The TNT Ranch Story

Where we've been, where we are, and where we're going...

December 16, 2009 Happy Holidays everyone! We are happy to announce that our Flying on Faith Trip has come to an end. I received and accepted an offer to assist the General Manager at the Red Bird Ranch in Koshkonong, Missouri. The owners have purchased three ranches totaling over 4,000 acres, Red Bird being the largest at approx. 3,200 acres. It has not had cattle on it for some time now, and we are going to be putting new infrastructure in place for aprox. 1,200 pairs of cattle. Keep checking back for more information! Thank you for all your prayers and support, we have been blessed with great friends. Contact us soon to plan your visit to the Ranch!!!!!

November 2009 We are saddened to say that we have decided to leave Clark Farms. We are packing up once again! Thanks for visiting our website!! Please leave a note on our guest book. We’d love to have memories, stories and feed back from you to take with us. It’s very possible that your comments will go a long way in landing us our next opportunity. Email us often! We will do our best to keep our site up to date for all of you to follow our path if you are so inclined. Please check in with us for your future horse needs and training needs. You just never know where we will be and what we’ll be doing!! June 2007 The TNT Ranch is officially on board at Clark Farms full time. We have relocated and are bringing on board a new flavor of Horse program. Unveiling Clark Farms Quarter Horses and The C-Bar Ranch activities. Check out all that we are doing at www.clarkfarms.org November 2006 Opportunities on the horizon, Jack and Lois Clark of Clark Farms have asked us to be a part of their program in Fulton County. We have been helping them with their horse and cattle work occasionally for the last seven years or so. We are going to be helping on a part-time weekend basis. We are developing new programs to implement including dude ranch weekends, guest house rentals, clinics, training programs and guided hunts. January 2002 Another Change After an offer from a Masonry Company in the Reading Pennsylvania area, the TNT Ranch is again on the move. For both personal and professional reasons we are heading North. Let me explain. First of all the Job, this growing company will allow me an opportunity to utilize all the things that I have learned over my 15+ years in construction. Now to the area, this area is where my Mentor, Rick Trusty (Owner - KR Ranch) is located. We have traveled to this area several times each year for 11 years to visit and learn more about training, shoeing, roping and cattle work. Over these years we have made friendships with several families in this area. So there's a background on the why. So right now we aren't sure what facilities we are going to have, buying or building. The KR Ranch has an awesome arena so we'll be staying close to that if at all possible. Check back often and I will try to keep you updated. TNT 12/25/00 Well now we’ve really done it. We went to Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving and bought two mares, a four year old and a six year old. Both are grand daughters of Blondy’s Dude. Very well built with good bloodlines. Check out our horses registrations and pictures on our Ranch Horses Link (coming soon). We are looking for a stallion with just the right stuff and stud fee for our first breeding in the spring of 2001. Then in 2002 we’ll breed to Tammy’s new paint Tiger’s Tuff Stuff and see what that brings. Hopefully in 2001 we’ll find a weanling colt to buy with some good AQHA and Foundation blood and plenty of cowsense. He’ll be ready to stand for the 2003 season. Hopefully by then I’ll have learned some more about Working Cowhorse or Cutting so we can get some points on him. Krystal has inherited the 4 year old as hers. (“Diamond”) The six year old (“Six”) simply belongs to the Ranch, until someone claims her, you know how that works… We’ve also made our way to the local feed store and gotten 20 – 12’ panels for a round pen and miscellaneous uses. It’s coming along, slowly. 1998 Right now, in North Carolina, The TNT Ranch is more of a Plan in our head than a Ranch. For those of you who know us, you know that before we moved to NC in 1998, we had been working diligently at our facilities in PA. We had a 60' round pen and a 125' x 225' arena. Four days before we moved, we had The First Annual TNT Ranch Rodeo at our place. Comprised of mostly friends, we had some gaming events for kids and adults followed by the hot branding of our roping cattle, some freeze branding of some of the groups Ranch Horses and concluded with a roping until dusk. Little did we know that a work opportunity would pack our things just 4 days later and point us to North Carolina. Now, Tammy had been subject to the financial drain that Ranch Facilities can create for several years as we prioritized the horse purchases, duallys, gooseneck trailers and horse shows over the house and so on. (All of you ranch wives know exactly what I'm talking about.) So upon moving to NC, we made the decision it was "her turn" so we bought "The House"(picture). Now we are located in a small town called Albemarle, 45 miles Northeast of Charlotte, NC. The house came with 12 acres of woods and a 24' x 36' work shop. (not part of the purchase decision - yeah right) So, right now we are in the middle of Facility Design, Construction and so on. We had a logger come in and cut the majority of the timber off and now we're clearing the resulting brush and tops to provide some pasture and area for the potential round pen and arena. Our Goals are to have a training facility for breaking and training, an arena in which we can team rope and practice barrel racing, and facilities for stallions for breeding. Krystal, our daughter of 10, is going to be in charge of a small breeding operation, raising a couple of colts each year for breaking. Dakotah, our daughter of 9 has embarked on the Jr. Rodeo circuit just recently. I will continue to do custom cattle work as much as possible and horseshoeing. Oh, let's not forget the Youth Shows we would like to hold at the ranch. More History to come...