HORSES COME FIRST

Born into a third generation farm family from the rich Idaho Miracle Valley, near Twin Falls.  Both grandfathers, his dad and mom had farms that grew a variety of crops, bred work horse, short horn cattle, mild cows, pigs and chickens.  The winters were bitter cold with blizzards, snow drits and freezing winds, while summers were hot and dry.  As a young boy he came to live on the Long Meadow Ranch, north of Prescott, where his father was a ranch hand.  Gathering cattle, branding calves, shoeing horses, fixing fences, water wells, and tractors, were the chores Bill saw his cowboy father do every day from before down until after dark.  One of the first lessons Bill learned from his father, mother, and grandfathers was that, no matter the weather, “rain or shine”, all the animals got fed, milked, doctored and cared form much earlier than any of the family. In this sculpture Bill tells the story of one cowboy taking the feedbags out to the horses in a wet slicker, on a cold rainy morning. Their needs ALWAYS came before your own. In good weather or bad, Horses Come First.