For me, the name 'Rushcreek' is synonymous with 'good tough endurance horse'. As I was learning about Endurance, and endurance horses a few brands kept catching my interest. Rushcreek and Hyanis Cattle Company (HCC) horses were consitently good competitors - ranch bred and raised horses, maybe not the typiest Arabian around but tough, bred to work, and built to last.

So just as the convention banquet was over, I went over to Lyle and asked him about his horses, and about the rumor that the working ranch arabians were coming up for sale. The chance to own a Rushcreek horse - and what's more, a horse that has been used in ranchwork - was a very interesting prospect.

Yes, the ranch horses are being sold, and yes you're welcome to come visit. A quick exchange of cards, and promise to stay in touch. Lyle would send photos of the horses available for sale, and additional photos if anything looked interesting. I had travel commitments for the next 2 months, but would make the trip to his ranch as soon as possible. And that would be the end of April. So, one week after returning to the US, after our son's wedding, after managing the Tough Sucker ride, I used my frequent flyer miles to get a plane ticket. Time to go see the Rushcreek horses. I met my friend Clydea Hastie at the Denver airport Tuesday at noon. The wind was gale force, it was blasting snow and rain, and we headed out to Lisco Nevada in a rented PT Cruiser.

The snow turned back to rain as we travelled east and north, but the wind still blew and it was absolutely nasty! We're both wondering how we were going to be able to look at the horses, much less ride them. We had Lyle's directions to Lisco - criss cross through towns and state highways - the terrain got more interesting as we headed into the Nebraska sandhill country - following the N. Platte River - and 3 hours after leaving the Denver airport we arrived in Lisco Nebraska, The Rushcreek Land & Livestock Company, Rushcreek Arabian Ranch. A modest place, most of the buildings were older. Lisco is most definitely cowboy country.

It was still nasty outside, so we spent the evening looking at pictures and talking. He has all the sale horses in laminated pages in a notebook - ooohhh it's fun looking at pictures of horses! Talking about each one - what it's done, it's age, temperament, all that stuff. Lyle knew most of the horses pretty well, a few had just arrived so he wasn't sure about all the questions we had.

In July of 2006 Rushcreek made a major policy shift. Prior to that all of the ranch hands worked all of the cattle on Arabian horses provided to them by the ranch. Each new hand was given "a house, a side of beef, wages, and 4 horses to ride". ('Western Horse' - 1998 - article on Rushcreek by Sarah Christie). Ranch hands were not permitted to bring their own horses, they could only ride Rushcreek bred Arabians. They were given young horses - from 2yrs and up - to break and train and eventually work from.

Now, the hands can use their own horses. They will gradually turn the Arabians back in as they bring on their own horses. And the ranch arabians will be sold. Many of the older horses have already been sold as pleasure or ranch horses, and the younger horses are finding a market with Endurancer riders.

Lyle Sherfy was hired to manage the 'new' horse operation. Breeding, training and sales would be the primary focus. The horses will still be ranch bred, ranch raised, ranch trained, but they will stay with the horse operation. Lyle is evaluating his breeding stock and starting to make decisions regarding bloodlines and future growth of the herd. They have a new stallion, HV Heaven & Earth, bred in Manitoba, that is powerful and correct, with beauty and substance - good bone and feet. He is probably going to sell or retire the older stallions, and use the new stallion for most of the breedings. He was talking of looking for new mare stock at some point, but for now will maintain the same lines. Most of the horses have a big dose of Crabbet in them, with some Russian blood as well.

Lyle took Clydea and me to dinner at 'The Roost' - the quite decent Lisco cafe. The town of Lisco is basically Rushcreek. At the center of the land holdings it has a railroad station, a cafe/bar , a bank and offices, a few houses and maybe a church though I didn't see one. 15 miles from Oshkosh, 80 miles from Scottsbluff, Lisco is a tiny little 'company' town where everybody knows everybody and everybody seems to get along. I had chicken fried steak and a beer. Lots more talk about horses, about Endurance, about Rushcreek.

Wednesday morning dawned cool and sunny. Much much better that the day before! We had a plan of sorts, had chosen a few horses that we wanted to look at, and went outside bundled up and ready to ride. What fun! There's nothing like a ranch horse. They actually stand still to be mounted. The hardest thing for me is to keep a loose rein. I started riding with English training - jumping - and learned to ride with contact on the mouth. A hard habit to break. But these horses work mostly from seat and leg. It was fun, riding Lyle's big western saddle, trying each of the horses. By lunch time we had ridden everything, our heads were spinning from all the options, and we took a break for the afternoon.

Back to The Roost for lunch, where we met some of the ranch hands, including Lyle's son Andrew, and the cattle foreman. We also met Gerald Davis the general manager for The Rushcreek Land & Livestock Company. After lunch (bacon cheeseburger, fries and coffee) Lyle took us for a drive. We drove out to the old fish hatchery which was dismantled several years ago - but all of the big fish barns and buildings are still standing, in good shape, and Lyle has his eye on them for riding arenas and barns to show off horses. We drove south to the site of the Rushcreek Reunion Endurance Ride (September 2007). They hope to make this an annual, and growing, endurance event. Looked like great trails - along the river, into the hills, sandy ranch roads. We drove through the ranch cattle pastures - mostly angus, a few longhorns - met his son Andy bringing a group of longhorns to another pasture. riding a beautiful paint with the most crooked front legs I've ever seen. "Yeh, but it don't seem to bother him none... he just keeps working, never lame, and he's the fastest horse I've ever rode. good horse."

We returned to the horse ranch, for one last look at the horses. I had sort of decided on Rushcreek Mack at that point. 8 yr gray gelding, 15 hands, was trained and ridden by son Andy for 4 years. A real pistol, as Lyle put it 'he has a little more juice'. But well trained. He hadn't been ridden for a year, had just come in from pasture, so he was a pretty fresh, but an awesome mover, and seemed like he would be a lot of fun. Clydea settle on Rushcreek Quenby - a 4 yr old gorgeous grey gelding - did some cattle work last year, nice mind, nice mover. Good size (14.3) for little Clydea. We talked price, arrangements, etc and will now wait and see how they do at the prepurchase exam. We'll see... what fun!

Rushcreek brand (a cloverleaf) has a unique method of naming horses: the horses are named alphabetically according to the year they were born. All the 'O's were born in 2000. Mack, an 'M' was born in 1998. They go through the alphabet until they reach 'T', and then start over again with 'A'. In addition every filly and every colt horse is numbered consecutively, starting with zero. Rushcreek Mack is #580. the 580th Rushcreek colt to be born.

Back to The Roost for dinner - this time joined by Theresa, Lyle's wife, and his son Andy with wife and adorable year old already-horse-loving boy. The Roost was packed, this was 'breakfast special' night. (every Wednesday) I ordered eggs over-easy, bacon and hashbrowns. And a beer :)

Lyle expects another 20 or so ranch horses to be turned back in over the next year, as the hands break in their own horses to replace the ranch horses. On our afternoon drive we stopped by one of the ranch houses, a cowboy was working cattle on a gorgeous bay 8 yr gelding. That one's not up for sale yet, he'll be ready after branding. ... put me on the waiting list.

Here's Lyle's contact info:
Lyle Sherfey
PO Box 66, Lisco, NE 69184
Phone: 308.772.4535
E-mail: ltsherfey@earthlink.net