Horse Roundup 2023 | Major Wins

Mike Major of Bowie, Texas, is known for his past two decades of success on the national horsemanship scene. But as a tried and true cowboy, his story started with the first horse he got on, back when horse training looked a lot different and there were no video cameras or points awarded.  

“It’s been an amazing story; looking back on my life – wow, I got to do a lot of different stuff,” he said. 

Growing up in a legacy ranch family in New Mexico, Major broke his first colt at age 7. The mares on his family’s ranch had evolved from an old cavalry remount stud, and the cowboys would snub an untouched horse, saddle it up and stick young Major on. 

“The way they broke horses back then was considerable different than what we do today,” said Major. “But, maybe it was all they knew what to do, and maybe the horses required it because they were pretty tough horses.” 

He started riding race horses when he was 8, and jockeyed quite a few for the next five years, until he turned 13. “I had to quit because I grew too much, which I hated because I was just getting good.” 

Major had been doing the work of a grown man for years, and by time he was 13, he left home and went to work for Bob Lee on the York Ranch south of Grants, N.M. “He was a really good cowman and cutting horse trainer, and he inspired me to be a better horseman. I had grown up on some good ranch horses, but they weren’t anything compared to what Bob Lee rode.” 

Inspired and improved in his horsemanship, Major returned home and was quickly given all the colts on the ranch to break. “That’s what I did, broke colts and ranch a bunch of ranches for dad.” His father, Buddy Major, was a legendary cattleman in the state, owning nine ranches across the region. By the time Major was 20 he managed four of them. “We had a feedlot where we preconditioned about 30,000 cattle from Mexico through the winter; sold the big end and kept the small end to send to grass on our places across New Mexico and Colorado.” 

With an independent spirit but horses as a common denominator, in 1983 Major moved on to other career paths, becoming a partner in a sale barn and opening a trucking business, but continued to start colts. “I fixed up a round pen with lights on it at my house, and would break colts – mostly race horses – at night.” 

Major started putting together his own cattle herd and over the years, purchased several ranches in New Mexico later on the eastern plains of Colorado. In the early 2000s, Major branched out from ranch and rodeo cowboy to show competitor, with his newfound interest in the ranch versatility horse discipline. On his stud Smart Whiskey Doc, out of Paddy’s Irish Whiskey, he learned and won simultaneously, taking first place at the Colorado State Fair in 2006, and then later as 2009 and 2010 champion at the national AQHA versatility ranch horse competitions, among many other honors.  

In 2010 Major was inadvertently entered into a reality TV show called “Project Cowboy,” in which 170 competitors were judged on horsemanship, livestock handling and showmanship skills. At first, he was adamant he wasn’t entering “that blasted dude thing – that’s not for cowboys.” But at the end of the three-day competition, Major was named champion, concluding his run with a legendary bridle-less reining demonstration on his black mare, Black Hope Stik, who went back to his dad’s horses Major had broke in the 1960s. “No one had ever seen that done – going down the fence without a bridle is kind of stupid, but that little black mare was pretty amazing. I could saddle her up in the mornings and never put a bridle on her, maybe just pack one, but never needed it.”  

Project Cowboy really turned out to be quite the competition, he said. His win led to an opportunity to showcase his bridleless demonstration at the 2011 Road to the Horse. That in turn led to the suggestion from his peers that he shouldn’t just demonstrate, but instead compete, in Road to the Horse. 

At first Major thought it was a suggestion that came 10 years too late but concluded it was no different than breaking colts at home. Then COVID hit, and schedules changed, the contest was cancelled. “I thought, ‘I’m over here getting older and this keeps getting put off.” 

Finally in 2022 the show was back on, and Major was in it.  

Road to the Horse is a multi-day contest among elite, invited colt starters, with untouched 3-year-old colts provided from the 6666 Ranch in Texas. In 2022 Major won for his work in starting Yellowhouse Canyon and was also named the Jack Brainard Horsemanship winner for his ability to observe, analyze and apply horsemanship methods that best suited his colt.  

The next year, Major put on hold his plans to have some “old rodeo injury” repair done on his shoulders and hips, as he was invited back for a second year of Road to the Horse.  

The 2023 format was different – competitors got to choose two horses to work with, then select one to go on with for the consecutive rounds. “I picked one little, bitty 14-hand ball of muscle that went back to Paddy’s Irish Whiskey, he blew up and bucked with me pretty good,” he said. His other pick was Talkin Cows out of Natural Bottom and My Sweet Talking Baby, which he went on to win a second championship with.  

After the show, the competitors had the opportunity to purchase their two horses, and Major took home both of his. However, “I tried to get a little better price and told the guy I didn’t really like the way they’d been started,” he joked.  

Major said Road to the Horse was a blast, an experience like none other.  

“I though it may be really nerve-wracking working in a round pen with that many people watching in the stands, but it wasn’t at all – you’re just focused on the horse.” The best part for him was having six of his seven girls up in the stands, hollering for their dad. “And boy, could you hear them.” 

As for his back-to-back wins? “Well, I guess I got the senior citizen bonus,” he laughed.  

Tammy Sronce is director of operations for Road to the Horse. She said, “We’re so proud of Mike Major for capturing back-to-back World Championship of Colt Starting titles. The Road to the Horse event is a challenging journey for the most skilled horseman, and Mike’s accomplishments are a tribute to his passion and horsemanship talent.” 

Never one to let the grass grow under his feet, Major looks to his future with one certainty – it will have horses in it.  

“The horse deal has been an amazing journey, looking back on when I was 13 and really wanted to become a better horseman – the journey has been a long one. 

“The thing about horses, it’s a never-ending quest of education. You think, if I can just do this or that on a horse, and then when you accomplish it, it makes you realize how much more stuff you don’t know. There is no end to what you can learn if you apply yourself.” 

He plans to continue his Stik Horse breeding program and add to the 50 cumulative years of registering with the AQHA his own raised colts, a milestone he was recognized with in 2016. 

“The horse has always been a common theme, a part of my life, since I was born. It’s always been there, regardless of what I was doing. I really never could get away from them … it’s worse than drugs. Maybe drugs would have been a hell of lot cheaper,” he laughed. 

But not nearly as rewarding.