Happy New Year From Namgis QH!
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 02:49PM Happy New Year! We hope that you all had a great holiday season and are looking forward to what 2012 will bring. At Namgis Quarter Horses we are excited about the coming year and the growth that our program will continue to achieve.
Foaling season is just around the corner with the first mare due in early February. It is exciting to see the products of last year’s breeding arrive. Over the past several years we believe that we have put together an exceptional group of broodmares, and have identified which types of mares cross well with Dude. We have been very happy with the resulting foals and hope that this year is the same.
Namgis Two-Year-Olds
The new year has Doug busy with a new set of two year olds to start. He has taken the first group of them to the ranch and will put 30 rides on each one this spring.
Doug is pictured above reviewing some things with Namgis D27 at the headquarters arena. Namgis D27 is by Dude and out of Lenas Sweet Dream.
The young horses are still coming along nicely. John and Boe have been splitting their time between the ranch and the arena, getting the three year olds started on the barrel pattern and starting to break away rope a little bit. Raymond is continuing on with the four year olds at the ranch, he has begun working them out of the box in the past few weeks.
We are very fortunate to be participating in projects with the Military Warriors Support Foundation, and this past month hosted day at the Namgis Arena. Several young veterans attended and enjoyed lunch followed by an afternoon of horseback riding. It was an honor to be able to thank these young men for their service and to take part in such a great project. They went on to the ranch and had a great weekend of hunting and fishing after leaving the arena.
Happy New Year Everyone!Hope 2012 is the best one yet!
Namgis Training Program in Full Swing
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 10:33AM The last of our trainers have arrived here at Namgis Quarter Horses and now all of the young horses are back in work. The hundred degree days are over, the mornings are chilly, and the horses are feeling great.
Namgis Two-Year-Olds
Doug is just finishing up with the last few two year olds he has been riding out on the ranch. These horses were started in the spring and then turned out over the summer, so he has been putting 20 more rides on each one. Currently he is riding Namgis D 27, Namgis D 22, Namgis D 23, Namgis D 12, Namgis D 20, Namgis D 26, and Namgis D 14.
We are very happy to welcome Boe back for his second year at Namgis Quarter Horses. Once Doug is finished putting his foundation on the two year olds they move on to be ridden by Boe. He is preparing them to begin tracking calves, continuing to teach them their leads and to neck rein, and riding out on the ranch. Right now Boe is riding Namgis Blond, Namgis D 15, Namgis D 13, and Namgis D 25. He says they are all really quiet and coming along well and will be ready to take to the arena soon to start tracking some calves.
John Rothwell arrived mid-month and has begun riding Namgis Station, Namgis D 19, Namgis D 15, Namgis D 18, and Take off Sixth. John has always been a frequent visitor to Namgis Quarter Horses, and we are excited that he has joined our team. Regarding the horses that he is riding, John says that they are all really well broke and he is pleased with how they are doing so far.
Raymond is still riding Dude and the three year olds. The three year olds continue to make good progress, and Raymond has begun to tie a few calves down on them. He says that they will be ready to introduce to the box in the next few weeks and is pleased with how they are coming along. We were happy to have 2004 NFR Champion calf roper Monty Lewis visit this month and rope a few calves on Dude. Raymond has Dude looking fit and ready to go, and Monty had a great time on him.
Hope everybody had a Happy Thanksgiving and has a Merry Christmas!
Fall Excitement at Namgis Quarter Horses
Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 02:45PM We are getting into a busy time of year here at Namgis Quarter Horses. With the cooler weather and some much needed rain arriving in South Texas, everyone is in great spirits and excited about working the horses again. The majority of the horses in training have been enjoying a break being turned out for the hottest part of the summer.
Lindsay has gotten all of the 2011 foals weaned and has been working to get them all halter broken and gentled. “It is nice to start to see a pattern in Dude’s foals,” Lindsay said about the weanlings. “This is his fourth crop and you start to notice things about their disposition as a group even from a young age. The majority of them are friendly and want to be really people-oriented even if they haven’t been handled yet. Overall they are highly trainable and catch on to things very quickly. It isn’t often that I feel like I can halter a colt for the first time one day and tie him up the next day without worrying about him. With Dude’s get they are just that sensible.”
Doug has begun to put another 20 rides on each of the two-year-olds. He started them last spring, put 30 rides on each one, and turned them out to mature over the summer. Right now he is riding Namgis D 13, Namgis D 18, Namgis D 19, Namgis D 25, and Take Off Sixth. “I was a little curious to see how the two-year-olds were going to ride since some of them haven’t been ridden in 9 or 10 months,” Doug said regarding their progress. “Now that I’ve got 10 more rides on this group I am really pleased to see how much training they have retained. I would accredit that to a couple of things. First, it looks like Dude is passing his disposition and trainability to these colts. Second, the foundation that we are able to put on them at the ranch is ideal. The focus here is all about the horse, and the riding conditions on Santa Cruz Ranch are great. We have access to the entire ranch, cattle to ride through, and the Hondo Creek to ride. All of this makes for a great atmosphere for these young horses.”
Raymond Hollabaugh arrived at the first of October to begin working the three-year-olds, and we are happy to have him as an addition to the Namgis team. Right now he is riding Namgis D 2, Namgis D 4, Namgis D 8, Namgis D 9, and Namgis D 10. He has also been getting Dude legged up and roping a few calves on him. When asked how he likes the three-year-olds, Raymond says that they are doing extremely well. “Doug has these horses so broke when he gets through with them you can go on and do whatever you want on them,” Raymond said. He is also very happy with how Dude is riding, adding “Dude is doing great. That is one of the most broke horses I’ve ever been on. You can tell that horse just does whatever you want him to do. I know he has won a lot at AQHA shows and he would also make a real good rodeo horse.”
Barrel trainer, Lisa Anderson, has had Namgis Blond and Namgis Station in training for several months this spring and summer. They are both turned out right now and will be put back into work in the coming weeks. She has some very positive comments about their aptitude for barrels. Namgis Blond is “A very athletic mare, with plenty of speed and quickness. This mare is gritty and should make an outstanding rodeo horse. Not to mention she is beautiful.” She describes Namgis Station as “A quiet and willing gelding. Very smart; show him once and just let it sink in. This horse is kind and wants to please.”
In the coming months we look forward to getting the remaining horses back into work and seeing how they progress. We will also be welcoming back Boe Brown and are excited to have John Rothwell join the team. It is gearing up to be an exciting fall here at Namgis Quarter Horses. Hope you all are having a good one, too.
John Rothwell and Raymond Hollabaugh to join Team Namgis
Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 04:46PM Head Wrangler, Doug Schrutka and Executive Assistant, Lindsay Ahr will soon be joined by two new members of the team at Namgis Quarter Horses - John Rothwell and Raymond Hollabaugh.
Both men are 7X National Finals Rodeo Qualifiers and Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees.
PRCA calf roper, Boe Brown, will be returning this year as well.
A summary of the namgis Team follows:
Prior to joining the Namgis team in 2009, head wrangler Doug Schrutka grew up in the small South Texas town of Charlotte. From a ranching family, Doug began training rope horses at a young age and went on to participate in youth rodeos through high school. He then attended McNeese State University on a rodeo scholarship where he competed in calf and team roping before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture. Doug utilizes pressure resistance training in starting young horses. Combined with his gift of quiet hands this results in horses with a solid foundation that are quiet, trainable, soft, and good natured from the very beginning. Each Namgis two year old is started by Doug and has these traits thanks to Doug’s patient and effective training. He has trained and sold many top calf and team roping horses throughout his career.
Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee John Rothwell is a horseman in every sense of the word. He was raised on the family ranch in Nebraska and went on to attend a Toots Mansfield roping school followed by Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX attaining a degree in Agricultural Business. During his college years he went to the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Finals and excelled in saddle bronc riding and steer wrestling. In John’s post college rodeo career he qualified for the National Finals Rodeo seven times; in 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1985, and 1987. An extremely talented rider, he rode some exceptional horses during his career including 1985 PRCA Calf Horse of the Year, A.J. Other notable horses that John rode were Rabbit and Kirk, both of which took him to the NFR. We are happy to have someone of John’s skill level on the Namgis team.
Raymond Hollabaugh has had an exceptional calf roping career and is a member of the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. He has won 4 American Junior Rodeo Association Championships, 2 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association regional titles, and has been to the National Finals Rodeo 7 times. In addition he has achieved 10 circuit finals qualifications and 3 World’s Richest Roping titles. During this time Raymond has ridden, trained, and sold many top calf roping horses. His first NFR horse, Geesy, was an off the track Quarter Horse that went on to be the Calf Horse of the Year. Raymond also excels at teaching others what it takes to be a top roper. He moved to Stephenville, TX in 2002 to take a position as assistant Rodeo Coach at Tarleton State University. In his time there, both the boys and girls rodeo teams have won the National Championships and qualified eight times.
Boe Brown grew up training horses and roping on a ranch in South Dakota. Currently residing in Harrold, SD, Boe heads south in the winter to enter the Texas indoor rodeos. Namgis Quarter Horses is his home from December 1 through May while he starts the 3- and 4-year old colts in the roping. Boe set the arena record at the Crazy Horse Stampede in 2010 as well as taking the first round of Dodge City with a 7.9 second run on his way to earning over $20,000 in the PRCA World Tiedown Standings.
Lindsay Ahr is a graduate of Texas A&M University with an extensive background in the horse industry. Growing up Lindsay competed in local rodeos, horse judging, and worked as a wrangler for various summer horse camps. In college, she became interested in the sport of polo and began exercising and grooming polo ponies for players in College Station, Houston, and Austin while becoming a member of the TAMU Polo Club. At the same time she was introduced to the Quarter Horse industry through former AQHA President Jerry Windham. As an employee of Windham Ranch she worked nights delivering and gentling foals. As a result she became very interested in broodmare management and working with foals and weanlings. Currently Lindsay is active in the sport of polocrosse as well as foxhunting.
2nd Annual Namgis Premier Raises $25,000+ to fight Multiple Sclerosis
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 10:04AM 
Shane Hanchey stepping off to be 7.76 seconds in the second round of the 2011 Namgis Invitational.
Roping fans once again descended on Hondo, Texas to get an up close view of tiedown ropers representing over 40 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifications and 3 World Championship Titles.
Shane Hanchey won the Bar G Feedyard Finals with a time of 7.59 on the way to winning the average with a 27.71 on three. Hanchey pocketed $7,600 for his performance that made him the 2011 Namgis Champion.
Hanchey wasn't the only winner. The Namgis is produced each year by the 501c(3) non-profit, South Texans Against Multiple Sclerosis (STAMSI) in an effort to raise funds for MS research and patient services. The 2011 event raised over $25,000!
Visit NamgisQuarterHorses.com/premier for more details.
