Back in the Saddle
Cowboy minister returns to Muscatine
By John Willard
Quad-City Times
MUSCATINE, Iowa- A veteran horse trainer who has been a poet, a “cowboy preacher” and a tamer of wild mustangs has returned to Muscatine, where he has revived a dormant equestrian center and hopes to continue his ministry.
He is David Skipworth, 48, an Oklahoma native. For the last six months, he and his wife, Sharon, have been renovating the Forest Hill Farms Equestrian Center. Her parents, Mike and Jerolene Glass, founded the business about 20 years ago.
The center is north of Iowa 22 on Forest Lane, about four and one-half miles east of Muscatine. It had been closed for about five years until the Skipworths brought it back to life. In addition to refurbishing the buildings, they have expanded services to include riding lessons for adults and children, horse shows and seminars.
The couple had been involved in the business previously. They conducted horse training briefly in the early 1990’s before moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where Skipworth trained thoroughbred race horses.
He says horseback riding is enjoying increasing popularity, a reason why the couple decided to return to Muscatine and take over the business. “We had thought about selling it, but people begged us to stay,” he said.
In addition to his horse training skills, Skipworth is accomplished at saving souls. An ordained minister with the Southern Baptist Convention, he founded Cowboys Crusade for Christ to spread the gospel at rodeos and other livestock events.
“I am praying about starting a cowboy group here,” he said.
While in Colorado during the 1990’s, he spent five years taming wild mustangs for the Bureau Of Land Management, which captured and auctioned off the horses to the public.
In working with wild mustangs, he developed what he calls his “soft-hand training method.” Instead of “breaking” the horse, he observes the animal’s mannerisms and makes appropriate responses, using both his voice and gestures. He relies on patience, kindness. trust and respect in winning over the horse.
“We talk to the horse in his language,” he said.
He might stroke the horse’s side, where a mare nuzzles her colt, to calm the animal. By raising his hands, he encourages the horse to run. A horse whinnies to denote its location, and it snorts when it is nervous, said Skipworth, who uses the same vocal signals when working with his charges.
Talking to a horse in its own language means a less stressed and abused animal, he said.
Skipworth has been around horses most of his life. He grew up on a ranch in western Oklahoma and became a successful horse trainer in Colorado and Texas. He also felt a spiritual calling.
Sensing a need for pastoral services at rodeos and other livestock events, where participants typically work Sundays and cannot get away for church, he became an ordained minister through the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Tex.
While living in Woodland Park, Colo., in the early 1990s he was pastor of The Cowboy Church of the Rockies. The church was an informal house of worship where beat-up denims and boots were welcome at fellowship meetings. The sessions included wiener roasts, campfire, singing and storytelling. He also honed his talent as a poet and held cowboy poetry gatherings.
His church was funded by private donations, and he supported himself by training and boarding horses at his ranch at the base of Woodland Park.
There, he developed his reputation for his “soft-hand” approach to taming wild mustangs and held frequent seminars and demonstrations. His wife, an accomplished equestrian, was a member of the United States Equestrian Team.
Being a champion rider is not necessary to enjoy horseback riding, Skipworth says. The sport relieves stress, builds muscle and offers an opportunity to share common interests with others, he says.
His goals as a minister and horse trainer are simple.
“I want to see everybody get to heaven. And I want to see every horse have a good life.”
ZEBRAS HELPED TAME HORSES
As he explored the best ways to tame wild horses, David Skipworth earned his stripes.
He studied zebras.
The African members of the horse family are difficult to tame, but Skipworth reasoned that if he knew enough about the zebra in the wild he might be able to successfully apply his “soft-hand” training on them as he had on wild mustangs.
First, he read every book on zebras that he could, comparing their behavior with what he knew about horses’ behavior.
He found similarities as well as differences.
In a herd, he learned, the dominant mare will lead when the group is moving. The second-dominate mare follows, with other in the pecking order close behind.
In a zebra herd, the mother-daughter offspring ties are more pronounced. The dominant mare leads but her youngest foal will immediately follow. Next in line are the dominant mare’s yearling offspring, followed by the second-dominant mare, her baby, her yearling and so on.
Skipworth also learned that horses and zebras respond differently to human touch. While a horse might recognize a pat on the front of the withers or on the dock of the tail as a friendly sign of recognition, zebras could care less. In fact, he said, zebras are sensitive about pats on the neck because that is where their chief prey, lions, strike.
Skipworth got a chance to apply his training theories to zebras at a Texas animal farm. There, he worked with a zebra mare, who proved to be an apt pupil.
By John Willard.
Forest
Hill Farms Equestrian Center