Small Town, Big Success

If you’ve ever driven through west Texas, you’re familiar with the kind of small towns that most only see in the movies: buildings lie vacant, yet folks still greet you with a smile. It’s in these areas, which are barely surviving, that big dreams can be envisioned and where hard work and dedication can pay off on a large-scale, if you put your mind to it. 90 miles northeast of Lubbock, where the winding roads seem endless, cotton fields are abundant, and cattle are by far the most predominant animal, is a small town called Matador. It’s a place deeply rooted in western history, and home to a young man who is destined to make a history of his own by training horses for a living and making a name for himself at some of the most prominent events around.

Brad Baxter was born and raised in Matador and started his first horse at age 13 with some other young boys in town. Baxter, always interested in cutting horses, originally trained in Wyoming under the guidance of Steve James. On returning to his home state, the horseman went to work for Ruth Lowrance in Truscott, mainly starting two-year-olds and gaining experience in all stages of the cutting horse business. In 2009 Baxter reached a milestone in the show pen that even today he recalls as one of his biggest accomplishments: winning the NCHA World Championship in the $2K Limited Rider class on a gelding named WS Snickelfritz.

In 2011 Baxter decided to start a cutting horse business in his hometown. He started from the ground up, building his business with his own hands, and initially rode whatever was sent his way. The young trainer credits clients, such as Rodney Green of Dickens for helping him cultivate his operation, “Rodney had a cutter or two, so we were always out showing,” Baxter recalls, “I got the chance to talk to a lot of people, learn more, and do a lot of networking that way. From there, the business grew.” From a place that started out holding all of the training horses in one or two pens, grew a true, functional horse training operation. Today, Baxter’s facility boasts 26 stalls, 25 of which are filled with horses in training. With the help of his wife, Michelle, who does all of the billing and secretarial work for the business, the trainer has built quite an operation, one he admits “would fall apart” without his other half.

While his focus is on cutting horses, Baxter still starts colts, and trains anything from ranch and rope horses, to performance horses of all kinds. “I don’t concentrate as hard on other disciplines as I do the cutting,” he shares, “but it’s still there if I can get my mind right.” Take a walk down the aisles in his barn, and you’ll see offspring of some of the top horses in the cutting and performance horse industries; it’s truly a showing of the “who’s who” in today’s booming horse world. From the sons and daughters of One Time Pepto, Once In a Blue Boon, and Woody Be Tuff, to the legendary Metallic Cat, Baxter has swung his leg over some incredible horse flesh in the past eight years.

With some undeniably talented horses in his program, the trainer says that living in a small town hasn’t ever hurt his business. In fact, he has horses from all parts of the country, including California, Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Hawaii. Admittedly though, he shares how the hustle he puts in everyday is a necessity to make it, small town or not, “Being in a small town, you can’t just sit here and expect things to happen, you have to go out and be in the public, be in some of the places where you get to know people, and then bring it back here,” he says. Astonishingly enough, this may be the first time to ever see Baxter’s name in print, apart from the result columns in the cutting horse magazines. He has never advertised his business in any way, and has built his program solely from word-of-mouth, something he says he’s “pretty proud of.”

In 2018, the trainer attended a lot of weekend shows, as well as the West Texas Futurity in Amarillo and the NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth. This year’s schedule will depend a lot on how the horses are riding, he says, but he does have high hopes for several currently standing in his barn. Colton Cogdell of Tulia owns Almost Metallic, a son of Metallic Cat, that he made the NCHA Futurity Amateur finals on in 2018, and Baxter says they are hopeful to have another good year on the horse and attend events such as the NCHA Super Stakes with him. Similarly, Tommy Cooper of Dickens, owns a son of Metallic Cat named Smart Red Socks, that Baxter showed at the NCHA Futurity in 2018, and he hopes to get him back into training and shown in 2019. To add a little diversity to the group, the trainer says he’s really liking what he’s seen out of a son of Color Me Smart; a beautiful paint horse with lots of color, something that’s not very common in the cutting horse arena these days.

As far as the young trainer is concerned, his main goal is not in winning every time he walks into the herd. Although anyone would love to do so, he says what’s most important is the horses, “It’s all about the horses,” he shares, “My main goal is to make the horses solid to where they (his clients) can go compete on them to the best of their ability.” While Baxter strives for the best out of his horses, he admits that he’s made a lot of progress, too. When looking back over time, the biggest thing the trainer says he’s learned is the art of patience, “When you’re younger, you’re chomping at the bit to get things done…I guess patience comes with age, but that’s definitely been something I’ve learned more about over time riding a lot of two-year-olds and training in general,” he shares.

A fairly new facet to Baxter’s program is the addition of resident stallion, Two Legitt, aka Casino, a beautiful buckskin sired by Yellow Roan of Texas and out of a King Fritz Two mare. The stallion was first discovered by the trainer while he was working horses at Lowrance Horses in Bowie in 2017. Just a two-year-old at the time, Casino made the trainer do a double-take when passing by his stall. As he drove back to Matador that day, Baxter says he couldn’t get the horse off his mind, slept on it that night, and made a call to his friends the next morning asking that they hold Casino for him, “I just had to have him,” the trainer says with a chuckle. Uncommon in today’s horse world, the stallion offers up a unique amount of diversity when it comes to breeding. Apart from his stellar pedigree and prettiness, he adds the athleticism needed for a performance horse, the grit that cowboys seek in a ranch mount, and conformational soundness that would win a halter class. Already a money earner in the team roping arena, Baxter says he hopes to also show Casino in some cowhorse events in the future. The stallion bred eleven mares last year and will stand at J Dawson Ranch in Dickens for the 2019 breeding season.

A true testament to hard work at his craft, Brad Baxter has made his dreams come true in his horse training operation. In the pursuit of riding and showing exceptional horses, the young Matador trainer has made a name for himself based solely on relationships with clients and overall concern for the animals in his care. In a small west Texas town, a man who was once a young boy only interested in the sport of cutting has certainly surpassed even his own expectations. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kate Sanchez is a freelance journalist based out of Matador, TX. She writes for several publications, most which are equine-related. She and her husband, Ben, have lived on the Matador Ranch for almost 4 years, where he holds a camp man position. The couple has one daughter, Haven, who is one year old. Kate graduated from Eastern NM University with a degree in Journalism and minor in Agriculture in 2009.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kate Sanchez is a freelance journalist based out of Matador, TX. She writes for several publications, most which are equine-related. She and her husband, Ben, have lived on the Matador Ranch for almost 4 years, where he holds a camp man position. The couple has one daughter, Haven, who is one year old. Kate graduated from Eastern NM University with a degree in Journalism and minor in Agriculture in 2009.