Arena Tracks: A Special Brand of Friendship

Few things define the essence of a ranch or family like a generational brand.  Whether a lazy this or rocking that, a family will come to identify with those letters and numbers, wearing them like a coat of arms.  A family’s brand is their de facto ID; beaded into belts, tooled onto headstalls and stitched through their chaps.  That small constellation of symbols identify a ranch’s mission, work ethic and product as well as that for which they stand.  Often a brand is handed down from generation to generation.  In this case, the brand was passed between two friends, cementing a relationship founded on a shared love of good horses and a sharp wit.

Samantha Flannery has a hard time really pinpointing the moment she met Kami Ireland.  Both were determined young barrel racers with similar senses of humor and sarcastic views of the industry and as such, gravitated to one another.  Samantha began attending barrel racing jackpots the Ireland girls, Kami and Lana (Ireland) Dacar, produced in New Underwood, South Dakota and eventually Lana bought a horse from Sam.  Oddly enough, it was that little gray horse that became Samantha’s first lesson in horse sales, paperwork and the brand a horse wears on his hip.  Bud Ireland, Lana’s father, accompanied her when she met Sam to pick up the horse and drop off the check.  An experienced brand inspector, Bud put Samantha through the third degree, “Where is his brand certificate?” “What about a bill of sale?”  Sam, a fresh-faced barrel horse trainer from Eastern Nebraska hadn’t come to learn the ins and outs of brands, their origins and the need for documentation, but it was a lesson eagerly taught by Mr. Ireland.  As the years passed, Sam would stay with the Irelands when she came to Rapid City for barrel races or when flying out to fun vacation destinations.  She’d put up her horses in Box Elder and the girls would have lunch or go out for the night in Rapid City.  For a few summers, Kami would spend the week at the Flannery’s ranch near Mission, South Dakota between the Corn Husker Futurity in Broken Bow, Nebraska and the Kohr Futurity in McCook, Nebraska.  As friendships do, a few chance meetings evolved into an “I got your back” kind of relationship based on a willingness to tell it like it is. These two are REAL friends; the type that point out the holes in your training and question your life decisions for you. 

As a daughter of a brand inspector, Kami Ireland grew up appreciating the history and WORK behind a family’s brand.  When in Fort Pierre, South Dakota for the 4H Finals, the Ireland girls might get some downtime in the hotel pool, while Bud Ireland haunted the shelves of the State Brand Office finding brands that were up for renewal and filing applications to purchase/claim them.  Bud had an eye for a brand and wanted something simple and clean.  The Crossed Ts brand that you see on the left hip of all the Ireland Performance Horses is the result of the Bud’s tireless searching and filing of claims for brands.  

On the bottom side of Kami Ireland’s pedigree was her maternal grandfather, Harold Cox, a cowboy of the old-school order who created a life and a legacy out of sheer grit and hard work.  Harold was known around the area for his ability with a horse, building upon a foundation of Top Deck-bred horses garnered through his friendship with Zoder Golliher.  In the 1950s, Harold Cox was a cowboy that was hard to beat and harder to out-work.  He was a steer wrestler and team penner and later took the reins of the South Dakota High School Rodeo Association, being honored as their Man of the Year in 1961.  Harold also helped to write the charter for the National High School Rodeo Association when it was filed in South Dakota.  While Harold and his wife, Helen, had seven children and 22 grandchildren, only their daughter Peggy’s children, Kami and Lana, continued with the family legacy of good horses and solid training. The grandfather/granddaughter duo spent many hours together on the Cox Ranch west of New Underwood.  Harold was a horseman and Kami was his eager student, soaking up all that her grandfather had to share.  The duo drove teams of horses with Kami entering the youth driving competitions to show off her newly minted skills.  Those hours together in mind, Harold called Kami to his home in New Underwood one weekend.  Kami remembers the day clearly, and was struck when her grandfather offered her the deed to the family brand.  The FL was positioned on the right hip and was a clear sign of the quality of horses that Harold Cox had raised and trained.

Kami was honored by the gift, but a little conflicted.  She and Lana had long been trying to create or buy their own horse brand with little to no luck, and her parents had recently added the girls to the Crossed Ts brand they had claimed and registered those years ago in Fort Pierre.  Kami paid the branding fees and kept the family jewel close to her heart.

A few years later, while sitting around Kami’s table during one of her barrel racing visits, Sam was lamenting the Flannery family search for a brand.  They had a cattle brand, but were coming up with zilch for a horse brand.  An idea sparked in Kami’s head.  “Why don’t you use the brand I got from Grandpa Cox?  It’s an FL on the right hip.”  Sam was honored but confused.  “Why would I want an FL?”  Kami looked Samantha dead in the eyes, secretly thrilled she was one step ahead of Samantha, “FL…annery?”  Once she caught on to the idea, Samantha was in.  An agreement was struck that the Flannerys could use the brand until it was no longer useful to them.  At that point, it would return to the Ireland family.

From then on Flannery Barrel Horses would bear the FL brand on the right hip, Sam’s Ham being the first horse to bear the moniker.  Since then it has graced the hides of many champions, so many, in fact, that Sam has trouble determining to which horse folks refer when telling her they saw a horse with the FL brand.  “It’s darn sure a staple of my program and is such a clean and pretty brand.”  Kami, too is proud of the path her family’s brand has taken, especially when special horses such as BI Runnin Reggie and BI Fit To Be Tyed sport both the Crossed Ts on the left hip and the FL on the right.  Those horses are a melding of both sides of the Ireland family with a shot of Flannery to keep things interesting.

A brand can tie together a family, an operation and a marketing plan, but in this case, it forever ties together a friendship between two horsemen that sprouted from a mutual love of good horses, great horsemanship, sarcastic comments and wicked quick humor.