Testimonials
"I had all but given up hope for a
rescued 4 year old mare. She'd come from a very abusive home and had Major trust
issue that led her to defend herself violently at some points. I had friends,
trainers, and vets telling me to put her down. But I wanted to give her one more
chance before it came to that. I found John's card at a local feed store and
gave him a call. He completely turned this mare around. I can now handle and
ride her and She's become one of my most affectionate horses. I also plan on
sending my youngster to him and She can have a good start to her riding career.
Thank you John for saving my mare's life!"
-Heather Perillo, TX
"My husband and I bought a two-year-old mare at auction a while back. She was pretty and seemed sweet-tempered--until the drugs we didn't know were in her system wore off. After that, she was untouchable, virtually unapproachable, and difficult to manage. Farrier after farrier refused to work on her because it was simply too dangerous. Out of desperation, we called John at Wetfork Ranch. He came out to take a look at her, and within an hour had her following him around the corral, as if she was the most gentle creature on earth. The work started there and continued when he took her to Wetfork. We found that John is amazing with horses most people would give up on. He is firm, responsive, kind and utterly trustworthy. And the results he produces inspire hope in even the most hopeless horses. If a horse is young and unruly, John knows how to tame them; if a horse is older and abused, John knows how to gentle them. He has truly been a godsend for us, and we are grateful for his help. We are looking forward to the day when all our horses have visited John, because we know that each will be better for it."
"About six months ago I contacted John Crow and asked him if he could help me with my riding. I told him that I was a beginner at best (saddle time could be counted in hours and days rather than years) and that I needed him to teach me to hold my own riding and working cattle out in the pasture with my buddies who had been riding for most of their lives. He gladly accepted the challenge and over that six months of working with John on the weekends I have become considerably more skilled atop a working cow horse and much less of a drag and liability out in the pasture.
Not only did he teach me the right way to ride, but I also bought a very sound and quality horse (Rowdy, seen on his "Horses" page) from John, which at the time had about as much saddle time as I did. Once I bought Rowdy I wanted to learn how to break and ride this young horse, so now John was not only teaching me to ride correctly, but also how to handle and break a young green horse at the same time. Most would think that given my limited experience on a horse that this would be a recipe for disaster, but it has been anything but a disaster because of John's immense understanding of the horse and rider. Anytime Rowdy and I seemed to hit a wall in our communication, because one of us was confused by what the other was doing, John was able to clear things up for us by keeping things simple and easy. John worked with me and Rowdy and showed us both how to trust each other and communicate correctly, and just recently both Rowdy and I were out in John's pasture riding amongst the cows. I can't brag enough on John, because he took the challenge of matching a green horse and beginner rider together and taught us both how to ride and communicate as one.
John Crow continues to to be the most valuable resource I know on any issue dealing with horses, and his honestly and willingness to take the time to help is hard to find. I am a long way from possessing the horsemanship skills and understanding of the horse that John possesses, but with his help and experience I will get there someday. "
~ Steve Koontz, TX
"We began our journey with horses about the time our grandchildren moved away. Not only have the horses helped fill a void, but what we have learned and continue to learn about Natural Horsemanship from John has been far more stimulating and exciting than we could ever have imagined.
For some reason, after reading a book or two, we felt we were prepared to deal with a "project" horse. We found and purchased a beautiful paint mare that was barely over 2 years old to give to our 6 year old grand- daughter. We soon realized we had jointly lost our minds! Fortunately for us and this young horse, we found John's website on the Internet. His beliefs and training methods put forth on his site won us over and, after a phone conversation, made the 5 hour trip with this little horse to Canton, TX. Unfortunately for us, we were not able to participate with her training as much as we'd have liked, but made the trip as often as we could. Every visit working with John taught us more about this way with horses that we so sincerely wanted to learn.
Our timid, fearful young horse became a confident, well-trained partner who truly helps us learn as we are striving to become horsemen. That was 5 years ago and we continue to make the 5 hour trip to Canton with our 3 horses to learn from a man that is patient and encouraging to this "older" couple. We truly believe that God has led us to this trainer and his family, and He continues to bless us as we proceed on this wonderful journey.
Thanks, John, for your support, encouragement, and friendship. Your guidance and instruction have been invaluable.
~Jeff and Brenda Oliver, Orange, TX
We met
John Crow a few years ago and since then we have worked together, and he has
worked for us many times, always to our satisfaction. This relationship has
grown from business to a friendship that I value. If John tells you he will do
something, he does it, and it is done when he says it will be done.
We greatly admire both his abilities and work ethic, and will continue to recommend him to our friends and customers that are in need of his services.
You can surely trust John to get the job done.
In 2002, we bought a mare that had a great foundation pedigree, a daughter of Cherokee Indian that was bred back to a son of Riskey Business. We decided when we bought this mare that we would do everything in our power to show this foal. We signed up the unborn foal for the NRHA futurity and paid all of the dues. We were going to show this foal as a 3 year old. In February of 2003, Riskey Cherokee Scout foaled and we were very excited. He was beautiful and in our opinion, he had what it took to show. At 9 months old, we took Scout to a ground trainer and showed him in yearling longe line the next season.
We did our research and started looking for a trainer for his reining and we found one, however things didn’t work out and we had to look for another trainer on very short notice. We wanted to make sure that whoever we took him to wasn’t going to burn him out in a couple of years and decided to use a trainer we had used in the past. One of the problems we had was the trainer was 4 hours one way away from us and we only saw Scout 3 or 4 times a year. Although we talked to the trainer often and he assured us he was moving right along. Before we knew it 3 years had passed. We were getting anxious about showing him and started pressing the trainer to show and he finally said we would start showing in the Stock Horse of Texas in October of 2007.
We got to the show and we were really excited about finally getting to show him. It was a total disaster. Scout was unruly, undisciplined, and showed very poorly. We were embarrassed and heart broken. We had 3 years of training in him and a lot of money tied up in this horse. At that point, we decided to pull him and find another trainer. We still had confidence that in the right hands he was still a good prospect. We started looking for trainers that were closer to our home and we found John Crow. We called him and talked to him about Scout and he said to bring him and he would see what he could do to straighten out his issues and behavioral problems. We were a little nervous about it but he was close to home and we could monitor his progress.
That was the best decision we ever made. John worked with him everyday and by March of 2008, we started showing in APHA shows and by June we were actually winning competitions. We could see the improvements in every show. We would tape the shows for John and he would study them and work on weak areas.
John treats Scout like his very own horse and his every need is taken care of. He is in great physical and mental shape.
With 2008 being Scout’s first real show season we really didn’t expect him to excel but to get a few points and we would see where to go from there. At the end of the 2008 show season, Scout had 16 reining points, a Register of Merit in reining and 8 points in working cowhorse. In addition, Scout made the APHA honor roll in both reining and working cow horse.
We are very excited about showing Scout next season. We just can’t say enough about John as a person and his ability to train and show horses!
~ Bill Enckhausen
& Marti McKenna
www.stickerhillranch.com
Canton,
TX.
~K. Loudamy, TX
The Real Deal
~Joe Hubbard Canton, TX
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