I came as a young man, refugee from the plains.

Looking for higher ground.

The sun shines through the rain.

You're the mountain folks & old cow folks.

who found peace of mind I guess loving Mother nature makes you naturally kind.

Colorado, everywhere you go I'm in your shadow.

You're calling to me.

Colorado, The sun's melting snow.

Making the river flow to the sea.

How the horse dominated the mind of the early races.

Especially of the Mediterranean.

You were a lord if you had a horse far back.

Far back in our dark soul.

The horse prances.

The horse.

The horse is the ultimate athlete for polo.

In order to win the game, 80% is the horse.

Most of polo horses are thoroughbreds.

Theyre faster and swifter and they can turn quicker.

You probably will try seven horses before you get a thoroughbred who can stand the mental discipline it takes to listen to the rider when the rest of the herd is running down the field.

You really need a horse that's, got the discipline to listen to the person on him, and head the other direction.

What makes a good horse a good polo horse is, good speed and good handle.

And a good gate.

You know, in Peru, in South America, there's a lot of soccer.

Soccer.

And I. And I think to the polo ponies, like a soccer player.

No, he has to be so muscular.

Have to be good and clean and healthy and know all the stuff to be athletic.

Yeah.

Like that.

I don't know, like a soccer player.

On the racetrack, they're asked to run for three minutes.

A chucker in polo is seven minutes.

Sometimes the players will switch horses mid chucker because, they want a fresher horse to finish off that chucker.

So you can have up to 12 horses playing per person per game Before they even start playing polo, well get 2 or 3 years of what they call stick and ball work, where they'll go out and the person riding the horse will just kind of gradually working it, working him into the idea that he's got a stick and he's trying to hit a little tiny ball.

Once the horse is ready, or maybe one month, the horse is ready and you can play great.

And the horse is very good, but it's a horse is to take a little more time, and maybe one year or one year and a half or two years, and the horse is going to be great to o but that you take a little more time.

No, it's different.

The altitude is wonderful for conditioning horses.

Some of our top players in polo bring their horses to Aspen, Denver, to build the stamina of the horse, to play down in lower climates, down in Texas and Florida, at the higher bowl masses.

It's a wonderful sport because Colorado, in Colorado you can play winter or summer.

So that's the uniqueness of Colorado, And I wouldn't live anywhere else.

Obviously its a beautiful stat where we live on the Western Slope.

It's beautiful.

And, you know, there's nothing better than making a living off the raising and taking care of animals.

The most important thing.

And what brings me out here is the horses.

But it's just being on a horse and, hitting that ball.

It's really a feeling that I cant explain.

The polo, horse has to love the game.

When they finally become a polo pony, a true polo pony, they're the top of the top.

They truly want to play this game.

This is what they know, and this is what they want to do.

As much as the rider sitting on top of them.

It's hard for me to drive past a group of horses without going into a ditch because my gaze lingers on them.

I can see at a glance that most of them are idle and need riding, and I think to myself, boys, it's too bad we can't get together because I've got the same problem.

We both be better with more riding.

There's something, unmechanical about horses You get in a tractor or a four Wheeler, and you can immediately picture yourself in the 20th century.

It's hard to play like you're carrying on a tradition.

You know, when you're plowing and you're in an air conditioned cab.

But it's really easy to get on a horse and go to the backside of your place to bring two cows up and suddenly you realize that this is exactly the way they did it in 1850.

So I think that has something to do with keeping it alive.

There's also some attachment between horses and people, and, I think Winston Churchill was the author of this quote, but he said there is something about the outside of a horse that's good for the inside of the man, and it is.

Back in 1971, Congress passed the Wild Horse & Burro act.

And, according to that act, wild horses are to be managed as part of our ecosystem, The Canyon City prison complex where a joint federal state program, pairs captured Mustangs with convicted men benefiting both.

There's, approximately 40 to 45,000 horses and burros on the range right now, and they're captured periodically to keep the population in check with the habitat, we capture the animals and offer them for adoption the excess animals.

It's a real success.

But we have, more demand now than we can satisfy.

You know, we use a multitude of, training methods, and, we have to find one that's right for the inmate & one that's right for the horse.

You know, without getting a horse all wound up, without getting the inmate hurt.

I grew up on a ranch, in between Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservation.

Out in the Sandhills is a working cattle ranch.

And we've always had horses from as far back as I can remember, riding through the sand hills bareback with nothing but halter on, playing cowboys and Indians.

My tribe, relied heavily on the horse.

Ever since its introduction to the, the Plains Indians, the Sioux, were considered expert horsemen.

I retired from military as a Calvary Scout, and it was kind of unique.

Me being an Indian.

And, scouting for the Calvary.

I think it's a great program for the inmates.

In some cases, these animals here are probably probably the toughest thing they've ever run into other than, you know, somebody like themselves, It taught me to handle myself better.

I mean, through difficult situations it gives you responsibility.

A lot of times, people will overextend and do things that, they're really not capable to do and kind of have to watch, you know, that they overextend themselves.

and get hurt.

thinking about not hitting that ground.

It's a lot easier staying in the saddle, but, yeah, your adrenaline gets to going really good.

Somebody says they're not scared.

They are scared.

There's just a lot of satisfaction in seeing one of these guys coming wild off the reigns and then going home to, to a family where, you know, it's going to be well taken care of and be a useful horse to you.

Anybody can do it as long as they're a U.S.

citizen, 18 years of age or older and no convictions for inhumane treatment to animals.

So, yeah, it is unique, and I, I always kid that, there's probably a thousand guys out there that want my job.

So I send my wife out to start my truck every morning.

You know.

The horse, the noblest conquest man has ever made.

I'm Dan Issel head coach of the Denver Nuggets.

Ever since I graduated from the University of Kentucky, I have been, in and out of the horse business at times and more seriously than others.

But, I was in it, you know, as a business, not as a hobby, but I really enjoy watching the thoroughbreds compete.

I think, I think there's some of the greatest athletes in the world, and and you can, breed, the very best stallion to the very best broodmare.

And unless the resulting foal has the heart of a competitor, he really doesn't run very fast.

When I was, living on my farm and most thoroughbred mares foal at night, we had a night watchman to make sure everything went, successfully.

And, whether it was the most expensive mare we had on the farm or the cheapest, I always, had the night watchman, wake me and go down to the barn, even if it was 3 or 4:00 in the morning, because it's, it's a marvelous process.

And and to watch the foals, within 35, 45 minutes start to try and get to their feet and to nurse, it's it's a, it's a real neat part of, Mother Nature that nickname was given to me, early in my nuggets career by, one of the front office people at that time, Bob King.

And, I think I had had a pretty decent game.

And the newspaper accounts the next morning, called my performance or likened my performance to that of a thoroughbred.

And, when Bob King, read that, the next morning, he said, you know, it reminded me more of a Clydesdale and and Clydesdale.

Thank goodness Clydesdale didn't stick, because that that'd be worse than the horse.

But Clydesdale became horse.

And Al Albert, who was even doin the nuggets broadcast back then, picked up on it and began calling me the horse because of that and because of my love for, for the thoroughbreds.

You know, most people might not think that it was, that it was too, appropriate or too complimentary, but, being compared to a horse, with, with their heart and, and their, their way that, they are able to take on the workload.

That doesn't bother me at all.

I have been trying to get back to Kentucky.

And, when I first came out here, when we first moved to Colorado, almost 20 years ago now, we thought that Kentucky was home.

And after my playing career, we went back for a few years.

And then I was a broadcaster here for a while, and we were talking about going back again.

And then the head coaching situation came along.

So it seems like, my family was meant to be here in Colorado.

And, of course, we absolutely love it.

And and the, the last 20 years, this has been our home.

God forbid that I should go to any heaven in which there are no horses.

This is a great horse, shes a four time world champion She's a three time world champion, an American for her association and, for calf roping horse.

And she's a one time world champion heeling horse team, team roping.

Shes a part of my family.

I will never, ever get rid of her.

She's been a good stick.

She's getting a little older now.

She's 15 years old, and she's lost a couple of steps So my object in calf ropin if normally I can catch a calf when he comes out of chute.

And I'm going to normally stick my head in the pay window.

If I have to chase one down, old girl, if not fast enough anymore to do it.

So we just kind of tip her hat to the crowd go on down the road.

Gonna go over & catch the grey horse right now.

you can see he's real hard to catch.

The idea of a bit is about the same as it's been for 4000 years.

You know, its the only way you control the horse.

You can do a little bit with your legs and all that, for the most part, it's a bit.

A Western horse, you ride one handed because you have to do roping with your other hand So the neck rein, which is the idea that the reins slapping on their neck cues them to turn.

We use the reins, and your legs, you can get them do whatever they need to do.

And he's not a quarter horse, he's just a horse that he came off of the Navajo reservation down in Arizona.

He has a bar in right here, which I understand is the Navajo Nation brand.

And the individual owner brand is on the back.

Like I said, he's not a quarter horse.

I'm not sure what the breeding is on him.

I dont think anybody knows.

And I mean, if you take a critical look at him, he's got a head size of a 55 gallon drum.

His hind legs are a little campe he don't have no rear end.

He's got feet.

The size of dinner plates.

Well, I tell you, he's a hell of a horse.

I mean, he'll watch.

A cow,has a real calm dispositio when you're out there And if you do have to go and catch something, you can trust him being calm.

You can step off and go about your business.

But a horse like this one, as soon as you point out the steer youre chasin will stay on ‘em.

Because there's an awful lot going on, and you can't be operating the horse at the same time trying to catch him.

Just do he has enough sense to follow the one you selected.

Yeah, I just kind to brush him off of the high places to get the dirt off where the saddle fits so it doesn't, bring burrs under the saddle blanket type of deal.

We don't spend a heck of a lot of time grooming, polishing hooves or nothing.. The saddle weighsbout 40 pounds aint no way youre going to lift it up and set it in place You just got to fling it up there.

This saddle is double rigged.

There's two cinches, front cinch & a back cinch.

That helps hold it down when youre ropin I carry hobbles back here in case I gotta step off for a long span of time.

They work kind of like handcuffs on the horse.

When you put his front legs together.

He won't wander off the floor.

It'd be nice to be able to say that this is my most important tool.

But if I was going to do that, I'd have to give equal time to fencing pliers and irrigating shovels and box end wrenches and I don't think I care to talk about any of those.

This is the most fun tool I got.

And I guess one of the reasons I'm up in this country is I prefer the company of horses.

I use it for roundups.

I use it for just about everything working cattle, everything.

So she's a she's a pretty good horse.

I cuss her, cuss her birthday But I keep her around swear every time I ain't gonna use her anymore.

But I keep using her.

She bit my wife, she kicked my partners.

she bucked her partner off.

I mean, she's just.

You can't saddle her without pininng back her ears.

I mean, but once you get her rode down, she she doesnt want to do that anymore.

She lines out alright.

If he humps up the buck, step down and kick him in the belly were the ranchers words to the green cowboy on a cold morning.

Words neither cruel or kind.

Just motivated by the will to survive A bucking horse wastes energy and work isn't done by a broken hand.

Horse people, you might have one on your family.

You know when you sit down at the table with a horse person, because the first thing they start talking about is horses.

On and on and on.

And if there's two of them, you might as well get up and leave, because you ain't going to get a word in edgewise.

But I love horses.

Maybe that's too strong a word, but maybe it's not even this horse here who will never come to even like me.

He will simply tolerate me.

This is Leo, Leo's ten years old and say, hi Leo.

What Leo doesn't speak a lot of English Como estas?

Muy bien, gracias.

But he works hard.

He's a left handed heeling horse and, living at our place now with the other horses, and seems to be quite contented.

And eats the grass, and pays his rent like he should.

So, I'm just another of thousand, one of the thousands and thousands of Colorado horse people who, Love having a nice place to keep our stock.

This is the fair play burro race.

Well, I believe this is the 46th annual fairplay burro race.

The drunken miners got the idea started, but, the ones that actually got up there, I don't think were too drunk.

It's, actually, when you see the course, anyone drunk isn't going to make it.

We're going to head out of town and first to the town of alma, and then up Mosquito Road all the way to the top of mosquito Pass, which will be at an elevation of approximately 13,300ft, I believe something like that.

So we're down here at 10,000.

So we've got quite a bit of elevation gain.

And, it's it's definitely a pull.

It's a it's a tough run, you know, approximately 30 miles.

My name is Billy and this is Jackson.

Jackson's one of my burros and the one that Ill run today.

Jackson's a gelding.

That means he's a male, but, he's been cut and can't reproduce.

So this is Samson.

I'm Laurie.

My burros name is Herbie.

That's the name he had when we when we got him.

So, you know, it just fit.

You know, I liked it.

You know, he's, you know, just a spirited animal.

You know, I kind of like, Herbie the the love bug.

Yeah.

So that would be the love burro.

He's, He's great.

You know, he's like, hes a pet.

Yeah, he's its like, walking around with a Saint Bernard with big ears.

Well, my father found an old farmer chasing him down the road and, helped him put him in.

And then the old man said, well, you know, tired of chasing this burro Dad says, well, I'd trade you some hay for him.

And that's how we acquired Herbie.

My burros name is sailor and sailor is, veteran racer.

In fact, I bought sailor from a good friend of mine, and she raced burros for ten years, So, he knows what he's doing.

And sailor, he's about nine years old, 9 or 10.

And he came from the China Lakes Naval Reserve.

out in California.

He has a brand over here on his neck with an anchor and a little arch over the anchor.

And that's where his name comes from.

Sailor.

Back in the 80s at China Lakes Naval Station and Death Valley, it was a target range for, missiles and stuff like that.

There was thousands of wild burros roaming, this area.

So some of the wildlife organizations got together and they were given six months to get as many of the burros out as possible.

And they created adoption centers across the country.

The ones that are wild have an anchor on their neck, tattooed.

And that kind of designates him in Vietnam.

I felt I was just a number.

Im an expendable, person or whatever.

And when I saw these burros and they had the same plight, that they were just a number the military didn't care about, kind of pulled at the heartstrings, Burro is just a Spanish name for donkey.

There's another name for donkeys that we never teach the children.

Yes, a donkeys are more efficient animal than a horse.

They eat less for their weight and size and the workload they they handle.

And they have less waste, too.

They handled, processed their food better.

They've got a straight back, narrow shoulders.

They don't have the big withers, have shoulders and sway back of a horse so they don't pack a saddle.

Well, that's why we have straps on our pack, saddles front and rear to keep the saddle from sliding forward and backwards.

The difference between the burro and the horses, The burros are much more surefooted than a horse.

They're a very cautious animal.

They they are survivalists.

And they will be very careful.

Like crossing a stream.

At least sailor is.

I mean, he's always looking out for his well-being, yet they're really hard working animals.

He's never made me angry, but he's drug me a few times.

Drug me in Buena Vista, you know.

But he always stops and waits for me, you know, you can't get enough of, dragging me.

Get off my foot.

I dont need that today.

We used to live in Hawaii, and now we live in Colorado.

We're really enjoying the mountains and especially the weather and the beautiful scenery.

Hawaii is really pretty in a different way, but where we like the nights to cool off and high mountains, having a good time, getting to try all these new sports over here.

We don't have any burros over there.

We certainly don't have any races.

Colorado is a very unique place in that all the mining that was done in the past in Colorado, in Fairplay, in the Leadville area, in different parts of Colorado.

This is just real indigenous sport, because burros of course, that's how the miners got up to their mining claims.

They threw their saddle in their pick in their pan on the burro, and they ran up mountain and stake their claim.

So this just kind of revives the legendary mining days.

And what better place?

I mean, these mountains in Colorado, it's beautiful.

It's always good to do part of the local culture.

You know, like if you live in the mountains, you should do mountain sports.

If you live in New York City, you should do whatever people do in New York City.

This sport has a tremendous history to it.

We're coming up on 50 years of burro racing in a couple of years here, which is amazing.

And, you know, when you look back at the history, I'm just really glad to be part of that and to get into it.

The courses are beautiful.

They're spectacular.

They're really rugged.

You get to bond with an animal out in the mountains.

It's great.

You know what else can I ask for?

King over 30 is sway back, slow and still impossible to catch except by Trix, women and oats.

Cheese.

Once a terror in the corral, now no longer rules the roost.

In their old age, they shy meeting themselves in shadows at the water trough.

Every cowboy has a horse that's not for sale..