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Aleisha Gornick: All right. Thank you so much, Mark, for joining us on the solid and saddle. Podcast and we're just so excited to get to interview you and ask some questions today.
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Mark Bugni: Thank you. I appreciate you having me.
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Aleisha Gornick: Absolutely all right. So give us a little background about yourself. How did you get started into barrel racing? Did you go to any influential clinics and kind of how did you get to where you are today? Raising and training barrel horses at the highest level.
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Mark Bugni: Well, you know it. It honestly started off. Very, very simple. I'm from Butte. Montana was born and partially raised there.
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Mark Bugni: I've lived in several other places in Montana, and I always rode with some friends. I had a friend named Diana Morris from Montana, there that we would ride together all the time go to barrel races, you know. I was wet behind the ears, really didn't do anything more than just kind of did. Can it? Kind of stuff. So she kind of drugged me into more to the barrel racing side of things. And so we went to a private clinic at Judy Millimacke's place.
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Mark Bugni: and that was my, I think, literally my one and only clinic I ever did. But I, you know.
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Mark Bugni: did my own kind of research, and and found, you know, resources that would really help me. So I bought a sharing camera real book. It was kind of like before videos ever really came out and stuff. So I studied that book like a Bible, tried to, you know, understand exactly what she was, you know, explaining in there, and how to do certain things. And so I would just do a lot of trial and error off of that kind of stuff, you know, between Judy's videos that I've seen, and then, just watching her and Rachel Milak
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Mark Bugni: run their horses. I learned an awful lot from that. That's kind of like my my start of of the actual training part of it.
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Mark Bugni: I got hooked on it mainly from my mom. She was an amateur barrel racer, and she basically just put us on horses, and we'd go around the barrels a little bit. She didn't have a lot of the technical aspects of it, but she knew enough to come into a turn wide. Go out close, just a very, very basics, but it was.
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Mark Bugni: Give me kind of a pattern start, and give me enough of an excitement about it to where it just kind of built slowly as a passion. So that's really where I got started. I mean, very, very humble means, lots of self trial and error. I didn't have money behind me to go and ride with other people and go to a bunch of clinics and that sort of thing. So you don't really need all that if you have enough desire and passion, and that's what I did. I just followed that took every opportunity I could rode as many horses as I could.
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Mark Bugni: Broke colts a little bit, so I learned, you know, from the ground up exactly. You know how to read a horse how to follow in physically and mentally.
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Mark Bugni: Just lots of little things like that. And eventually I ended up actually going to the to the racetracks, the horse racing track, South Dakota, Wyoming, those areas, and
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Mark Bugni: that taught me an awful lot about how to care for the horses how to really pay attention to what the build of the like the ones that were winning for us. You know, I really watched what their builds were like, what their personalities were like that sort of thing, so it kind of just kicked me in the right direction. I always knew the barrel horse thing was kind of my passion
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Mark Bugni: out of peer pressure. I tried to do things like, say, team roping and that sort of thing, but it just really wasn't my passion, and I didn't have money to have cattle, so you had to rely on a lot of other people, and with the barrel racing thing. If you can find 3 cans go around. You can do it yourself, you know. So that's the direction I went. And it's always like been, you know, instilled in me pretty deep, and so I just followed every opportunity that I could.
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Aleisha Gornick: That's so inspiring that you're you're truly self made self taught and you know, very similar to Judy Millimackie. She did the same thing. She took her dad's ex bucking horses and turned them into barrel horses.
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Aleisha Gornick: forces off.
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Mark Bugni: Yeah.
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Aleisha Gornick: And you know I think you learned so much by having to pick up on those things the hard way. Tell us a little bit about
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Aleisha Gornick: taking horses from the track, and what that looked like, both in what you were seeing, that made the winners win, and also what it taught you in that you're applying to riding the horses that we're breeding today.
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Mark Bugni: Well, really, what it taught me was, I mean, there's a couple of things, you know, when horses are on the racetrack. They're taught to take a hold of the bit and run down the track. So you really kind of have to then
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Mark Bugni: reverse that when you take them to a barrel pan, or when you decide to put them in a different discipline. So I've learned that when I take my horses anything that's been on the track. I put a chain mouthpiece in their in their mouth, as opposed to anything solid because they immediately want to grab a hold of it. They don't. They're not comfortable grabbing a hold of a chain mouthpiece, and so I use that long enough to well, they where they start understanding to back off the bit, and to soften a little bit.
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Mark Bugni: and to not take a hold of the bit and run. That's 1 of the big things that I learned as far as transitioning from the track to home.
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Mark Bugni: The other things, you know, they're they're really not broke. They don't want to move in off leg cues and all that kind of stuff. So you really have to put them through the same process. You would a colt that's not even really broke. You just have the benefit of them having somebody on their back already. So that really helps a lot. The biggest thing about the racehorses or any horse really
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Mark Bugni: is to find the cooperation level in them. If the horse has a true desire, like, if they're smart and they have a desire to do what you're asking them to do. They will be successful. You know physical things can hold them back a little bit, but I'm telling you the mental aspect and their desire to please you means more than anything the physical part of it. The actual ability will determine what level they go to, but a horse that's smart and wants to be with you and wants to cooperate.
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Mark Bugni: They can become a barrel horse and and carry somebody to some level of success and really be enjoyable.
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Mark Bugni: So I've learned to really pay attention to that, like, you know what their kind of resistance. And you can feel a lot of that and find a lot of that when they're on the ground, because I'm always a big believer. What they'll do on the ground they'll do to you in the saddle. So if they're disrespectful on the ground, they're going to disrespect you in the saddle. So to me it's very important to have the respect and the control in all aspects from the ground all the way up into the saddle, and that makes a huge difference. But you got to have a horse that that's willing to do that.
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Aleisha Gornick: that's a great tip, I think for for any type of discipline. But yeah, especially for rail racing, when you 2 are working as a team to to beat the clock.
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Aleisha Gornick: All right. So I think everyone here in my audience knows about your record breaking year on Jl. Rock lost to sock. So I think it was. Was it 11 or 12 fraternity titles?
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Aleisha Gornick: It was 1111, okay, 11 maturity titles and over $400,000 won.
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Aleisha Gornick: That's just amazing. I I
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Aleisha Gornick: really want to dive into this because I listened to one of your interviews, and from the outside, looking in, you'd think that he was just a rock star from the beginning. You know that that he was. He.
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Mark Bugni: There you go!
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Aleisha Gornick: Out of the womb as as a record breaking barrel horse. But I listened to one of your interviews, and it sounds like he wasn't really clicking with his owner, and then you took him and you kind of clicked with him. Can you tell us a little bit about that process, and how you were able to treat him differently, or ride him differently, to to get him around, to becoming the winner, that he ended up being.
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Mark Bugni: Yeah, certainly, you know, like, you say, it's it's so different. When we actually reached the competition day, which you know for a fraternity cult. It starts at November 15, th and then carries through December 31st of the following year. So they have, like basically 12 or 13 and a half months of competition considered their fraternity year, and they get one year to do that, and he was held over. So he was 4 then, coming into his 5 year old year. So once we got to the competition level
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Mark Bugni: it, it did seem like that. It seemed like he was a rock star right from the beginning, and there was never any issues, because once he started running down the alley
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Mark Bugni: the issues were gone. He was so solid, so consistent, just absolutely amazing. But the process to get there, like on every training individual isn't as smooth and sweet as everybody would expect it to be, just because the horse is a winner now.
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Mark Bugni: So when I came across that horse, meaning that it was the 1st time that I had ever come to Arizona Jill Lane I had bought a lot of horses from her. She owned jail sirocco, which is the Sire Rock, lost the sock, and she had a really good training program, and I believed in it as much as you know she did, because I could see what she was producing, and she was really thinking about what she was producing rather than just braiding a you know, a stud to a mare and just calling it, you know, a program. And so
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Mark Bugni: she had been wanting me to come to Arizona for years, and I couldn't do it. I just had too many things at home, and it just kept holding me back. Well, I finally broke loose, and a friend of mine had come down here to Arizona.
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Mark Bugni: and
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Mark Bugni: I passed by his pen, and I remember looking over, and I'm like, what is that big course thing right there, like I couldn't believe Jill Lane had a horse that looked like that standing in a pen because all of her horses like make my mouth water. And so I was not really
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Mark Bugni: thinking anything about him. But once we got settled and got started riding, you know. I asked her what he was, and you know she was having some struggles, and she told me what he was, and I remembered as a weanling. She tried to get me to buy him, saying he's really correct. He's just the right made kind of horse, but he's straight through red on the one side, and so I did not want to honestly try that
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Mark Bugni: just because of everything you hear too hot. Don't hunt barrels enough, you know. Just a lot of issues that I didn't want to have to deal with in a barrel pattern.
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Mark Bugni: And so, of course, that's my ignorance, because now I realize that that's really not the case, and it's
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Mark Bugni: same as quarter horses. It depends on what Throwbridge you're crossing with. So, anyhow, Jill
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Mark Bugni: kind of rode the horse on and off, and it was always a struggle, and he would pop behind leads and
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Mark Bugni: you know. She tried to take him around some single barrel stations and some different things, and it just nothing would really flow. Nothing clicked the moment she needed him to, you know. Hold the lead. He'd pop behind lead just lots of things that were just not working for her. Jill's a major perfectionist, and sometimes those colts just won't be perfect enough, and he just didn't want to be even close to that.
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Mark Bugni: And so he ended up developing a lot of anxiety as she was trying to figure out how to get him to do what she needed him to do, and so they both just kind of back and forth, I think, built kind of some anxiety on each other. So
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Mark Bugni: it just so happened. After a few riding sessions, and and it not looking so pretty, her and her other half were headed to San Diego for a week, and so I just asked her if I could get on that horse and just see if I could figure anything out. So of course, she said. By all means do what you want to do. Ride him all you want. So I got on him.
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Mark Bugni: and I could tell he was full of anxiety. If you went up to a barrel and just stopped him, he would kind of go into a little bit of a panic, and he would kind of like sky, lunge and jump and act like, you know, he wasn't supposed to be stopping there, and so I knew a little bit of that had been created, you know, man made. And you know, through
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Mark Bugni: her trying to figure things out and not clicking. It just was some little things that were really
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Mark Bugni: creating anxiety on him. And so I just decided to just walk and trot and see if he could figure anything out of the walk and trot, and it was a little dicey for a couple of days, just trying to go around a single barrel and just do some kind of quiet stuff. But by the end of a week like that fast.
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Mark Bugni: him and I figured each other out about 80%, and I cruised him through a pattern. We sent the video to Jill, and she's like, Wow, that looks like a whole lot better. And
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Mark Bugni: this horse could go around a turn and smoke the finish and run so fast to the next barrel that I'd never been on anything that nice, and
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Mark Bugni: I remember him hooking the second barrel and taking off the 3rd barrel, and I was thinking, oh, my gosh, this sucker's running for the back fence! I thought. There's no way he can make the 3rd turn, but I just kind of kept my wits about me. I'm like it doesn't matter. I'm not at a show. There's no money up, so I'm just going to sit down, and just like everything was going perfect. Ask him to turn the 3rd barrel and just see what he does. He sat down and smoked that thing so fast. My mouth was watering. I could not believe he could make that turn the way he did
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Mark Bugni: so. I knew exactly like he had some superior talent in there, and it just I knew it was going to take some time to get him where he needed to be. So once Jill got back from San Diego. I wrote him one more time, and I rode up to her, and I said, This horse really needs to be in my barn, and she said, You like him that much. And I said, Yes, I do. And she said, Take him, she said, Take him, run him, keep him as long as you want. When we're done with it all, we'll sell him, you know. So that was the plan. And so
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Mark Bugni: I didn't have a spot in the trailer to take him home. So she actually shipped him to me. At Waco, Texas, a couple of months later, and so I took him from there, and literally
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Mark Bugni: like I would just take my time with him if he
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Mark Bugni: if I put him into a lope, and he didn't hold those leads, I'd put him back into a trot. So we did a lot of trot training a lot of walking around
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Mark Bugni: a lot of just confidence building. I never got mad at him for anything. If he popped a lead, or if he.
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Mark Bugni: you know, gas it forward when I didn't want him to, I would just bring him back down to a walk, and we would just walk it. But he never got any weapons. He never got into any trouble, because I knew that at this point in time what he needed was confidence, and like to feel loved, and and, you know, get the right groove with somebody. And so that's all I did. I hauled him everywhere with me. When we did exhibitions. I would just put him into a lope, and I didn't pay any attention to what he was doing with his leads. I just asked him to kind of go in the general direction of the barrel.
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Mark Bugni: I would just put my hand to the inside and let him go around it, and he just got better and better and more confident, and pretty soon, like he was clicking through their paces that were faster than any other colts I had ever brought along, you know, prior to their Patience year.
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Mark Bugni: And so it was really pretty surprising to me that
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Mark Bugni: Once we hit the Bfa. Which is in November
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Mark Bugni: the very 1st round that we made he made a respectable run, but it wasn't going to get any money. We had 2 rounds to try to get to the finals and to make any money, and so I called Jill up. And I said, Okay, Jill, I said, this is going to be really bad. It's going to be really good. But I've got a we haven't made any money. We're not in the finals.
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Mark Bugni: We have one chance to do this. And so, and you know it's big money. It's kind of like the kickoff for the year for certain colts, and it's the end of the year for other colts. And so she said, we'll just do what you need to do, I said. I'm going to send him in there like a rodeo horse, and it's going to work, or it's going to be really bad. And I didn't know what he was going to handle, because I never pushed him with everything that I had before. Well, he handled it like a champ. He actually worked 10 times better than he did when I was not putting pressure on him.
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Mark Bugni: which was amazing, because before he wasn't handling pressure, and now, all of a sudden he was almost craved it, and so I sent it through. There, he ended up, coming back out of 400 head.
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Mark Bugni: He came back with the 4th fastest time of the time trials, and got into the finals, and then he had kind of a mediocre run in the finals, but he made some money we placed in the future fortunes, round which was huge. That was 10,000, I think, for second place, ended up making like a little over $17,000 in that 1st race, so that like gave us some hope and some excitement. Of course you know sometimes that one race happens, and then you move on to the next one.
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Mark Bugni: which we did in Oklahoma City, and I think we made a thousand dollars and made 2 mediocre runs. Then we came down to Arizona for kind of our little winter break, and we hit a few jackpots, and
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Mark Bugni: that horse was kind of still hiding in the shell a little bit, as far as his speed goes, like I learned to take him out into the field and like, let him really sprint out because he really really craved it, and if you gave him that, and then you brought him back to the arena, you could slow work him, and he was happy as a camper, but if you tried to bottle all that up and never let him have the time to just run out and just kind of be free. He just would just bottle up too much energy, and he just would kind of wrestle with you when you rode him.
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Mark Bugni: So when we got down here when I jackpotted him. I'm like, Okay, he's not coming out of his shell, and we're getting closer and closer to the futurities. And so I ended up. I hit him with a dose of winstral, which is a steroid.
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Mark Bugni: Give him a little more strength, a little bit more stamina, a little bit more aggression. Just to bring him out of his shell, and let me tell you it like it was night and day he went from being kind of hiding in his shell, and not really unleashing to, he ran in the 1st maturity, run at 17, I want to say 17 one. I think it was to to win the go around, and then came back with a 16 7 on a standard pattern at Buckeye, Arizona, and I mean one that hands down.
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Aleisha Gornick: 7.
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Mark Bugni: Yeah, I mean, I'd never run that fast on a standard.
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Aleisha Gornick: I was. Gonna say, was that your fastest time.
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Mark Bugni: Yes, to this day. That's the fastest I've ever run on a standard pattern, and it and it was easy for him which was absolutely amazing to me, and that just kicked off from that point on. I mean he he was either 1st or second in every go around for several months and won every fraternity. I think we won probably
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Mark Bugni: 6 or 7 fraternities in a row before, he faltered. And then, you know.
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Mark Bugni: didn't win, I think. And but we ended up yeah, with 11 full titles. I think I personally got $406,000, one on him. He won a little bit more with the people that bought him the Smiths down in Louisiana to finish out his maturity year. So he was somewhere in that $430,000 range, I think, when he finished his maturity year. So it was phenomenal, like the most consistent, most honest, most mature horse that I've ever ridden down the alley, for as a maturity gold.
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Aleisha Gornick: Wow! It just goes to show 2 things. You know what a horse is capable of when paired with with the right rider, and 2 what they
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Aleisha Gornick: have to go through to get to that level, you know, if you're having difficulty with that with a horse at the beginning, don't count him out. Because, just like you said, I mean running a 16 7. That must have been just still right at the beginning of his maturity year. That's amazing. I just I can't even comprehend that
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Aleisha Gornick: really really cool.
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Aleisha Gornick: And.
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Mark Bugni: Yeah, it's exciting.
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Mark Bugni: I just wanted to mention Jill Lane was, is, does such a nice job of putting a handle on one? And when she does do work, even if she's struggling. The horses are very, very correct, so I don't have to go in there and fix drop shoulders. I don't have to fix any of that kind of stuff. So all the buttons and all the structures there, and it. Without that it would have never worked.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah. And that's actually what I was. Where I was going to go is, I don't want to knock Jill Lane at all. We've all had horses that we just don't clap, or we don't click with personality. Wise. I'm sure she's clicked with some that you haven't. And so it's just you and you and Rock lost a sockword that absolutely winning team. Do you know where he is now? Is he still in Louisiana?
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Mark Bugni: I actually saw him this last week, and he is owned by the people by the smith in Louisiana. But he's with Britney Posey Tanazzi right now. She's working on trying to get into rodeo.
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Aleisha Gornick: Okay.
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Mark Bugni: The owners are looking to sell him, and so they figured that if they can get him down the rodeo trail kind of get some. Some rodeo wins on him and stuff that he'll be, you know, more attractive to get sold. So I'm hoping he finds another home. The smith didn't really click with him like he needed.
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Mark Bugni: So I'm hoping that something will work out there. But we'll see how it goes. I mean, Britney has made a few runs on him, but she hasn't quite got him exactly where she wants him yet, so I'm hoping it goes in the right direction, because he really deserves, you know, a good chance to come down that alley and be a winner again, because I think it's still in there, you know, somebody just got to click with him the right way.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah, yeah, I'd love to see him on the rodeo trail and and just get to watch him succeed with someone else.
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Aleisha Gornick: So thanks for diving into that. I think that's.
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Mark Bugni: Really valuable for for anybody to hear that it's not just easy, right from the beginning all the time, that's for sure.
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Mark Bugni: sure, for sure.
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Aleisha Gornick: Who are some of the other influential horses that have helped you achieve success as a trainer.
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Mark Bugni: Well, the one that I can name you right off the top of that is Mnv. Let me run, and he was my 1st
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Mark Bugni: true. What I would want to call kind of like open flash rodeo. Course
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Mark Bugni: I bought him up in Montana. Well, let me get this straight. I picked him up at the Billings livestock livestock sale for a client, and so she took him home.
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Mark Bugni: They were riding him on the ranch. She wasn't really loving him. Well, it turned out I had a dash for Perks mare that she really liked and wanted to buy from me. So she tried that mare out really wanted him. I named my price, and she
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Mark Bugni: came back and said, Well, how about I give you this price? And I'll trade you that gelding. So, of course I was really excited. He was by purity dash out of a dash to fame, daughter, and I loved his look. I loved his personality, never wrote him, so I didn't know exactly what it was, but I just really wanted the opportunity to try it.
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Mark Bugni: So that's how I ended up with him. And I'm telling you in 3 rides I knew that I had something really special. He was just that kind of a horse, and so he was one that actually bankrolled me to get me down to Texas, which, you know, I was aiming to get relocated into the more of the middle of the whole barrel, racing Mecca and down Oklahoma and Texas was the right area. And so he's the one that bankrolled me to do that. He won
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Mark Bugni: probably over $30,000 with me the summer before I moved down there, and that was just doing like North Dakota and Montana, Nbha, jackpots, and all these little, low, level, low entry kind of jackpots. But he was so good like multiple times he'd win the one d by himself. So instead of a 200 paycheck, he was getting 700 800 paychecks. Did he take all the one d money, so he was like, like.
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Mark Bugni: I would say, the 1st source I truly bonded with in in an open level, where I could just run him without, you know, trying to manage a colt down the alley.
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Mark Bugni: So he was definitely one outside of that, like my 1st huge icebreaker. As far as you know, I was trying to win futurities, and I would win, go rounds or jackpots here and there, but I had never won a futurity, and then in 2011, I guess it was the end of 2011, going into 2012,
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Mark Bugni: I got Ira grand victory, and she won the $100,000 super stakes at the Bfa. For me that year, and that was the 1st big thing I'd won like. I couldn't get a sturdy win yet, but all of a sudden jump up and win a hundred $1,000. Super Stakes was phenomenal, and then she followed it up 2 months later in kinder Louisiana and won another $100,000 slot race, so that one was huge for me. It broke the ice.
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Mark Bugni: All of a sudden the wins seemed to get easier. I had another horse that same year, called Bt. Buddy Stinson, and he was by Eddie Stinson out of a toll tack mare, and he, as soon as they sold Ir grand victory, which they did right after that second win.
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Mark Bugni: He followed up then, and then started getting me fraternity wins, and so I won 3 or 4 fraternities with him, and won like over 116,000 with him, which was really big at that time, because the only incentive program we had at that point in time was future fortunes.
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Mark Bugni: And so those 3 right there were, super, you know, along with rock, lost the sock as well. Those were my my huge important horses that really broke a lot of ice for me. There's a lot of other ones in between there that, you know, made me good money, and, you know, showed really well for me. Got me a lot more business, that sort of thing, but those are the ones that really changed the direction and where I was going in the level, you know that I was reaching.
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Aleisha Gornick: Okay?
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Aleisha Gornick: So what I'm hearing is that you've had success on a lot of different horses. But
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Aleisha Gornick: what is really standing out is the level of competition. These horses are such great athletes, I mean, just I. I keep going back to rock glasses sock running a 16 7.
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Aleisha Gornick: How does being fit and agile and active, affect your riding, especially since you ride so many young ones. That kind of have some unpredictable moves. Did you find that when he started running like that, that you had to
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Aleisha Gornick: be at a different level physically yourself.
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Mark Bugni: Yes and no. Yes, because I've learned that the better physical shape you're in, the better you can ride the better balance you are. And you know, with advanced age, as we get our courage level drops. And so when you're staying fit and you're staying active, and your your lung capacity is better you can bring that courage back to the service so much better now. I got lucky with Rock, lost the stock because he was a big, smooth mover.
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Mark Bugni: like very handy on his feet. But he will. He isn't 1 that you would call fast footed, but he was smooth and clean footed and very efficient on his turns, which really helped. So he wasn't 1 that was very hard to stay with physically. The other ones dang sure challenged me that way, and I learned because there was a period of time I went without like going to the gym and that sort of thing, and not really paying attention to what I eat, which I'm kind of guilty of that
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Mark Bugni: on and off now. But I can tell a huge difference, you know, in my balance because we our balance gets we can. Do, you know, stay strong, you know. Practice your balance
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Mark Bugni: stuff at the gym, and and just keep up on your own physical fitness. It makes a big difference, like even just bending and looking around a turn, it becomes physically harder the older you get your, you know, joints get stiffer, your muscles get stiffer, but
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Mark Bugni: if you really stay up on, you know the number. One thing I would tell people is.
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Mark Bugni: keep your core strength, you know, like your stomach muscles, your abdomen, that sort of thing. But stretch your muscles out like if I just don't do anything else but just lay down and stretch my muscles out in the morning. That makes a huge difference. It keeps me from getting.
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Mark Bugni: you know, like when you're saying, when cultures throwing maneuvers to you that you're not expecting which they're all going to do, that, you know, here and there it can really make you sore, you know it can throw your back out, whatever. But if your muscles are stretched and limber and and strong, you recover so much easier, and you don't end up with those really sore muscles where you think. Oh, my gosh! Now I can't turn to the left, because this horse is through a maneuver and kink to my neck, you know. So it does. It makes a big difference, and I would definitely recommend that to everybody.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah, absolutely. This is kind of a funny side note. You probably don't even remember this. But it was a few years ago at the race to the finish line in Livingston, Montana, and I had a booth there. I was working on people and and doing massages and stuff, and you came in, and you had hurt your hip. I can't remember exactly.
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Aleisha Gornick: With it, but we worked on your hip quite a bit, and then you came out and you won. The next. The next day you won the whole day, and so it just goes to show if you have some sort of restriction.
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Aleisha Gornick: Even just one hip, or or something like that one shoulder your back. It really can impact your riding.
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Mark Bugni: Yeah. And I actually do remember, because I I think you were the 1st one that's ever done. Was it cupping? Is that what it's called.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah.
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Mark Bugni: I remember that. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, it does help. Because you know, the old saying goes, if you are hurting, and you're compensating with your own body, you will force your horse to compensate.
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Mark Bugni: because if you're leaning heavier to one side than the other, the horse has to offset that by leaning the other direction. So you cause you can actually cause physical sorenesses and different things, and balance issues with your horses because you're not balanced and strong and clean like you're supposed to be. So. It makes a big difference on your riding, on the how the horse is going to hold up for you all the way around. It's just it's beneficial, hugely.
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Aleisha Gornick: Absolutely. So I want to transition a little bit to go back to talk about Jill Lane studs because she doesn't own sirocco anymore. But she has another stud. Jl, ready to charm. I want you to talk a little bit about. I just want to go back to the thoroughbred thing I'm so interested in this. And I really want to know if you and Jill think that this is the direction our industry is heading. Because
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Aleisha Gornick: if I if I'm understanding this right jail, ready to charm, is related to rock lost a socks dam. Is that correct?
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Mark Bugni: let's see. Damn yes, because Brock lost the Sox dam is by red, which is the thoroughbred and ready to charm himself is by red.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yes.
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Mark Bugni: Yes.
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Aleisha Gornick: Okay, so
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Aleisha Gornick: what? What's different about those babies? I know you've ran a few of the ready to charm babies. What's different about them. What would you say for someone that might be interested in that? And what crosses do you particularly like on that side?
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Mark Bugni: Well, I'll tell you. A little bit of the background with, ready to charm his dam was by taking on the cash, and she was a 3 quarter sibling to Bf shenanigans, which was one of the 1st dash to things that like hit it really big in the industry and kind of like really brought notice to dash to fame, and they have a very signature inside
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Mark Bugni: anchor leg, if you will, that for some reason, is carried down through the dams and or through the bloodline, and it's carried right through ready to charm, and he is passing that on to his colts which is phenomenal. I when I 1st started riding them, I didn't expect it to be there, and it was there, and I was really excited because I think that's what makes him phenomenal, more so in the rodeo direction than the jackpotting direction.
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Mark Bugni: But I rode. I think it was 5
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Mark Bugni: full siblings out of ready to charms dam they were all by dash to fame, so they had that advantage. But every single one of them were super good minded. They were super talented, they were top Wendy barrel horses, every single one of them, and
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Mark Bugni: and I just loved the whole talent of the whole thing. And so, when everything passed down through ready charm.
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Mark Bugni: I was really excited about that, but I think what the thoroughbred then brought to the party was the reach like, ready to charm, and his fulls has such a reach with their front ends.
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Mark Bugni: I've read. I've written some Reds that were prior to really, Jill starting her
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Mark Bugni: programmer, I should say. At the very beginning. She had some reds that were out of 1st down dash mares, and they were super talented. To me they were like dash to fames, but just maybe a little bit more wired. Maybe a
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Mark Bugni: I've never had any neurotic daft of things, although a lot of people do. But to me the Reds had a lot of kind of a neurotic side to them to a point, but they could fold in half and be, you know, be out of position, fold in half, and be back in position before you could even blink an eye in the middle of a pattern. They were that athletic and that talented and super super smart. And so when they when she crossed that with the taking on the cashmere, it brought some really good
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Mark Bugni: stuff, like structure and intelligence and things to the whole party that that just wouldn't have been there without without that thoroughbred side. And like I said I was never interested in a thoroughbred
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Mark Bugni: to start with, but I'm telling you after this, and maybe maybe it's just that Red Cross. I honestly don't know for sure, but it's phenomenal, I mean. I've got a full sibling now. Luckily, through the grace of Jill Lane and her friend Bonnie Hust they got the dam of rock lobster stock bought back, gave me a stud fee and an egg out of the marin, so I've got a full sibling to the ground on him, and I absolutely love him. I'm so excited about him. He's just coming a yearling this year. But
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Mark Bugni: but yeah, so I'm going in that direction. I'm not sure where the industry is going necessarily, but.
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Mark Bugni: There's so many
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Mark Bugni: horses that are getting to be bred, kind of the same that ready to charm, is truly an outcross on that, and so
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Mark Bugni: I don't know with the way that he can build rodeo horses, and with an outcross against all those other bloodlines that are going down the road. Now, I really think that that horses people are going to see a lot more of that, and I think they're going to get, you know, locked onto him as soon as we get some more winners in the arena.
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Aleisha Gornick: thanks for diving into that. I'm so curious, I have a, a little quarter horse mare, with no run at all in her, and we just retired her this year. She was a phenomenal barrel horse, but didn't quite have the speed. She had the turns and she could make up a lot of time there. But she was. She was a placer, not a winner. And yeah, she won a couple of barrel races, but she. I've always said that. You know she needs. She needs to be crossed on something with some run. So I'm also interested in the
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Aleisha Gornick: the thoroughbred, the thoroughbred side of it. Okay. So you mentioned that you have the full full brother or full sibling
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Mark Bugni: Cool Brothers.
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Aleisha Gornick: Have of your own. What are you? What what kind of styles you like? What are you liking these days?
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Mark Bugni: Well, anything with dash to fame. It seems to really match me matches my personality. I get along with them. Well, I understand them.
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Mark Bugni: But you know there's those bloodlines now that are really hitting big like I'd really like to try a trace base. I've got a really good goodbye lane in my barn for next year. I'm really excited about him. He's out of a winning Eddie Stinson, daughter, called Vf. Jason Cairns.
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Mark Bugni: I'm really thrilled about them. I've got a dash to fame out of Martha, 6 moons Mayor, that I patertied a full out of her in 2011, and he was really nice, too, so I'm excited about that one.
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Mark Bugni: The only things I own is the full sibling to rock lost the sock, and then I've got a ready to charm. That's out of jail, twisted Sister, which is by sirocco
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Mark Bugni: and he's really a neat horse, too. He's probably gonna come on a few months down the road as far as the big stuff, but he people 17,000 out of the Bfa. For me, and showed me that he's got talent, and he's dang sure worth keeping on with, and I love his personality, you know. They're just feisty enough to kind of keep it interesting, but talented enough, and have enough desire to actually get in the pen and get something done for you. So those are the 2 that I own. But I've got kind of a realm of different ones that I'm excited to try this year that I haven't tried before. So
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Mark Bugni: I've got an Eddie Stinson out of a Pyc. Paint your mare. I'm excited about that. I patied the Pyc mare, and she was really nice. So it's kind of going to be fun to see what the Eddie Stinson does out of there, because I've been a fan of Eddie Stinson for quite a few years. We had the very first.st Well.
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Mark Bugni: the 1st year that the Eddie Simpsons hit the arena was
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Mark Bugni: Bt. Buddy Stinson and C. 4 Tibby Stinson, and so we patritied. That year. That was the 1st year they hit the arena, and they were phenomenal. So I've always liked the Eddie Stinson, so that'll be fun, too. So.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah, oh, that's so cool that you get to try a bunch of them and and I bet it's
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Aleisha Gornick: it's fun to get to see different horses come through your barn, so that if you do decide to go that route you've already ridden one. You know what they're what they're going to be like. Now. I have to comment on your riding style. So you ride so quiet and balanced, and you're just right there with the horse the whole time. None of the, you know, crazy starfishing or anything like that. How do you think that that helps with
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Aleisha Gornick: keeping these horses that are maybe a little more feisty or hot or bred. How do you feel like that? Helps them go in and do their job.
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Mark Bugni: Well, I think it helps them, because you're not throwing a flurry of of queues and different things at them.
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Mark Bugni: And it's you know I'd love to just take credit and say, I really really just developed that. But it started off as a natural thing to me when I was really young somebody. I think I was probably
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Mark Bugni: 19 years old. I was at a Gym. Canna, and we had pole bended and barrel race, and did some other events, and some lady just came up to me, and could not believe how still and steady I was with my hands, and until that moment I never thought about it. But over the years I realized that it was just
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Mark Bugni: a part of me, and it was very natural. And now, when I have to do clinics and things and explain it to people. My explanation is this, why are you making moves when you're not wanting your horse to do something different if you're going down a line and you're just running straight, why aren't you holding just steady and true to the line that you're going down? And then, when you're ready to make a turn, you sit up, you make them shift and wait.
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Mark Bugni: Pick up a hand, go to your horn like everything. When I make a move, it's because I want now a move from the horse. And so that's just kind of been my philosophy. So it it
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Mark Bugni: very smooth. It doesn't confuse the horses.
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Mark Bugni: I try to mimic everything that I do
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Mark Bugni: slow as if I was going fast. So when I pick up 2 hands
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Mark Bugni: when I'm in practice I'll pick up 2 hands, and I might shift them a little bit, and then, when I'm in competition, I do the exact same thing, but I might drop the outside and then go to the horn. So it's very.
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Mark Bugni: very mild changes, but it mimics what I'm going to do at high speed, so the horses aren't confused when they go high speed, so they may get a little bit, you know, scared or panicked from the speed that they're having to put into it now, but the cues are all the same. So they come back to that confident level very, very quickly, because they they're not confused by, you know I never understand people that
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Mark Bugni: train one way and do things with totally different cues and totally different ways in a practice then and then they come to the competition pen, and everything's different, like, I don't know how the horses figured that out. I mean, obviously they do. My program isn't the only one that works, but
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Mark Bugni: to me and mine the way my brain works. I don't get it, one trainer said years ago. Why do we lie to them in the practice, and then tell them we want to do something different in the competition pen. And it makes sense to me that's just like very common sense. Logic to me is how my whole program is governed. And and that's how I think.
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Aleisha Gornick: That's really great advice. I think that's
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Aleisha Gornick: that's really the difference between people that can train and people that can jockey or people that can train and jockey, and you're definitely one that can do both. And I know that Judy has told told me that multiple times that she sees that a lot where? Where a lot of times a good trainer can't jockey to the highest level, because they're always trying to micromanage their horse. Or maybe you know their cues are a little bit different. So.
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Mark Bugni: Yep.
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Aleisha Gornick: In that same breath. When you watch people ride after you on a horse you trained, what are the mistakes they make that affect the horse's performance the most. So this is something I'm really interested in, because it can be fixed with strengthening, you know, with bounce training, reaction, time, strengthening, agility strengthening that kind of thing. What! What are those mistakes so bouncing.
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Mark Bugni: Yeah. The biggest thing that that I can tell you is, I always tell people kids with
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Mark Bugni: that have been trained to ride decent and handle the horses decent can ride behind me, and seniors can ride behind me quite easily. And the reason is, kids don't overthink things. They just run out there and do what they were told to do.
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Mark Bugni: and seniors want to be on the horn more. They want to have more of a point and kick, and that's how my horses, like I train my horses to do their job so that I can just sit up on the saddle and do my job. I'm not supposed to be doing their job for them the whole time we run barrels. The whole goal in the whole end is that you've trained the horse to do their job, so you should be able to sit up there, go to the Horn 3 strides earlier than
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Mark Bugni: somebody else, and that horse should go right up to position and turn the barrel like they're supposed to. That's my whole goal. The problem is, when you sell to adults, if you will of that age range of, say, 25 to 45
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Mark Bugni: for my horses. They want to do too much. They want to over handle them. They want to yank on their faces. They want to just do too much. As if the horse was not trained to do it themselves. And so that's why it's easier for the older people or the younger people to ride behind me, because they're not overthinking it and trying to do so much. And I know that there's a lot of programs out there where
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Mark Bugni: the people are into the horse's faces through the whole runs, and they're more hands on, and it works for them.
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Mark Bugni: And so a lot of people that are buying horses that get those kind of horses. They do need to be more involved. They need to, you know. Check them coming up to a turn, or something of that nature. My horses aren't trained that way. They're trained to listen when I sit down on my pockets. Coming up to a turn, I pick up my inside hand and just make light contact, or to wrap around the rein a little bit. When I open the door, which is a Judy mile, Mackey thing, I open that door, give them a little space, and the horse's job is to come to my hand and close that door.
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Mark Bugni: And so it's more of an automatic point and kick. Sort of thing. That's the goal. And that's what I aim for so once they reach that spot they're pretty easy to run, but adults make it much more difficult than it needs to be. And so that's where they get into trouble with my horses.
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Aleisha Gornick: that's super interesting. I don't think very many trainers can say that that they create horses that people need to do less on
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Aleisha Gornick: congratulations to you. That's.
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Mark Bugni: Thank you.
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Aleisha Gornick: Really cool. So let's talk a little bit about horse care. So oh, my gosh, this could be a whole podcast in itself. But maybe just your top 2 or 3 that are non-negotiable for you. It can be anything. But this is this is so important, and something I'm really interested in, and to see what you're doing at the highest level.
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Mark Bugni: Well, and I'm gonna like, Blow, the industry standard, because I've always been very, very simple about my program as far as feeding. And that goes.
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Mark Bugni: I am a big believer in. I like to have a grass and alfalfa mix hay. Typically, I buy now down where I'm at in Oklahoma. I buy alfalfa cubes, and then I buy bales of grass hay, and so I kind of mix the 2 anytime they're in the trailer. I fill the hay nets, which is straight grass, hay, and then, whenever we get, you know, stalled somewhere, then they get cubes and that sort of thing. So
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Mark Bugni: between the the good quality grass and alfalfa. That's number one importance to me, and I give my horses all they can eat like. I don't like them to stand around without something to eat. If they're getting enough exercise, they can handle, you know, eating all day, or at least having it in front of them all day so they can eat when they, you know, are hungry.
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Mark Bugni: I've learned also it's very, very important to keep their their gut system working properly. So I'm a big believer in ulcer guard. When I leave home with my competition horses they get a dose of ulcer guard before they climb in the trailer, and then they get a dose each day that they're on the road.
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Mark Bugni: I do succeed. I really really love that product. It's supposed to really help the hindgut balance properly, and
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Mark Bugni: my horses love it. They think they're getting a treat every day, but but it works so good on their system that it's worth buying, and if I control and keep their stomachs in good shape, I like probiotics, you know, periodically, just to make sure that everything's digested properly and breaking down properly.
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Mark Bugni: I'm not a big supplement believer, so I keep that very, very simple. I do feed Ltm. Competition to my horses that are running down the alley. I like that product. It's designed for horses with heavier muscles and stuff so that they don't tie up. It's got the beat pulp base. And then it's got some fat in there, for, you know, energy burning and that sort of thing. So I really like that product. I like the Purina products
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Mark Bugni: mainly because I can get them anywhere I go. There's no way you can pack enough feed if you're gone for 2, 3, 4 weeks, or even a couple months, like I'm in Arizona right now, and I'm down here till the 1st part of March. You can't pack all the feed with you. And if you have to run around and find a specialized feed that's really just localized in one area, it doesn't work. So I do, Purina, because I can get it anywhere. And it's and it's a good quality product, that's, you know, balanced properly, you know, it's it's regulated the way it needs to be
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Mark Bugni: and outside of that you know the dental care chiropractics.
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Mark Bugni: and then conditioning them properly, you know. Don't let them stand around for 2 weeks and then go to a jackpot and wonder why they pulled a muscle or strained a suspensory or something. Do the right
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Mark Bugni: program, you know. Exercise wise that you would do for yourself, probably more so than you would do for yourself. And and then, like, I say, a very, very simple feeding program. You know, I have people that
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Mark Bugni: give their horses so many supplements, and to me the grain is giving them the majority of what they need anyways along with their hay. So to me, you can really over supplement horses, and I think it really can mess their digestive system up. We give them way too much stuff nowadays, because, you know, everybody's trying to make money off of different supplement program or products and that sort of thing. And I'm just not a big believer. And I'm 1 of those people like, as far as sponsorships go.
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Mark Bugni: I get people that come to me and want to give me a sponsorship which you know nowadays. It means they just want to give you a product so that you'll advertise for them.
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Mark Bugni: Well, I don't mind doing that, because if I use the product, and I believe in the product. It's very helpful for me to get, you know, free product, if you will, and just advertise for them, and I will advertise for anybody who has a product I believe in. I will not carry a patch on my shirt, or, you know, promote any product for somebody that I don't believe in the product, and there's so many people out there they feel special, I guess you'd say, by putting a patch on their shirt, and it makes them feel like they're at a higher level. And I think
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Mark Bugni: in this day and age I think the
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Mark Bugni: sponsorships have gotten almost silly because somebody who's not successful, somebody who doesn't even
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Mark Bugni: really get a true sponsorship out of anything. But they're so excited to wear a patch that they've got 30 patches on their shirt, and you used to be able to look at somebody and see it. If if companies are sponsoring them and giving them a patch to wear. It's because they're proud to have their company represented by somebody that has reached a higher level that has certain standards, you know, in their program that, you know, show professionally
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Mark Bugni: professional results, everything. And now there's so many out there, and you're looking at 5 d barrel racers running down the alley with patches galore, and you know not to take anything away from them, but I think it has ruined the idea of being sponsored. Like to me. The top professionals should be sponsored, and that should be shown for these companies. Not just everybody who's excited to wear a patch on their shirt. I think that defeated the whole purpose of that.
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Mark Bugni: So, anyways, I got off on a little tangent there. But I'm a big believer in certain products, and I will advertise the heck out of them, and I'll be proud to to take a sponsorship from them. But I will not support or advertise for something I don't believe in, so I have to see it to believe it, you know, on my own horses.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah, you're, you're echoing everything that rachel, mote who's an equine nutritionist, we just had on the podcast
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Aleisha Gornick: she says, almost exactly what you're saying so really good quality forage that the hay maybe a feed if you need it, you know grain if you need it, and gut care ulcer guard probiotics. But she is. She's
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Aleisha Gornick: at the highest level of research, you know. She knows everything about all the research. And she said, Really, just, there's just not the research to support. You know all the joint supplements and this and that, and she's saying that there's not anecdotal evidence that it didn't make
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Aleisha Gornick: you know Snowflake Run at one time, but the research doesn't support it. And I think where you're training these horses, and you have quite a few in your barn. It's a lot more beneficial for you to be focusing on the big things than the non research based things.
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Mark Bugni: Yeah, exactly. And like, I say, you know, if you have a product and you use it, and you try it on your horses. And you see no difference. I don't understand why people keep using it. It just doesn't make sense to me, I think, you know, maybe it's just. I'm old school to an extent. But I think you just keep things very basic and very simple, and I've had very, very healthy horses because of that, and I don't spend like. It's very, very costly to buy all those products like.
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Aleisha Gornick: Oh, my! Gosh!
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Mark Bugni: I love my mom, but she's 1 of those that supports all those products. And she spends a lot of money on those products. And it's it's not beneficial to to my program to be doing that financially, or it's not helping the horse any. So I don't see any point in doing it.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah.
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Aleisha Gornick: let's dive into the conditioning a little bit more. So what does that look like for you? How many times a week do your horses see the pattern? What does their conditioning routine look like? What does it look like for you?
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Mark Bugni: Well, I I learned over the years that and sometimes I I have to remind myself of it, but
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Mark Bugni: especially in the early parts of it. The horses need to see the barrels at least 4 days a week. I like to ride mine at least 5 days a week. If you're going to, you know, exhibitions, or doing certain things on the weekends. They might get 6 days a week, or 7 days a week, but usually after the weekend. If I have exhibition, or whatever, I'll give them a day off and let them kind of recoup a little bit. Relax. But you don't have to like, hammer them down
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Mark Bugni: every single day. You don't have to exhaust them. You don't have to like work them into the ground, drill into that. Just get their muscles moved, stretch them out, do some limmering exercises, you know. I like to do both small circles and big circles, because I do believe that strengthening them. To handle a barrel size turn at full speed is really important. If you're always just loping straight lines, or if you're loping huge circles.
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Mark Bugni: the strength isn't there to hold a really tight turn at high speed?
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Mark Bugni: So I do that kind of stuff. But like I said, I do a lot of like trotting a lot of you know. I'll walk around the pen for a little bit. I'm not in a hurry to just jump on and take off loping like I do it the way we were taught when we were kids. You walk, then, you trot. Then you do some loping.
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Mark Bugni: and then you cool them out. I do some aerobic exercises out in the pasture, you know. I'll take them out, and I'll long trot them a little ways. Then I'll go ahead and bring them into a lope, and then I'll breeze them a short distance, and then I'll bring them back to a slow lope. That also teaches them transition speed transition, which is really important on a young colt.
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Mark Bugni: because, believe it or not, they actually do get scared. When you 1st send a horse out in a higher speed, and then you go to bring them back to you because they start getting a little panicked. They don't know what's going on. Why you're asking them to go so fast. And so when you go to bring them back to you sometimes they'll run through the bit because they're kind of scared, or you bring them back. And then they're bouncing and jumping and jiving because they're not sure what just happened.
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Mark Bugni: So during that process, it keeps reminding them to just that it's okay to run out and then come back to me, which they have to do at all. 3 turns. And so it's really beneficial that way, but it also increases their lung capacity.
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Mark Bugni: I just kind of started doing that on my own just thinking about the aerobic exercises that a human does, you know, when they teach you to bring your heart levels up slowly, and then bring them back down and then elevate them again, and then bring them back down, and it really increases like your strength, your stamina, your lung capacity, everything. And so I tried to do that with my horses, and I've had really good luck, like
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Mark Bugni: it's 1 of those knock on wood situations, but I have not had any horses that have been injured like torn suspensaries, or even strain suspensaries, or anything like that, because I do pay attention to to their conditioning, and I don't overdo it in the pen. I do what I need to do, but I try to keep it as smooth and simple as possible, and you know some days are a little rougher than others on colts, and it's just going to be that way. But the overall picture should be
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Mark Bugni: steady, consistent exercise, and that's the most important thing, and and don't fail, and don't exercise 2 days a week and think that they've had enough. It's not enough not, in my opinion.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah, so
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Aleisha Gornick: when you take them out into the pasture and you breeze them. You know. I I just retired a horse that I could do that on safely. I trusted her to come back to me. But with a young horse
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Aleisha Gornick: do you have any safety checks in place where you know. Say, like we have an 80 acre hayfield, and there's a really great spot where you can breeze. But
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Aleisha Gornick: what if they don't come back to you. Do you have you're running a lot of of race bred horses. Do you have any safety checks the 1st time you do it? Do you have someone riding with you? Do you have? I don't know. I'm just curious. If it's just out in the pasture. How do you do that?
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Mark Bugni: Well, the biggest safety check is, make sure your insurance is paid up of.
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Mark Bugni: but I don't really have a safety check other than the horse really needs to be broke, like if they're not, broke in the arena. Don't go racing across the pasture. That's just a really bad idea.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah.
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Mark Bugni: The other thing is, it's like you say, it's really difficult nowadays. I don't know why it seems nowadays, but when maybe I just didn't worry about the or fear the
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Mark Bugni: the ground that I was on more when I was younger. As I do now. But now I'm worried about gopher holes. I'm worried about uneven terrain, you know. Clumps of grass, all that kind of stuff that can trip a horse make them stumble, do whatever so you just really got to make sure that you get on an area of ground a long enough piece of ground that they could run out enough to where, even if they kind of like get away and kind of run with you, that
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Mark Bugni: there's a long enough distance where they'll tire themselves a little bit in order to come back to you, if that's needed. Most of them kind of run through the bit a little bit, for you know, maybe 50 yards or something. Then they start wanting to come back to you, or at least you can turn them around. But the the big thing is just make sure they're actually broke. Make sure you can like move them out in the arena and stop them and turn them and that kind of stuff, and that they're not like
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Mark Bugni: unbroke like. If you're going to take one off of the racetrack, I wouldn't suggest going out in the field and kicking one into a breeze, and then thinking you're going to breeze that deal, and they're going to slow up for you because they're probably not so make sure they're broke properly before you get out there. Make sure that your terrain is clean. Don't run them through an area that has gopher holes. Even if you can't see if you see one or 2 gopher mounds, there's tunnels around there, too, and they will break through a tunnel, and you can break a leg. You can trip the horse.
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Mark Bugni: I actually had a horse when I was loping
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Mark Bugni: in the borrow ditches up in North Dakota, and everything seems really good. It seems really clean. I thought it'd be a pretty safe spot.
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Mark Bugni: I hit a big. I don't know if it was a badger hole or what, and luckily it didn't injure the horse, but he tripped and went down on his face and skidded about 10 feet or so on his face. Before he could get his footing. I went off, and you know, luckily he didn't go take off running, because, you know, you're surrounded by barbed wire fences up around the farming areas and the ranching areas.
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Mark Bugni: but there's a lot of danger involved with that, and you become much, much more aware of that when you get older, because, you know, when you're young, you don't imagine what it's like to be out of work or break a leg, or whatever when you're older.
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Mark Bugni: Now it it makes it. You can't pay your bills, you know. If you break yourself. If you end up in the hospital, you know you're gonna have insurance bills. You've gotta, you know.
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Mark Bugni: have premiums you got to pay. I mean, there's just a lot more to it, and and a lot more consequences. I guess you could say when that happens for your when you're older. So I pay a lot more attention to that sort of thing that you can't avoid at all, you know. So just make sure that you are insured, and that you, you know, use your common sense and and be careful like you are. But you still need to get out there and and teach them how to run and and breeze them and stuff. So just be smart about it. That's kind of my only advice.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah, all right. So that brings us into to
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Aleisha Gornick: human care. What do you do for yourself like you said you have to keep yourself healthy. What are some things that you swear by, that help keep you solid in the saddle, help keep you healthy.
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Mark Bugni: Really, it's just the time in the gym. I've been lucky enough to where I haven't had, like what I would call a weight issue that a lot of people really have. So I don't have to watch as much what I eat as far as the weight goes. If I stay active and busy all day long. It uses up pretty much anything that I, you know, eat or whatever. But my
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Mark Bugni: favor, or what I want to say. Ideal routine is to get up in the morning.
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Mark Bugni: have a protein shake, go out and feed the horses, head to the gym.
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Mark Bugni: When I finish the gym, go, have something to eat.
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Mark Bugni: get back home, ride horses all day long.
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Mark Bugni: go back in the house when everything's done, all the chore evening chores are done, and have something like a steak and a vegetable, or something more healthy, and finish out my night that way. That's my ideal day, and that keeps me, you know, good as far as going to the gym. I like to do some weights like I'm not looking to bulk. I don't want to bulk
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Mark Bugni: in any way, shape or form. I just want to stay fit and strong and and loose, like limber. And so that's what I work on at the gym when I'm there, and it just makes a big difference, and then it mentally. It makes a big difference, you know, when you feel better. You know you. You look better when you look in the mirror, and you don't see some out of shape individual that just has let themselves. Go, you feel better about yourself that all excuse me
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Mark Bugni: plays into your competition mind frame, you know, and just knowing that you're fit, and that you're you know in shape, and that you're representing yourself and your program really? Well, it all helps you a lot. So
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Mark Bugni: yeah, that whole routine works for me.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah, that's thanks for sharing that. That pretty much is aligned with what we talk about here at solid and the saddle look good feel good, ride good. And having that, we're all in the same boat. We're not necessarily looking to bulk up and get huge. We're looking to be balanced and fit, and have our our really good connection between our brain and our muscles. So is there anything else that you would
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Aleisha Gornick: that you'd like to say or recommend to someone who is looking to up level their writing.
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Mark Bugni: the biggest thing like, I say, make sure that you're fit. But then, if you're going to go, buy a new horse, make sure that the horse actually is capable of raising your level, you know. I mean, if you are a 2D rider, make sure you get a 1 d horse if you're ready for it. I know a lot of people that are never going to be ready for a 1 d horse like it's it's a lot to be able to stay with a true one d horse and sorry I gotta be bugging me and so
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Mark Bugni: just fit yourself with the right horse. Don't try to buy horses from somebody just because they're winning, because that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to fit. You. Find a rider that fits your riding styles, how you handle your reins, how you handle your horses, make sure that who you're buying from
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Mark Bugni: has that kind of same structure, because that will benefit you hugely.
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Mark Bugni: And then, you know, I always talk on an older person level. Since I'm getting there I'm 55 years old now. So I have to, you know. Do things purposely like it used to be when I was young. My courage was there. My confidence was there, you know, like it was just naturally there, now you have to dredge it up. So, you know, being healthy and fit helps you bring courage up to go fast. You know the strength is a huge help, but just keep yourself
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Mark Bugni: fit the right way. Get yourself fit with the right horse and and then just don't give up on your goals. It's
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Mark Bugni: and again, I think it was Judy Miller. I actually overheard her to barrel Race say that success is never determined on a single barrel race. And so you have to keep your eye on the big picture. Don't let yourself get wallowed down because you have a bad day, or because your horse has a bad day. Everybody's gonna they're living beings. We're living beings, you know. We're all going to have off days and on days, and it's part of the process. But keep your eye on a bigger picture, and it'll keep you from getting so overwhelmed with the little things that go wrong.
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Aleisha Gornick: yeah, it's always interesting to look at the percentage of wins of even the the nfr girls, you know what they the percentage is is lower than you would think. It is meaning. There are races that they don't win, even though you might think that that they always do.
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Mark Bugni: Absolutely, absolutely.
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Aleisha Gornick: So if someone wants to work with you, whether they want to buy a horse from you, they want to send a horse to training with you, or they want to go to one of your clinics. What do you have available right now?
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Mark Bugni: Well, I'm not doing too many clinics right now. I think I am going to do a spring. When a friend of mine had asked me if I would do in Oklahoma. So I think I'm gonna do something like, probably around that April range and typically just watch Facebook, that's where we're gonna put any kind of posters or advertisements up.
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Aleisha Gornick: Yeah.
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Mark Bugni: That sort of thing as far as buying horses from me.
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Mark Bugni: It's rare that I honestly have. My own. Horses are always for sale at some point in time. I typically like to finish their patience year. So they're not at a fragile stage, so somebody could truly go on with them and do something.
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Mark Bugni: Without having to worry about all the culty stuff. So really, they just need to get a hold of me on Facebook or whatever you can find my number online or on Facebook. Call me. I mean, if I have something for sale. The one thing that I ask people to do is not be offended when, as the person selling the horse, I ask you to send me videos because people have gotten in the mind frame of thinking that
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Mark Bugni: I'm wanting to buy a horse from you. So you should just be really excited that I'm willing to even think about giving you my money, so you should jump through hoops. Well.
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Mark Bugni: I'm not a person that's gonna jump through hoops for something, and I want my horses to go to the right home. And so now that I'm in a position to not have to just
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Mark Bugni: shove them to the 1st person that has, you know, a few dollars in their hand. I want to see how you ride. I want to see how you handle your horses. I want to see, you know. Are you somebody who really really likes a push style horse? Or do you really sit passively and quietly where you can handle something that has a lot of natural aggression itself, like, I want to see what your riding abilities really are, because a lot of people that describe their riding abilities to you.
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Mark Bugni: They don't want to look bad, so they exaggerate themselves a little bit.
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Mark Bugni: But they're going to get themselves into a situation where they're going to spend their money on a horse that they can't ride, and I don't want my horses to go to somebody that can't ride them, because it doesn't benefit me in the long run to sell more horses.
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Mark Bugni: and if a horse is that good where they gave me their heart and soul. I want them to go to a home where they can actually go on and keep winning, and that sort of thing. So you know.
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Mark Bugni: when you call me, be prepared for me to have you show stuff to me. Prove some things to me that you're the right person for this horse. It's not just a matter of just because you want to buy them. Then you're allowed to buy them. I've I've had to turn people down and say it's not the right horse for you, and I've had them get very offended. But I've got to make that decision based on my business. What future business I want to bring my way and the horse's best interest, and it's not always just the person that walks up to you. That has money, you know, and
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Mark Bugni: sadly, that's the way it's got to be handled, in my opinion. But too many people
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Mark Bugni: send their horse down the road with somebody that had a few dollars, and it's a disaster. And then they wonder what went wrong. Well, the process wasn't handled right in my opinion. I just you know, the older I get, I realize these things when you're young and hungry for money and needing to ship horses, you know, to get some money brought in. You do things differently than when you don't need to do that, and so I try to operate more off of. You know what's going to benefit my business, and what's going to benefit the horse in the long run much more than I used to.
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Aleisha Gornick: Hmm.
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Mark Bugni: But that's that's pretty much it. I mean, as far as riding with me. I've got a lot of friends that ask me to do that.
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Mark Bugni: It takes a lot more time for me to ride with people that want my help, and so
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Mark Bugni: I don't make a lot of time for that because I want to knock through a certain amount of horses and get them done during the day, and just kind of be done with my work day, and if I have somebody come and they're like, you know, what do I do here? Would you get on my horse? And you know all the things that they do when they actually want to come, ride with you and it. It takes a lot of time consumes a lot of time. So I don't do a lot of that. So if I do a clinic.
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Mark Bugni: that's when I'm like, Okay, now, I'm gonna go ahead and just give you all the time that I have. So if you want to ride with me, chances are, just get to a clinic that I'm putting on, and that's that's your best bet. You know.
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Aleisha Gornick: Okay?
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Aleisha Gornick: And then, as far as if someone has a faturity, eligible horse.
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Aleisha Gornick: what is the process for sending them to someone like you if they want to get trained. Do you have a colt starter that you like to use? Do you have people send horses that are already started? Do you start them?
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Aleisha Gornick: What does that look like.
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Mark Bugni: Well, kind of all of the above. I start my own horses, and once in a while I'll start a client horse as long as they're good like, I'm not going to take a real renegade any longer. I'll send them off.
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Mark Bugni: I've used certain colt breakers. I had one that I really really liked, but he just got, you know, older and quit doing it, and so I kind of lost him, which he made it so easy for me, and he would keep him anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 weeks to 3 months, just depending, like he knew when that horse was ready for me to take. He knew I didn't have to have them like, really, really broke. They just needed to have certain certain things built into them, and they're not going to buck. They're not going to run off that sort of thing.
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Mark Bugni: but periodically I'll just find a trainer that people recommend, or a colt breaker, I should say, and try them out, but I'm usually honestly, I hate to say it, but I'm usually very, very disappointed with most goal breakers back in the day when I was young. Colt breakers were true colt breakers. They put the time in. They actually had true horsemanship. They were doing it for the right reasons not just to make a quick buck.
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Mark Bugni: Now, there's so many cult breakers out there that are. They have no horsemanship. They can ruin a prospect faster than you can ever imagine. Which is why I do a lot of like. If I really really like a horse, I am not sending them anywhere. I will break them myself.
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Mark Bugni: They're always better. In the long run. Their confidence level stays up.
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Mark Bugni: They learn how to accept things
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Mark Bugni: with confidence before I move on to something else, and a lot of these cult breaks. Rush them through stuff so fast just so they can turn over the, you know, get their dollar in their pocket, and it's at the cost of people's investments and the cost of that horse's confidence. And I'm a big believer in how they're started, whether it's under saddle or on the barrel pattern, how they're started in that 1st 30 days can determine the horse's success or non success. So I'm very cautious about that, and like, I say.
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Mark Bugni: if it's if I love them a lot, they won't go anywhere else. I'll break them myself. As far as getting a horse to me. I'm usually booked about 2 years out. And people are learning that, and so they'll they'll actually call me when they get a hold of a weanling or a yearling, and book a spot with me. And so that's kind of what they need to do with me. I don't take a lot of horses in for training, you know, usually about 4, 5, 6, something like that. So I keep my program small
300
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Mark Bugni: so you know it's not a barn where I, you know, take 30 or 40 horses, and so anybody and everybody can get in, and and I prefer it to just be good horses, you know, bred well with clients that understand the whole process, and that trust my judgment on things, and it it takes years to build that kind of trust and and whatnot, but the clients that I have now
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Mark Bugni: they do believe in me, and they trust in my judgment on things, and that I'm going to do the right thing with their horses.
