

But, they can be more.

They can be a ranch hand, an actor, an athlete, a police officer or a therapist.

But, no matter what job they have, horses are built with the adaptability to do many things and do them well.

(gentle music) (horse whickering) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)