The Blue Roan Dream: From Bonanza to Reality

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A childhood dream sparked by watching Bonanza, a revolutionary trap design born from wilderness frustration, and a century-old wagon connecting five generations—Kim Harris's story weaves together the threads of innovation, perseverance, and honoring heritage in ways that both surprise and inspire.

From the high plains of Conrad, Montana, Kim shares his journey from custom swathing farmer to inventor of the groundbreaking Centerfire Trap, a design that addressed problems trappers had faced for over 200 years. With candid humor and heartfelt sincerity, he reveals how his obsession with improving wolf trapping led to sleepless nights and eventually, a revolutionary product that changed the industry.

But it's Kim's lifelong dream of owning blue roan draft horses and restoring his grandfather's 1916 Peter Shuttler wagon that truly captures the heart. After preserving this wagon since childhood, Kim details his meticulous restoration project with Doug Hansen of Hansen Wagon Wheel, including plans to recreate his grandfather's journey hauling grain to town—a goal set decades ago in junior high school.

The conversation flows through Kim's experiences acquiring multiple draft horse teams, raising six children, and building connections across geographical boundaries. His story illuminates how these magnificent animals have created lasting friendships and community, including the annual October gathering that brings draft horse enthusiasts together in Kentucky.

Beyond the practical aspects of working with draft horses, this episode explores deeper themes of legacy, family connections, and preserving traditional skills in a rapidly changing world. As Kim reflects, "Everything out there might be different, but it's all the same in here," pointing to the universal values that connect us despite our different backgrounds.

Whether you're a draft horse owner, trapping enthusiast, or simply someone who appreciates stories of purpose and passion, this conversation offers both practical insights and emotional resonance. Join us for this remarkable journey spanning generations, geography, and the enduring bond between humans and horses.

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Find us online at DraftHorsesAndMulesForSale.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to Harness Up with Haste Draft Horses and
Mules, where we talk all thingsrelated to these magnificent
animals, from their history anduses to training and care.
We cover it all.
Join us as we chat with expertsand enthusiasts in the field,

(00:33):
share stories and tips andexplore the world of draft
horses and mules.
Whether you're a seasoned owneror just curious about these
gentle giants, this podcast isfor you.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
So harness up and join Haste Draft Horses and

(01:14):
Mules Harness Up Podcast.
Hope everybody's having awonderful Monday morning this
morning Starting out, happy StPatrick's Day.
It's St Patrick's Day, so happySt Patrick's Day.
Hope everybody's got theirgreen on so you don't get
pinched.
Kim's got his green on overhere.
I got green on too, so we'regood to go.

(01:35):
But, guys, we've had a big, bigweek.
It's been super, super busy.
We had a clinic last week andwe was here all week long and I
had a good friend of mine comefrom Conrad Montana and Kim has
been a friend for I guess a yearnow.
He bought a few teams from us.
We'll go into all that story,but Kim was my senior advisor

(01:56):
for my clinic here at the placethis week and I want to
introduce you to y'all,introduce Kim to y'all.
So, kim Harris from ConradMontana, how are you, kim?
I'm doing good.
Kim has been super good to us.
He's been started out.
Just I sold him a team ofhorses and it's turned into.

(02:17):
He's kind of one of us now.
Really, to be honest with you,it's been quite a venture.
It sure has man.
He come down to help us withour clinic and we're here monday
morning and I'm gonna take himto the airport, fly back to
montana.
He's probably ready to go home,kind of about ready to go check
things out.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Make sure it's still there, and then I'll be
satisfied to want to leave againwe got the office here.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
we're actually in the office first podcast I've
recorded at the office and andit's going good.
I hope it turns out good anyway.
But Kim slept here in theoffice all week, was it good,
kim?

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Hey couldn't beat the accommodations.
It's kind of like home.
Where did you take a showerBack there in the horse stall
and it worked out pretty good.
It wasn't a bad shower at all.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
So, guys, if you want to come here and buy a team,
you can stay for free and have afree shower in the horse wash
bay, but that's up to y'all.
But kim enjoys it and it worksout perfect and we sure
appreciate him.
So let's talk about kim alittle bit now.
I can talk all day.
I want to let him talk some.
So tell them a little bit aboutwhere you're from, kim, and so
that stuff so I'm from uhrad,montana, born and raised there,

(03:27):
never left my granddad.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
when he was a baby they homesteaded from Blue Earth
Minnesota and he was just ababy and rode a wagon train all
the way out there.
I mean, I can't even imagineback in them days, but it'd be
pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
so he went from minnesota to conrad montana yes,
he did.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
yeah, and his family, uh, his dad, my great granddad,
he uh, you know, took on apiece of land, homesteaded it
whatever, and that's that'swhere I grew up was at that
homestead, so that's pretty coolyeah.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
And you're doing something.
Kim's been talking to me allweek.
We actually went to WestVirginia together.
The clinic was over Thursdayand then Friday we was all just
hanging out, you know, justchilling a whole bunch of people
that was here from the clinic.
I had a call come in thatwanted to buy a pair of horses
and wanted to go to WestVirginia, williamsburg, west

(04:26):
Virginia.
Well, kim's from the west sideof the United States, the
Rockies, and he'd never reallyseen the Appalachian Mountains.
And I said, well, heck, I'mgoing to ask Kim if he'll go
with me to take these horses toWest Virginia.
And what did you say, kim?

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Well, it was pretty unique.
We saw, you know, some bad partof the country.
We saw some really beautifulcountry and the mountains you
know they're different than themountains at home, but they're
still mountains and it was a funtrip.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
It was really cool Y'all can watch.
Actually watch the video of meand Kim.
If you go to YouTube and typein Haystraft, horses and Mules,
you'll see a video on therecalled the west virginia trip
with kim harris, so check thatout.
I did a little vlog of ourvideo going out to west virginia
, so check that out, you mayenjoy it.
But uh, kim, what are you doing?
Conrad, what's?

(05:17):
What are you still doing?

Speaker 3 (05:19):
so I grew up as a farmer rancher and uh couldn't
make any money farming and anduh then went into uh.
I was a motorcycle snowmobiledealer for a while.
After we sold the farm and uhthen went uh from that.
Because of, uh, I guess,relationship issues, I uh I

(05:43):
bought a little piece of land onthe outskirts of Conrad and
bought a swather and I startedcustom swathing and there really
wasn't any custom swathinggoing on.
So me and another guy, a friendof mine, were kind of the first
ones to do it and been doingthat for over 30 years now.
It's been pretty good.
It's kind of a feast and faminebusiness.

(06:04):
I mean, some years are reallygood good and some of yours are
pretty bad, but overall averageit's it's pretty good business a
lot of the listeners on heremight not know what customs.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
They probably don't know what a swather is, so
explain a little bit aboutswathing okay, so yeah, then
you're right, they probablydon't.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
uh, wind rowing sometimes gets their attention,
makes them know more what'sgoing on.
But like you would windrow analfalfa crop to bale it, we do
that for grains, canola lentils,whatever they want, and
basically it's cutting it earlybefore a combine, putting it in
a windrow to kind of save it,let it dry out and then either

(06:44):
bale it or combine it orwhatever.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
behind us Some of y'all might not know.
He's on the High Line.
The High Line is in northernMontana, right up on the
Canadian border.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah, 60 miles from the Canadian border.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
And I went up there one time and sold a horse to a
woman up there.
She was actually at the clinicin Billings.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yep, he was there too , and I and I knew her and I
recognized her and I said whatare you doing here?
I sold her and her husband somecattle like 30 years ago wasn't
that crazy it was.
I mean, it's a small world.
You see people that you meetall the time.
What was her name?

Speaker 2 (07:18):
help me uh linda.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
No, I never can remember her first name and the
last name.
I should know, but I can'tthink of it right now at the
moment.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Well, shout out to you up on the highway.
I know who you are.
She's like a middle-aged ladyGriffin.
Griffin.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Griffin.
Yes, Her last name was Griffin.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Griffin Farms.
Yeah, and this older lady herhusband has since then passed
away and she is still on thehigh line and that lady's
running those farms still tothis day, those ranches, yep,
and growing crops, and supergood lady, I really enjoy her.
She's got a head full ofknowledge about living up there

(08:00):
and working on the high line.
I'll never forget the time Iwent up there, I went to her
place donna donna griffin.
Shout out.
Donna, we appreciate you.
I went up there to deliver thathorse I sold to her.
I thought I was in the middleof nowhere.
It was wild man, gravel roadsand just wheat fields, far as I

(08:22):
can see it's kind of an acquiredtaste.
Is it like that in Conrad?

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, in Conrad you can look any direction.
You look north, there's theSweetgrass Hills.
You look east, you've got theBear Paw Mountains.
You look south, you've got theHighland Mountains, and you look
west, you've got the RockyMountains.
So you're sitting there on some.
It's not totally flat, but it'svirtually flat farm ground

(08:48):
golden triangle of montana, bestwheat producing country there
is, and uh, but you gotmountains all the way around you
easy access I'm coming outthere oh yeah, you got to I am
you got to come out I mean,you're going to run down coyotes
.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
There you go, we're going to do that.
He's been talking about runningdown coyotes guys all week.
I guess we can go ahead andtell him Kim, he's a trap maker.
Kim makes Harris traps.
If you go online, type inHarris traps, you'll find out
all about it.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Kind of tell them a little bit about your traps, kim
, what you do and that kind ofthing.
So I've been a trapper I mean Iprobably started when I was in
junior high or whatever trappingbeaver, muskrat, whatever Been
trapping.
My favorite thing to trap iscoyotes and wolves, you know,
they're just they're the hardestto trap, it's the most
challenging.
And when I first startedtrapping wolves, they have a
three-week circle and uh, sothey only come around once every

(09:49):
three weeks.
So if they come around and youdon't catch them, you miss them.
Uh, you got three weeks to waittill they come again.
And uh, so I would go check mytraps and there would be a wolf
track there on the trap and itdidn't fire.
And uh, it was just frustratingbecause you got three more
weeks to wait.
And I said there's gotta be abetter way to this.

(10:11):
I mean, there's gotta besomething different.
And so I scratched my head andit took me two and a half years.
I was OCD over this trap 24,seven, 7, couldn't do nothing
else, couldn't sleep nothing andfinally came up with this trap.

(10:32):
Every trap on the market has atip pan.
You put it, you put a latchover the jaw and you put the pan
on it and it's set and or thepan latches over the trigger
itself with no dog and it'scalled a tip pan.
If you have a tip pan trap, 40of that trap is dead zone.

(10:52):
In other words, an animal canstep inside that trap but he
cannot set that trap off.
So what I came up with was apan that went straight up and
down and no matter where theystep at on inside the jaws, it
fires the trap.
So it opened up that whole.
It's a whole new game.
It's actually kind of ahead ofitself, you know, and there's a

(11:15):
lot of people out there thathaven't grasped what it is.
But you can use a way, smallertrap and and trap the same
animal, because you've openedthat up and you now have 100% of
that area to catch that animal.
And so that's how it led towhat I've done with the trap,
and it was mostly, like I said,to trap wolves.

(11:35):
And then I took them out, putthem on the market and
everybody's like when are yougoing to build a coyote trap?
And I said I don't know.
I said you know, I'd like to.
If I can do it cost effectiveand and make it work, I am going
to build a coyote trap.
Well, can't you just scale itdown 30 percent or whatever?

(11:56):
And I said I don't know, Ihaven't tried yet, but you know
I'll have a trap here in a yearor so.
You can't just scale it down,it doesn't work out, because
part of it works out okay, butthe other like, for instance,
the trigger, the, the trigger inrelationship to the jaw that
doesn't just scale down and work.

(12:16):
So it was like building a wholenew trap again.
And not only was I building acoyote trap, I was building two
coyote traps at the same time.
And so only was I building acoyote trap, I was building two
coyote traps at the same time.
And so that was quite theprocess.
And I look back now the funnestprocess of the whole thing was
that 24-7 OCD designing andtrying this, trying that, and

(12:40):
when you finally get it, it'slike I compare it to riding
bareback horses.
A buddy of mine told me onetime when you get tapped off and
you finally conquered theriding ability, the skill or
whatever to ride that horse andbe tapped off, so you're totally
in time, so whatever, it'sbetter than sex, I guess.

(13:03):
And he was right.
And that's kind of whatbuilding that trap felt like.
I mean finally got everythingto work, everything to click and
it worked and it was just likewow, I mean, it was huge.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
I hear it has.
Is it called centerfire?

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Centerfire, centerfire traps, yep, and I
named it that because you gotthe pan in the middle.
It goes up and down.
It's kind of like a centerfirerifle cartridge.
Everything's right there in themiddle.
When you tap that middle, yougot it.
Bam, yeah, bam.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, I don't know a lot about trap, but I enjoy it.
I love it.
I know there used to be a hugefur market.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
There was it.
Excuse me, I'll turn that off.
No you're fine.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
These podcasts are the way they come out, kim,
we're not trying to.
Yeah, you're good, we're notgoing to edit nothing, right, so
anyway.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
I'll have to call you back because we're in the
middle of a podcast.
Yeah, bye, I forgot where I waswhich son was that that was the
middle one.
I have three of them and thatwas the middle one.
He's probably the mostinterested in the trap and the
business and whatnot but hasn'tcommitted yet.
But anyway, I forgot where Iwas before.

(14:26):
But uh, no, it's.
It's been a huge, huge venturetaken on, uh kind of created a
new lifestyle in a way.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
That's kind of awesome when did you start the
traps?

Speaker 3 (14:38):
so I started.
Well, when I can't.
Kind of a unique story to thisis is when, thought of it, I was
laying in a canvas tent on acot in the middle of the Bob
Marshall wilderness trappingwolves, and I'd go check, you
know, and I'd have one of themwhere they stepped and it didn't
fire and whatever.
And I went back and I checkedall the traps that day and I

(15:00):
went back and I laid down on thecot and, uh, I took a little
nap, thought I was taking a nap,resting, whatever and it all of
a sudden it jumped in my headand I was like I know how to fix
that.
And so at that point, you know,now I'm back there in the
middle of nowhere and all I wantto do is get home, start this
project, start going on this,and uh, so when I got home,

(15:24):
which was the winter of, oh,actually I should say the spring
of 2016, and so it took me till2018, a little over middle of
2018, to get to where I had aproduct that I could sell.
And I went to a, went to arendezvous at 13 traps, 13 wolf

(15:47):
traps, went to a rendezvous andI was sitting at a table and
there was a guy there.
He had trapped wolves in RussiaUh, I can't even remember where
all but worldwide trappedwolves and tigers and he was
there.
And he come up to the table andhe's looking at the trap.
He says, man, are you a?
Are you a mechanical engineer?

(16:09):
And I said no, I'm not nomechanical engineer.
Are you a welder?
I said no, I mean, I know howto weld, but I'm not a welder.
Uh, you know all these things heaccused me of being and I was
nothing, all I was a farm boythat wanted to fix something and
uh, anyway, so he he's kneelingdown on the ground and he's
looking at that thing.
He's like we've been using thesame thing for 200 years and now

(16:32):
we got this.
He goes this.
He was just floored, hecouldn't believe it.
And that's the kind of responseI got from and I still get it
today from a lot of people thatjust, they look at it and
they're just, this isrevolutionary, it's totally new,
it's, you know, nobody's seennothing like it.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
So technically in the trapping world this is really
just taken off.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
It is Like I said, I'm a little bit ahead of my
time.
You know what I mean, Becausethe fur market has it's died out
because of the economy, the wayit is, and everything you need.
Russia, Ukraine, China buy 90%of our fur and they're not in
the ballgame right now.
Canada was huge but the antishave shut that down.

(17:14):
So because of the economy andbecause of the fur market and
stuff, it's taking a while toget going.
But it's kind of the way I wantit.
I want it to be nice and I'vebeen in other businesses and you
jump in and it just goes boomand you can't handle it all and
I don't.
I didn't want this to be thatway.
I wanted to come in at a littleslower pace, so it's been

(17:35):
working good for me the way itis right now.
So guys.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
You can check out harris traps and maybe a trapper
listening to this, I don't know.
But one thing I did notice whatyou said a while ago rendezvous
.
You may ought to tell the folkswhat you're talking about.
You went to a rendezvous, okay,some people may not know if
you've watched the old movies,western movies, whatnot.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
My favorite show in the whole world is called the
mountain men.
Okay, and it's not that littleseries where they're doing
everybody nowadays, it'sactually.
It's charlton heston and briankeith and they're the mountain
men and it is.
It's a, it's kind of a, a funnyview of a trapper's world and
the way it was back then.
Then they go to a mountainrendezvous.
Well, when you had all thetrappers in the mountains,

(18:22):
pioneers, whatever, and uh, theywould have a winter rendezvous
where they would kind of meet up.
I mean, yellowstone was a greatplace because it it wasn't so
treacherous and whatnot, youcould get away without all the.
They had a lot of snow, butanyway they would all get
together in the winter and kindof huddle together and

(18:43):
fellowship and survival andwhatever.
I'll be at the same place.
So now, modern days, we haverendezvous in the, mostly in the
summer, um, but like I'm a, I'ma lifetime member of the
Montana Trappers Association,the Idaho Trappers Association,
um, the National TrappersAssociation, um, and there might

(19:05):
be another one or two that Ibecame lifetime members of.
But every state that has atrapping association has a
rendezvous sometime during thesummer months.
The national one has a western,a southeast regional, a
national which, until I startedgoing to these rendezvous, I'd

(19:28):
never been west of theMississippi.
And now that I've been to therendezvous like for instance
this year, our nationalrendezvous is in Harrisonburg,
virginia, and last year it wasin Sioux Falls, south Dakota and
they asked me if I was going togo to that one and I said I'm
not pulling my trailer and goingthat far, clear over there, not

(19:50):
realizing we're not that farfrom it right now, and
especially delivering the horsesthe other day, we're in West
Virginia.
I'm like I've already been, youknow.
I mean I'm almost there, sowe'll see how it goes.
I don't know if I'll go or not.
So a rendezvous is just aget-together.
All the vendors are sellingproduct, you've got

(20:11):
demonstrations, everybody'sgiving demos on how to trap, how
to skin.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
It's just a big old get-together good time.
So you're building these trapsright in Conrad, right there at
your place.

Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Who helps you?
You've got to have help tobuild them.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
So right, I've had a few kids help me now and then
Some of my kids have helped mefor a while.
The main thing everybody kindof gets is it's repetition,
monotonous, kind of like workingon a Ford factory and you put
in headlights all day.
It's kind of the way it isputting a trap together.

(20:47):
But my cousin Dwayne he's ayear older than me, he was a
welder by trade and had kind ofretired, he was done, he was you
know whatever, and he didn'tlive in Conrad for quite a few
years and all of a sudden hecalled me one day and he says he
says hey, he says tell me,what's going on with these traps

(21:08):
, how, how's this work?
So I'm telling him and stuffand he says well, you need a
welder.
And I said I said yeah, I said Ikind of do, I said I'm doing
all the work myself.
I said I'm getting older, Ican't see very well the.
You know, I, I had everythingon my shoulders, I was, I was
everything.
I was manufacturer, uh,supplier, businessman, selling,

(21:32):
shipping everything and it was.
It was starting to get kind ofoverwhelming and stuff and he
said, well, I'm planning onmoving back to conrad.
Maybe I need a job.
I said, yeah, you might.
So I moved to Conrad.
He took a look at everything.
He's like I can do that.
I said I know you can.
So he's been my main welder,even though he takes off and

(21:53):
goes to the Philippines for thewinter and does his thing and
whatever.
And he comes back in the springand then him and I build traps
frantically for the spring andthe summer and into fall and
whatever it takes in the middleof Swathing too.
In the middle of swathing and myoldest son has mostly taken
over that.
I do a little bit nowadays butthat's a full-time chore because

(22:14):
you're gone from home 24-7.
Swathing is basically threemonths out of the year to make
your income.
You live in a pickup, you'renever home and that was probably
a little strenuous on part ofmy relationships too.
But anyway, he's taking that onright now and he does a hell of
a good job and yeah, it's kindof there's a plate full come

(22:38):
summer.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Y'all call trucks out west pickups.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
Yes, we do Around here.
You're in touch with them.
They're're all trucks.
It's a truck, they are.
If you go to billings montana'strucks, I mean, nobody talks
trucks except old, farm-raisedkids and then you all refer to
an everyday driving truck as apickup right.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yep, I guess that's the difference in the northwest
that's the difference southeast.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, duane, shout out to you.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
I don't know if you're going to watch this or
not, but we miss you.
Wish you could have been heresoutheast.
Yeah, duane, shout out to you.
I don't know if you're going towatch this or not, but we miss
you.
Wish you could have been herethis week.
Duane was here in october forour get together with um kim and
we got to meet duane.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
He's in the philippines right now and I
don't think he even knows thatthis clinic went on.
But when he gets home and hewatches the videos and whatever
and I'll make sure to rub it inat how much he missed he's
coming in October, hopefully.
And hopefully he's coming back.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
yeah, yeah he's a super good guy.
We had a blast.
He had an adventure here inOctober.
Yeah, we did.
Kim started here first time heever come here and wrecked his
truck in Mount Vernon, illinoiswas it Mount Vernon.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, um, mount vernon, illinois was mount
vernon.
Yeah, we, we, uh.
So duane and I brought mygranddad's wagon down to uh,
hansen wagon wheel in southdakota, dropped it off.
I'd visited with doug um pre,you know beforehand, and had had
made a plan, and so we weregoing to drop this wagon off at

(24:03):
doug's place he's going torefurbish it for us and then we
took off and we headed down hereand we made it to mount vernon
and a semi in front of us all ofa sudden locks up his brakes
getting down the highway and wedid the same and and I, I turned
and I was headed for the ditch,going to get around him and
stuff.
Well, he had the same plan andso he went down in the ditch and

(24:26):
we went down in the ditch andplowed right into the back of
him and yeah, it wasn't wasn'treal good total to pick up.
That didn't hurt the trailerthank goodness that was my
ex-wife's trailer that I'dborrowed from her and uh, didn't
hurt it, but total pickup andshout out to alan oberholzer
down here on the creek he come,got you he did what?

(24:47):
I mean I called steven and Isaid hey, we just got in a wreck
.
And I said I don't know howwe're going to get there, how
things are going to work out.
And he says I got, I got a goodfriend.
He says he'll come get you.
I said, well, tell him, bring astub nose for that trailer,
it's the only thing it needs.
And we'll pull the trailer downand he come and got us.
It was about a five hour ride.
Yeah, super people.

(25:08):
I mean I'm telling you whateverything that I've ever needed
, wanted, whatever when I'm here, steven's taking me to the
airport this afternoon because Ifly out of nashville.
They came and got me innashville and brought me over
here.
It's just, it's unreal thehospitality they got and
friendships, and it's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
That's one thing you'll find here in this country
.
We take care of each other.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
It seems like it.
Yep, I mean everybody I meethere and stuff, henry and the
whole.
Yeah, I believe it.
It's a tight-knit group ofpeople that absolutely enjoy
each other.
It is.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
We're tight-knit and we, you know the people that
come in for us.
We're tight-knit and we, youknow the people that come in for
us.
We're tight-knit with them too.
Yeah, we'll take care of you.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
You know that I've been shown that many a time.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
I, yeah, totally appreciative and I'm coming to
conrad sometime you got to do it, you got to get on your can and
chase coyotes with you.
There you go, we will.
That country is fascinating tome because I I've been a lot,
but it's just not something Isee every day.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
No, it's just like this.
I mean, this is a nice countrytoo, but you don't do the same
things here that we do at home.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Every podcast I do, it's somebody from way away and
we're here.
The difference is unreal.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
It is the way of life .
But yet, human, human life andhuman friend, you know all your
aspects of life.
Yeah, everything out theremight be different, but it's all
the same in here.
You know what I mean.
That's right?

Speaker 2 (26:37):
yeah, it's all the same, just different places.
Right?

Speaker 3 (26:40):
yeah, you talked about granddad's wagon yeah
hanson yeah explain to him alittle bit what you got going on
with this project okay, so I,originally, I I've saved my
granddad's wagon for a while,since I was a kid, you know.
We sat in the barn and I, youknow, I asked my dad or mom, or
whatever way back when I said,you know what is this?

(27:02):
Oh, that grandpa used to haulgrain to town and that thing and
I and that was just something.
So let me back up just a hairwhen I was a little little kid
and I used to watch bonanza.
One day, uh, I'm watching anold hoss, he pulls up on a team
team with a buckboard and blueroan team.
Oh man, someday I'm gonna haveone of them.

(27:23):
And then, uh, so then alongcame grandpa's wagon, you know,
and I heard the story.
I got an 80 year old uncle athome that used to work for my
granddad and, uh, he told me thestory one time, the first time.
And uh, he said you know, Iused to work for your granddad.

(27:45):
He said one day he come home hehad the newest, neatest,
coolest wagon you ever saw.
He says it was three tiers talland there wasn't no three tier
wagons in that country.
And he says he was going tohaul grain to town in that wagon
.
And so what he told me thestory.
He said what they did they.
And so what he told me thestory said what they did they.

(28:06):
They hand shoveled the wagonfull of grain in the evening or
the day before it was full.
It's ready to go.
He hooked up next morning, gotup early, hooked up a team and
he took off for town.
And it was 30 miles onedirection and so he took off for
town, made it to town.
He would unhook the wagon, gouptown, get a room, probably go
down to the bar, have a drinkand socialize a little bit.

(28:28):
Uh, next and next morning hewould go get supplies, went,
hooked up the wagon, dumped theload of grain and he headed back
home.
And so it was a two, two dayprocess actually three if you
want to count the day ofshoveling at full three-day
process to get 75 bushels ofgrain to town and then return

(28:48):
home.
And I said, I told my mom oneday, I said, you know, I says
I'm gonna get a team of horses,like haas had, and I'm gonna
pull granddad's wagon to townfull of grain so that I can sell
it for less than he did,because farming in that country
is tough and I mean they'restill selling grain for the same

(29:09):
price or less than he did today.
And that was my goal.
That's been my goal since I was.
That was probably a junior highgoal that I had.
And so when we sold the farm, Imean mean, the first thing I
hauled out of there wasgranddad's wagon.
Just I'm keeping this thing, itain't going nowhere.

(29:31):
And it sat at my place for quitea while and I moved one other
time, uh, and it moved with meand and it's been sitting there
and then along came blizz andfrost.
Then I saw, saw that ad on yourweb page, your site, whatever,
youtube, and I'm like I'mcalling this guy, I'm going to

(29:51):
get them horses and I'm going toget this wagon project done.
We're going to make this happen.
Well, and we can go into Blizzand Frost here in a minute, but
anyway.
So when we were coming down forthe get-together in October, I
said let's kill two birds withone stone.
Let's take that down to Hansonand get this thing done.
So we hauled it to Hanson.

(30:11):
He's going to refurbish it.
He said it'd take about a year.
So I'm figuring about Octoberthis year we should have it and
my goal is to hook the team up,go out to the farm because I
still go out there now and thenvisit the country and whatnot
and load it full of grain andpull that thing to town so that

(30:32):
I can dump it in the elevatorand sell it, like Granddad did,
and make the venture back.
Just don't ask me why.
It's just something that's onmy bucket list and it's going to
get done.
I think it's neat, somethingthat's on my bucket list and
it's gonna get done.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
I think it's neat you're talking about doug hansen
.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
Doug hansen hansen wagon and wheel letcher, south
dakota.
Hell of a nice guy.
You know I don't know him asgood as I know you or whatever,
but he, he's a guy.
I can see I could get alongwith him like I do you.
Oh yeah, he's just a hell of anice guy we ordered bells from
him.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, for our horses for christmas time.
Yeah, he does wonderful work hedoes so this wagon?
Is it an owensboro?
Who do you think made the wagon?

Speaker 3 (31:13):
it's a well, it's a studebagger or, excuse me, it's
a peter shuttler wagon.
And and I didn't really know.
You know I'm getting more allthe time because I've been
collecting wagons andrefurbishing wagons myself and
started to do some of that andit's kind of my passion right
now and and uh, but anyway, Itook it down there and he looked
at it.

(31:33):
He's like, oh yeah, that's anold peter shuttler and they
absolutely love doing wagonslike that, that, even though it
needs a new box and it is alittle rough in places and
whatnot.
The history that's there inthat wagon, that when they start
tearing apart and refurbishingthey learn so much from that.
And so, anyway, so he, he saidwe pulled it there and we

(31:57):
unrolled it out of the trailerand stuff.
And he looks and he goes, yeah,it's a Peter Shuttler.
And crawled underneath and helooked up on the back axle said
see that right there stamped1916, that's when that was built
.
And uh, I'm like, yeah, cool, Imean it's been there the whole
time, but I didn't know where tolook and anyway, so he uh, we
went over the whole wagon andwhat I want and and how it's

(32:19):
going to be, and he was going tosend me an estimate and all
this stuff and and, yeah, it's.
I mean I've seen pictures ofother wagons that they've done,
how they come out, and you knowwe sat down at his computer and
looked at different pictures.
I said that's what I want,right there.
I want that thing to look likethat and the main thing that I
want because even though it'sall old wood and, and you know,

(32:42):
deteriorated to that point, therunning gear is in perfect shape
um, it's, and you, you canbarely see the pinstriping on it
, but you, but there's enoughthere that you can still see
that pinstriping.
And I told him, I said I wantit to look old and antique, but
I want, I want that pinstripingto be visible and I want it to

(33:03):
stay there for a while, becausethat wagon is probably going to
go to one of my grandchildren,you know, and I want them to be
able to look at that and go,well, that was, you know, four
generations ago and and grandparedid it and actually be five
generations and and grandparedid it.
And yet look what we got, andwho knows what it'll be like

(33:26):
back then.
It might be a piece sitting inthe corner of a lot somewhere at
their house or whatever, orthey I mean, my one little
grandson is so cowboy and sointo it that he may have a team
pulling that thing around.
I don't know, but it's.
It's cool and it's going to bereally.
When he gets done with it.
It's going to be awesome.
It's what it done with it.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
It's going to be awesome.
It's what it's all about.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
It's what it's all about, yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
A lot of people don't know, but those old wagons and
horses built America.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yes, that's what built America.
It did.
I mean, like I said so, mygreat-granddad was in Blue Earth
.
I don't know how he got to blueearth minnesota, but I know
they and duane and I, when we'recoming down here in october,
we're driving along, never evencrossed my mind or nothing.
But we're driving along, all ofa sudden here's this big stone

(34:13):
thing blue earth, minnesota.
Welcome to blue earth,minnesota.
I said that's where granddadcame from.
I looked at duane.
He said we need to stop andtake a picture.
Well, we'd already passed it.
We figured we were going homethe same way and uh, but we took
a different route, so we didn'tget our picture.
But we went right past blueearth, minnesota.
I said can you imagine riding,driving a team, riding in a

(34:37):
wagon from here to conrad?
I mean, I don't know how longadventure it would have took,
but it's just those people backin those days just amazed me,
you know, and it just overwhelmsme with emotion of what they
would have went through to getthere.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
I can tell because we talked about it a lot on the
way to West Virginia.
He's like Daniel Boone.
You're like how in the worlddid he find this place?

Speaker 3 (35:01):
I have no idea how Daniel Boone jumped on a horse
and went through these, the BlueHill.
You know all this country.
That's solid trees and it'dprobably take you half a day to
ride a mile or two on a horse.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
So yeah, so you met me.
It was June 2023.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
And I had Blizz and Frost.
Okay, y'all can go back onYouTube.
And had Blizz and Frost.
Okay, y'all can go back onYouTube and watch Blizz and
Frost the video.
He bought them Blue RoanGildings.
Yep, back to Bonanza.
You wanted Blue Roan team, yougot your Blue Roan team.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
So I called Steven and I said I'm interested in
these horses.
He says and they're sold.
I said they're sold and I saidthey're sold.
He says yeah.
I said all right, you know, andI just kind of put it out of my
mind for a little bit.
Next morning he calls and hesays hey.
He says if you want them, blue,blue roans he says they're
available.
The guy guy can't do it, he'snot gonna.

(35:58):
He backed out and I said really.
And he says yeah, and I saidokay.
I said I don't know what I saidexactly, but anyway we struck a
deal and whatever.
And I said if you deliver themto Laurel Montana, well, he was
going to Laurel anyway.
I said if you deliver them toBillings, to Laurel, I said
they're sold.
And he said well, I got a fulltrailer load but I'll see what I

(36:20):
can do.
I'll call you back in two hours.
He called me back in two hours.
He says I got room.
I said bring them on, I'm ready.
And uh, so I that's when Iactually first met steven.
I talked to him on the phonebut uh hadn't met him, didn't
know what he looked like, damnthing.
And uh pulled up.
Pulled up there, steven, andI'm expecting henry, because I

(36:43):
watched the video and henry's onthe video and he walked.
Stephen walked out of the houseand he come walking up and I
said, hello, stephen here.
And he says, well, I'm Stephen.
I said really, I said I kind ofhad the other guy pictured.
He goes no, that's my helper,that's Henry.
And uh, so as we were walkingdown to pick up, you know, the
horses were in a lot down thereand Stephen and I are walking

(37:04):
down to it and we're talking alittle bit about it, and I said
the only thing I wish is thatthey were mares.
And he said, well, I could sellyou their mothers.
And I said, no, I don't wanttheir mothers, I want the
crossbred.
You know, I want the whatever.
And I said I'll be happy withthe gildings.
Well, shall we keep going onwith the horse story?

Speaker 2 (37:23):
how it all ended up well, there's one horse story in
between, the horse story.
This is a long story, guys, butyou can listen to a podcast, so
I guess you can listen.
But there was a team of Suffolkquarter horse perch and crosses
and I knew of them for a longtime and really wanted them and

(37:44):
I got a chance to buy them and Ibrought them here and videoed
them and sold them to a couplein Pony Montana.
Shout out to.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Dixie.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
Mike, mike and Dixie Myrie from Pony Montana.
These folks are in their 80sand they wanted a team to drive
through Pony Montana one moretime, drive the team through
Pony.
So they bought the team from meSuper good team Duke and
Dutchess and yeah.

(38:15):
But they bought them and theywas out there.
They drove them one timethrough the town and evidently
Mike was not in too good a shapeyeah, his health wasn't that
good.
Covid got a hold of him so theyneeded to sell those horses.
Well, she called me and saidcan you put it on live feed or

(38:36):
something that we want to sellthese horses?
Well, I did.
Well, who was on the live feed?
This guy.
He listened and he called me.
He said man, I'd like to getthose horses.
So it kind of happened yeah so.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
So I went home with with blizz and frost and, uh,
thoroughly enjoyed I mean theywere.
They were everything, if notmore than what you guys
represented them as.
And my good buddy, Lance, thatyou've now talked to on the
phone a couple times, Anyway, hecome in and I said you need to
come drive this team with me.

(39:13):
And he come in and he's like,wow, you know, he was thoroughly
impressed and anyway.
So back to I'm watchingStephen's videos and stuff and
all of a sudden Duke and Duchesspop up and I said, man, if I
hadn't have bought them blueboys, I said that's what I'd
have bought right there, and soit wasn't very well.

(39:33):
I called Stephen and I said,because I thought maybe Lance
wanted them, because he's kindof a Suffolk guy and whatever
and you know I asked Stephenabout it.
He says, ah, they're sold.
They went to Utah and I'm like,oh okay, Out of sight, out of
mind, and it was probably andI'm going to say a good maybe
week.

(39:54):
Two weeks later, all of asudden Stephen calls me and he
says you know them Suffolks.
And I said, yeah, he saysthey're available.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
You said they went to Utah, but it was Pony Montana.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
Well, I think the guys from Utah backed out and
then Dixie called and got them,but I don't know how it all.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
That's right.
The guy from Utah paid for themand wanted to resell them.
That happens sometimes.
People buy them and they wantto resell them.
Yeah, so that team, we had themhere.
The guy from Utah paid for them, wanted to resell them, so I
sold them to Mike and Dixie sentthe guy from Utah his money

(40:30):
back and now Mike and.
Dixie wants to resell them.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
Right.
And so Stephen calls and hesays hey, the Suffolks are
available.
And I said, well, yeah, youknow, you got shipping involved
and everything else.
He said they're in Pony Montana.
And I said really, and so hegave me Dixie and Mike's number
and stuff and I called him and Ihad a discussion with Dixie and

(40:56):
I said stuff, and I called himand I had a discussion with
Dixie and I said I said you know, I said I just bought this
other team.
I said if you're looking toturn them overnight, I said I'm
not your guy.
I said but if you, if you'repatient a little bit, have a
little bit of patience and stuff, I said I'm your guy, I'll take
them.
I said I'm thoroughly impressedwith them.
And so, and she told me, shesaid Mike had COVID and he's got
on oxygen and his heart's notbad and he can't take care of

(41:18):
him, this, and that we got tosell him.
And so anyway we struck up adeal and I kind of needed a
little more patience than whatshe had, but anyway we got it
done.
And anyway I come home with Dukeand Duchess and again I called
Lance I'm like he'd come drivethis team and so he'd come in

(41:41):
and he drove them both.
In fact, at our hometownfunction last year, lance drove
that team in our parade and Idrove the Blues.
And yeah, I think he realizeswhat they are.
I mean, they're good, they'rebroke, they're what you guys
represented and they're bothdamn good teams.
Well, so on, we go here.

(42:03):
You know, now I've got twoteams and doing a little bit
here and there and working bothteams and trying to keep them
both going and stuff.
And the guy when I bought Blizzand Frost, the guy that backed
out I guess it was a day or twoafter I'd spoken for him, he got
a hold of Stephen and he'd nowgot everything put together and

(42:24):
he's ready to do it.
And so he came down to Kentuckyand bought a team of blue mares
from you.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Mr Stephen Lord, shout out to you, Stephen Lord.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
Yes, a big shout out On my part, a big shout out to
you, stephen lord.
Yes, a big shout out on my part, a big shout out to you too.
And uh, anyway, so stephencalls me up one day and he says
you know them blue mares thatthat you were talking about?
Yeah, he says stephen lordbought that and I'd seen a
little clip.
Stephen did a testimonial so Iknew he had them.
And uh, but anyway, steven,this steven calls and he says he

(42:58):
says them blue mares areavailable.
There's issues have come up andstuff, and he wants to get rid
of them.
They're available.
And I and I kind of just startedlaughing, you know, I said man,
you've already tapped me out.
I said I'm not really in thisgame and and, uh, but I wanted
them mares so bad, I really did.
And I went and looked at themand I made a deal with steven.

(43:19):
I thought I did and I didn'thave the money to pay for him.
Right then I had to work somethings out and get to get spring
, to get here summer, get here,start swapping, make some money,
do whatever.
And every time I talked to himit sounded like he was going to
sell them to me.
But then I talked to you and hesays well, I think he already
sold them and this and that andwhatever.
I was getting a little nervousand fidgety, you know, because I

(43:40):
really wanted them mares, andanyway it finally happened.
You know, we got to Swath and Ihad the money.
I called Steve and Lord, I saidI'm coming to get them.
And I mean he, he was bawlingwhen I pulled out of there.
He didn't want to see themhorses go and he's petting them.
And he was bawling and I said Isaid, stephen, they're two

(44:02):
hours away.
If you want to come and drivethem, if you want to come and
look at them, you'll see howthey're doing.
Any, you know, whatever ittakes, if you want to come on
and I've not heard back from himyet, you know, I mean life
moves on, I don't know what he'seven doing.
But Stephen, lord, you're stillwelcome to come and drive him.
Come see him, do whatever youwant to do.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Well, I heard he's moved down to Anaconda or
somewhere he may have he livesin an RV.
Okay, his dog's name is Henry.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Well, that was kind of funny that he's got a dog
named Henry.
Yeah, you know Henry.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
But now, as it turns out, this is an interesting part
of the story.
So when I was down visitingDoug Hanson and he says, and I
told him my plans of taking aload of grain to town, like
Granddad did, and all this stuff, and he said, well, he says
when you get this wagon home, hegoes, don't fill that thing all
the way up.
And I said, why not?

(44:56):
And he goes.
Well, it's a hundred and someyears old, you know, he goes.
He goes even though it'll berefurbished and it's essentially
a new wagon.
He goes.
That wood's still old, on thatrunning gear and stuff, he goes,
he goes.
If I was you and we sat downwith a little chart and figured
out what was going to weigh ineverything, and he says, he says
I wouldn't fill it all the wayfull, and I said, I said good

(45:18):
point, I never really thoughtabout it, but yeah, thanks for
the info.
So then that got me thinking.
I'm like, you know, I don'tknow if granddad pulled with a
team or four up, you know, butaccording to this weight, look
kind of looks like it's going tobe a four up job.
And I'm like, hmm, maybe I'm afirm believer that everything

(45:40):
happens for a reason and eventhough I might've been at
poverty level for a little bit,by getting everything that I'm
I'm getting common, it's it'sstill all common and that I'll
probably sit down and ball whenI get done with that trip,
because I got my teams, I got mywagon, I got the whole damn
thing and I actually comethrough with this goal that was

(46:02):
set back when I was in juniorhigh.
I mean, it's emotional for me,it really is, it's awesome.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Yeah, what's the wagon going to cost, don't?
You can say if you want, I knowmyself.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Well, let's just say almost what it costs for two
teams.
So it's up there.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
Some people don't understand what it costs to do
this kind of stuff.
The wagon is going to be a lot.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
It's going to be a lot to get it done and the
reason is, like I said, therunning gear is perfect.
They've got to build a brandnew box, they've got to paint
this whole thing so that itlooks antique, and the biggest
part is that pinstriping.
There's one guy that they haveas an outside source that does

(46:52):
most of their stuff for them,but he hand paints all of that.
Right, that does most of theirstuff for him, but he hand
paints all of that, like, likeevery look at a picture of an
old, old wagon and it's doneexactly the way it was done in
the day it'll look exactly thesame.
But for him to sit down andpaint all that, hand paint all
that stuff at you know 70, 80,85, whatever it is an hour that

(47:13):
they charge, that's right, thatthat pinstriping is a huge cost
of that renovation.
And he told me.
He said he said you know, you,if you wanted to lessen the cost
of this and not do thepinstriping, you, you can get
into this for way less.
Well, no, that what sticks inmy head is the first time I ever
looked at that wagon and I lookunderneath and I can faintly

(47:33):
see all that pinstriping.
That's what I mean to get thatback to that stage that I can
see that and it might be a apart of you know, you might call
it stupidity to spin, butthat's what I want and and to
pay what I want, get what I want.
That's, that's where I'm at andit's going to be iron wheels.
Oh, it's got wooden wheels withiron tires.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Yeah, he'll redo all the wheels and everything.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
So the only thing they need to shrink the tires
and other than that, there wasone spoke and one part of
webbing on one wheel.
But most of them wheels aregood.
They don't have to do a wholelot to the wheels.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
It's more work than people think it is.
It is have to do a whole lot tothe wheels, so it's more work
than people think it is.
It is, but you've got a.
What was the guy that built thewagon's name?

Speaker 3 (48:21):
uh peter shuttler you've got a peter shuttler
wagon redone by doug hansen,that's totally original it's
gonna be worth a lot of moneyyeah, it would be if I I mean
it'll probably never get.
It's not money we're gonnarecoup because it'll never be
for sale.
But, like here's the way Dougput it to me, because I called
him and I said, you know, I saidyou've got a running gear just

(48:41):
like that out front there that Icould probably buy for less
money than I'm going to get intomine, you know.
And he said, yeah, but it's notGranddad's wagon.
Well, to me that's huge becauseit's Granddad's.
Well, to me, that's hugebecause it's granddad's.
And to get it all done and knowthat it's just cool, it's going

(49:04):
to be awesome.
He said when you go to the nextTeamster meeting and you pull
up with that thing, he goes.
Can you imagine the cool factor?
And I said there ain't nothinglike it.
It's going to be awesome.
Oh, it's gonna be really goodand and then see so that I never
had a brother.
I have one sister, but I neverhad a brother.

(49:24):
And so, like duane and I comingdown here in october, that's
that's as close as I have to abrother.
You know, it's a cousin and uh,so for him and I, and
especially like the blue earththing, I mean he was sitting
there and and when we were inhigh school and stuff, we didn't
really get along.
I mean, he's a year older thanme but we, we didn't really get

(49:47):
along and uh, now we get alongsuper.
You know it's like a brotherit's, and he gets to go through
that with me and I don't.
You know he never would have.
Without me being in the picture, none of this would have came
about for him.
But now he gets to take part ofthat stuff and it's.
I think it may not be quite asemotional for him, but it's

(50:10):
still a huge part of what, whathe is and where he came from and
everything else and I I knowwhat affects him too.
You've got a big family thoughPersonally you do.
Well, yes, not behind me, but infront of me.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Let's shout out to all your children.
You can shout out to them.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
Because I have six kids.
I have three girls and threeboys.
I was married twice and I hadthree wonderful children with
each of those women, um, andwith each of those women and I'm
still friends with now thatwe're divorced and we can do our
own thing.
I get along with both the womenexcellent.
You know, I couldn't ask foranything better, but I couldn't
get along with them.

(50:45):
Things just didn't click and wedidn't get along when we were
together.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Are you looking for a new woman?
Because there's a lot of peopleon the podcast maybe listening.

Speaker 3 (50:53):
There's probably a whole bunch out there that maybe
are thinking this is my kind ofguy, I'm not looking for a new
woman.
I I do, as friends, yes, but asa get married and have a
live-in partner, I'm not.
I'm not there you love thatlittle place in conrad I love my
little corner of the of theworld and and and I I relate it

(51:14):
to I got a lot of norwegian meand I'm a stubborn goose and I'm
64 years old.
They're not changing me, soyeah.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
Well, give all your kids names and shout out to them
if you want to.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
So I'll start at the oldest and go to youngest.
And I got Jerrica, jerrica Ryan, who just gave me my fourth
grandchild in August.
Absolutely gorgeous little girl.
And from there you go toJaylene, who is a vet.

(51:50):
She's been working at schoolingsince the day she graduated
high school.
I think it's like 11 years.
She's been going to vet school,but she's, you know, she had to
go to Vegas and take a test acouple weeks ago.
When she passes that, she'salready got a job.
She will be an x-ray technicianin the vet world.
So she's secure to everything.

(52:12):
That's awesome.
She's just a super smart girlthat had high goals and it's
taken her a while but she gotthere.
Uh, then you go to my oldest son, who's colt.
He's got three wonderfulgrandchildren.
He's married to a woman that'sgot three kids of her own.
So I got six or threegrandchildren or three step
grandchildren.

(52:32):
That's what I want to say.
They're all super.
Um, colt is the one that runsmy, you know, has basically
taken over the swather business.
Then you jump into the otherfamily and I got kinsey, who's
the oldest daughter of thosethree, but my youngest daughter,
and she just had a in NovemberAnother beautiful baby, wow.

(52:59):
Then you go to McClay.
He's my second boy, I don'tknow, he's the brains of the
family, I think he's justunequivocally so smart that he
can't understand it and it'shard to keep him busy and keep

(53:20):
him focused and whatever.
But he's now going to schooland in bozeman, to be a uh.
Well, I think he's first goingto be an rn, but he'll probably
end up being some sort of doctorin the end.
Uh, and then you've got tavin,my who just gave me a
granddaughter in September.
Absolutely gorgeousgranddaughter.

(53:41):
I mean, grandchildren are thebest.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
How many grandchildren total do you have?

Speaker 3 (53:47):
So if you count the stepchildren as well and I
forgot to mention that, jerrica,the oldest one, she's got two
step boys and one of her own.
Now, uh, jaylene hasn't hadtime to find the right person to
settle down yet.
She doesn't have any children,she's single and whatever, but

(54:07):
she's absolute beautiful person.
Um, and then you go to okay, soI'm at three colt's got six, so
that jumps me up to nine.
It so I'm at three Colt's gotsix, so that jumps me up to nine
.
He's got three step and threereel Jumps me up to nine.
And then Kinsey has one, that'sten.

(54:27):
Clay doesn't have any andTaven's got one, so 11.
So I'm an 11 grandchildren.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
You've got six kids, 11 grandkids.
There you go.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
And two ex-wives.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Yeah that you still have to congregate with Right.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
And prior to that, my mom wanted six children and she
only had two.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
She had me and a sister.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
So there's only two of you, there's only two of us.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Is your sister still alive?
Yeah, she is.
Where's she at?

Speaker 3 (54:52):
She's in Conrad, her and her husband, and they have
three kids and they have, let'ssee, two, three, five.
They got seven grandchildren,six grandchildren I think, but
both of your parents are gone.
No, my mom's still alive.
Your mom's still alive.
My mom's still alive.
She's got dementia, really bad,and she's in a home and she's

(55:15):
just February 25th.
She just turned 84.
So you don't see her at the homethen yeah, it's kind of hard
because she doesn't, you know,she's to the point where she
doesn't even know who we are andreally I don't go visit her
very much because it's just hardon me, heartbreaking, yeah,
it's heartbreaking.
It's so hard on me,heartbreaking, yeah, it's

(55:36):
heartbreaking.
It's so sad when people have togo that way and dementia is as
bad as cancer.
Yeah, I would rather, you know,have a good mind and a weak body
and you just wake up deadsomeday.
You know, I don't know.
Yeah, it's pretty hard on her,but my dad died back in 2010,.
So, yeah, so your family's allConrad, all the way, pretty much

(56:01):
really.
And so back to duane for alittle tiny bit.
His whole, he had, uh, fivebrothers and sisters and they
traveled all around.
He never really was in conradexcept for now, and then he had
little blips being in conrad.
Um, but yeah, everybody says,well, are you related to the
harrises here or there orwherever?
The only relatives that I knowthat have the harris name?

(56:23):
My dad had a brother.
He had two sons that moved tocalifornia and those are the
only two harris relatives that Iknow of that I have.
One of them had one son and theother one never had any
children.
So people ask me why I had sixchildren.
I said somebody's got to carryon the Harris name and, just as

(56:46):
a joke, we have a lot ofHutterite colonies in our place
around us and I always told thembecause I was starting my own
colony.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
You know there's a lot of harris's here around here
there's some harris's plaskeycounty and around kentucky here
I have sold so many traps toharris's.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Yeah, and there's a guy from virginia and I can't
think of his first name rightnow.
I don't know if he'd ever hearthis or not, but he called me.
He's like we're related.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
You got to check back in your genealogy and stuff
we're related yeah, we might beI don't know yeah, yeah, it's
wild man, all right well we'regonna wrap this thing up.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
We gotta go to nashville yeah well, I don't you
do, I do you're gonna get on aplane I'm gonna get on a plane
fly home.
Hopefully it's a good flight,oh it'll be good.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
I flew the same flight you're flying and I love
it.
Guys, if you need to fly fromthis part of the country to
Bozeman Montana, I can go toNashville and get on a plane
round trip.
What was yours?
Mine?

Speaker 3 (57:49):
was 166 round trip.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Yeah, round trip it floored me.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
I'm like I had no idea.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
And it's a one-way flight.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
You go from nashville direct to bozeman, no stops.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
It was two hours and 43 minutes to get from bozeman
to here and that's what I'mgoing to do and call you and say
come, get me there for those.
There you go.
Yep, but guys, um, check outharris traps, harris centerfire
traps.
Do you have a website oranything, kim?

Speaker 3 (58:16):
so my, my son created a facebook page for me, which I
don't know how to operate butI'm lorded, but I don't post on
it.
I haven't done it.
I have like 1900 followers andI don't have know how to respond
to them and whatever yet.
But he, if he wasn't in bozemanand me and Conrad and we could

(58:37):
spend time together.
If he was hanging out at homeevery day, we'd have the website
up and going and he'd betalking to people.
But no, I basically uh,advertisements I advertise in a
lot of magazines and going tothe rendezvous are my two
sources of releasing this.
And I told him way back when Isaid if you put that on Facebook

(58:59):
and everybody, it's just goingto go boom, and I don't want it
going boom.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Well, how does somebody contact you if they
want to buy traps?

Speaker 3 (59:09):
So get a hold of one of your trapping magazines, find
my ad in there and call me byphone, or you can email me, but
the best would be just call meby phone.
Or you can email me, but thebest just call me what you want
to give that on here sure it'suh 406-450-5961 and what's your
email my email is harrisndztraps, and that stands for no dead

(59:33):
zone.
Harrisndztraps at gmailcom.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
So there you go.
You've got a way to get a holdof him.
If you want to buy traps, hehas video.
If you go to YouTube and typein Harris Traps.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
There is videos that pop up.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
Well, people's made tons on actually trapping with
your traps.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
Yeah, there's lots of videos online.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
You can find Harris Traps on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
Easy and it's becoming, you know, just word of
mouth between trappers.
It's because I mean I get guysthat call and it because of the
design of it and stuff and beingnew like that, you really don't
get the concept of it till youget to put your hands on it and
I've got.
Can I order one?
Yeah, you can order one trap.
You can order six.
You can order a dozen.
You can order 20 dozen.
Yeah, you can order one trap.
You can order six.
You can order a dozen.

(01:00:16):
You can order 20 dozen.
Whatever you want, you canorder.
Are you still?

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
full from last night.
I am stuffed from last night.
Me and Kim went to LonghornSteakhouse in Somerset Kentucky.
We went out to LonghornSteakhouse in Somerset Kentucky.
We had the best meal I think wecould ever have.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
Yep meal.
I think we could ever haveSteak and potatoes and onions
and stuffed mushrooms.
Stephen walked in this morningand he said how are you?
And I said I'm still full.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
But now we're going to go do something different.
We're going to go eat Nashvillehot chicken.

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
Well, let's hope the drive there lowers our food
intake.
I don't chicken.
Well, let's hope the drivethere lowers our food intake.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Well, it'll be good.
We're not going to eat the hotstuff, we're going to get mild.
We don't like hot food.
We had some good food at theclinic though Miss Michelle yes
Grant.
She made authentic Mexicanenchiladas for us and Mexican
rice.
It was amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
It was really good.
She made two different kindsshe made mild and she made hot.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
And we had the mild first.
It was wonderful.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
And I ate mild and I said, if that's mild, I can eat
the hot Me and you couldn't eatthe hot.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
We could not eat it, but it was good.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
Shout out to.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Cheryl.

Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
It was good Shout out to Jill.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
It was good.
We appreciate you so much.
Guys, we got so many goodfriends out there.
There's so many good peoplethere is we can't mention all of
you and I just met about howmany more this past week at this
clinic.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
Yeah, 12 more people that we added to our.
I mean it's a growing family.
It's going to be really good,like Carrie and Dallas from.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Utah Awesome people.
And Melissa from upstate NewYork Awesome.
Andrew from New York Yepawesome.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
The gal from New York , the other couple from.
Yeah, I mean, there's just.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Christine and Danielle from Cedro Woolley,
washington.
Yep, so many people cometogether over these horses and
it's amazing Chris and Chris.
Chris come together over thesehorses and it's amazing chris
and chris.
Chris and chris from gastonia,north carolina.
There's so many people.
We thank y'all and, uh, it'sgreat.

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
Kim has become one of my probably best friends over
over horses in this business andum, and I'd I'd like to put on
here to anybody listening tothis they're having to get
together in october, uh again.
And if you are, even have theslightest inkling of teams,

(01:02:43):
wagons, horses, the whole of it,uh, and you can come down.
You need to come down visually.
You don't have to own a team oranything to come down to do
this.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
Everybody is welcome.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
Yes, come be part of our family Brisket we're going
to kill a hog and smoke it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Henry makes a good brisket.

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
Yes, he does.
It's unbelievable, it's goodGuys.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
We appreciate each and every one of y'all.
Check out Harris Traps.
Check him out on it.
He'll give you the phone number.
I'll put it in the description.
You got his email.
You can go to YouTube.
If you're in the trapping worldand you want to trap, check it
out.
Also, check out Hayes drafthorses and mules, yep and um.
Harness up is our podcast.

(01:03:31):
Y'all are listening now.
If you're new here, we really,really appreciate you.
Check us out on youtube.
Go over to the youtube channel.
Haste draft horses and mules onyoutube.
Subscribe if you like whatwe're doing.
We'd sure appreciate you.
We're on facebook, we're oninstagram, we're on tiktok,
we're on x.
We're all across the board onall social media platforms.
We'd love to have you and guysuntil the next one.

(01:03:54):
There's going to be some morepodcasts coming soon.
We had a little gap there, butI got Kim now on the podcast.
We're going to have some morecoming.
A lot of stuff happening thisyear.
It's going to be a huge yearand we want you here with us.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
Sometimes it takes a little while to get a podcast
put together, because the firsttime we met you said we're going
to do a podcast, and first timewe met he said we're going to
do a podcast and it took tillnow to get it done, but we got
it done and we got a good one.
I've really enjoyed this.
I've enjoyed this.
I've enjoyed it too.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
I didn't think I would but I have y'all shout out
.
If you need anything, holler atus.
We're here to help you.
We have teams for sale singlehorses, driving horses, harness
wagons anything you need.
We got it right here.
Check us out on the World WideWeb at
wwwdrafthorsesandmulesforsalecom.
You got to spell out the end,so wwwdrafthorses and

(01:04:46):
mulesforsalecom, follow us onsocial media, subscribe on
YouTube.
If you need anything, give me acall.
You can call me straight,606-303-5669.
We're here to help you.
We want your business and ifyou're out listening and you
don't ever plan to buy a drafthorse or mule you don't never

(01:05:08):
plan to buy anything.
We want you here too.
We appreciate your support.
You supporters out there meanso much, just as much as the
people that's buying.
Your support, your liking, yourcomment means the world to us
and we appreciate you.
Come in October it's going tobe October 23rd, 24th, 25th and

(01:05:29):
26th here at 1271 Halen YoungRoad, liberty, kentucky.
Everybody's welcome.
It's going to be a huge gettogether of nothing but riding
wagons and having a great time.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
Everybody's welcome and not everybody may know what
a great singer and that used toplay in a band and all that
stuff and Stephen's going to tryand get the band together.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
I'd like to have fun he's going to be the
entertainment.
If you like bluegrass musicbanjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar,
sing some.

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
We got a little taste of that the other night and it
was awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
Yeah, I enjoy playing the mandolin and singing.
I really do Banjo guitar andwe'll have good fellowship and
if you want to meet some of thebest friends you ever had in
your life, come to thatget-together.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
I say, come and meet some join our community, join
our family.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Subscribe to youtube now and join.
You can subscribe to youtubenow and start following along,
comment and build up to october.
It's going to be a great timekim I appreciate you I
appreciate you too.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
Thank you, this has been been wonderful, even though
I didn't think it was going tobe, but it turned out good.
It's going to be great I'mturned out good it's going to be
great.
I'm just not anin-front-of-the-people type kind
of person, but it worked out.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
There's nobody here but me and you.
Well, Herschel's looking at usover that chuck wagon.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
There's a whole great big audience out there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
Just know you've got a home right here in this office
, anytime I appreciate it andit's more than accommodating.

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
I thoroughly enjoy it .

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
But, guys, we're going to round this up.
We can probably talk anotherhour, but we've got to get him
to his plane because he don'twant to be late for his flight.
But, thank you all, god blessyou and until the next one, keep
harnessing up your team andwe'll see you soon.
Bye-bye, bye-bye.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Bye-bye.
As another captivating episodeof harness up with haste draft
horses and mules draws to aclose, we extend our sincere

(01:07:36):
gratitude to our listeners forjoining us on this enlightening
journey.
We hope today's discussionshave deepened your appreciation
and understanding of thesemagnificent creatures.
Remember, the adventurecontinues beyond this podcast.
Stay connected with us onsocial media and share your

(01:07:56):
stories.
For more information and toexplore further, visit
drafthorsesandmulesforsalecom.
Thank you for being part of ourcommunity.
Until next time, keepharnessing your curiosity and
passion for these God-givencreatures.
Farewell for now.