How do you deal with two bosses in one family? Danny Motes and cutting horse trainer Winston Hansma have the solution. Let one control the house and the other one rule the barn.
The arrangement works perfectly for the Weatherford, Texas couple who keep Charlie, the two-pound Yorkshire Terrier, in the house, while Boss, aka CD Lights, 2006 NCHA World Champion Stallion, stays in the barn. When everyone is on the road, 9-year-old Charlie stays in a travel bag not much bigger than a purse.
“Charlie goes everywhere with us and has probably flown as much as the rest of us,” said Danny. “My son and daughter-in-law baby sit the others dogs, but we can’t leave Charlie because he’s so tiny and such a big responsibility ”
Years ago, when Charlie was a pup, he would follow Danny into the garden or tag along when she went to the barn. Then Danny met Charlie’s breeder, who told her about a number of her clients who had lost their dogs to hawks.
“They will swoop down right next to you and grab them,” explained Danny, who now closely supervises Charlie’s outings. “If Mica (Danny’s daughter, shown in photo with Charlie) is at the barn and sees a hawk circling, she’ll call me.”
Charlie weighed just six ounces, when his namesake, the late Charles Spence, owner of Strike King Lure fishing tackle company and an avid cutting horse competitor, handed him to Winston and said, “Here, I’ve got something for you to give to Danny.”
As Winston studied the furball in his hand, Spence added, “That’ll be $750.”
“Charles, your spending $750 of my money is like me spending $75,000 of yours,” Hansma complained. “Besides, that’s a lot of money per ounce for a dog.”
It was Spence’s Yorkshire Terrier Angel that inspired him to seek out a pup for Danny. Angel adored Spence, but remained aloof whenever Danny attempted to make friends with her. “I guess I’m just going to have to get my own (Yorkshire) someday,” Danny would tell Charles on these occasions.
Although it might sound as if Charlie is a pampered pooch, aside from the traveling, he’s just another one of the pack of seven dogs that call the Seven X Ranch home. There is Leigh the New Zealand header; Cookie, 13, an Australian Shepherd; Tommy, 9, and Daisy, 8, both Jack Russell Terriers; Shadow, 2, a miniature Australian Shepherd that belongs to Mica; and ‘granddog’ Scooter, a Dachshund.
“Winston never had a dog in the house in his life (before he met me),” Danny said. “But he’s turned into quite the dog person over the years.”
Danny grew up in a rodeo family – her father, Lex Connelly, produced the very first National Finals Rodeo – and never lacked for canine or equine companions. She worked for 15 years as a trick rider in her father’s Golden State Rodeo company, then started her own mare care business, when she moved to Texas 16 years ago and met Winston, who, at the time, managed Bar H Ranche.
“We started (the mare care business) on the premise that if you want them fed sugar cubes three times a day, that’s what we would do,” Danny explained. “To share your life with an animal is a really precious gift and they have to be treated as if they are a gift and respected as individuals.”
Danny and Winston’s philosophy quite naturally extends to canines. Their home has multiple dog beds and a basket of dog toys in every room. “When you have a puppy, if you have things for them in every room, they won’t go get your shoes or something they’re not supposed to have,” explained Danny, who also used to breed Jack Russell Terriers and Australian Shepherds.
While the Seven X dogs are fed kibble free choice, Charlie’s diet demands canned food, so Danny prepares a mix of kibble and canned food for each dog in the morning. “They all line up waiting for their breakfast,” she said. “And if the ones that go to the barn leave before I feed, they’ll come running in at lunchtime and sit looking at the counter for their breakfast.
“Nobody fights. They all get along. It’s amazing.”
Although 75-pound Leigh has the advantage, when it comes to holding ground at playtime, it’s Charlie who prevails. “He’s so full of himself,” Danny admitted. “He’s kind of the boss around here. Leigh just loves him. She kind of melts herself and tries to get small, while Charlie, who is no bigger than her nose, chews on her face and barks and growls at her.
“When they get to running through the house, they’re all so careful (of Charlie) and he’s so smart, he knows everywhere that he can duck.”
“He really is spoiled rotten,” she added. “My kids used to say, ‘How come you don’t spoil us like you spoil Charlie? And I’d tell them, ‘If you adored me like Charlie does, I would spoil you the same way.'”