The Athlete

horses are incredible, we all agree to that. for as long as i can remember i have had this huge soft spot for thoroughbreds. racing & off the track thoroughbreds especially. there is something about those big eyes & that distinct head shape that i am so drawn to.

horse racing has been in my family for generations, as has retraining them for different disciplines after their racing career. so it’s pretty easy to see where my obsession sprouts from.

we all know of or have heard of the famous “Secretariat”.. yes that Disney movie is a true story. Penny Chenery will forever be a hero in my book & has inspired me for years to follow every dream i have.

but, thoroughbreds have a history in more disciplines than you may think. Go-Man-Go; known as one of the greatest QH racehorses of all time- half TB. Wimpy; the first stallion registered to the AQHA… Doc Bar… the list goes on.

there’s an article in Horse & Rider which i encourage my western & cowboy readers to look into & you can find it here.

these incredible athletes have proven themselves time & time again. so why the bad wrap? lack of education. thoroughbreds are a thin skinned, sensitive, hot-blooded breed. they require more feed as their metabolism runs higher than most breeds. but a hot feed + a hot blooded animal = more energy. on average, they require a higher commitment level than just a pasture pet who isn’t consistently exercised. it’s comparable to adopting a border collie as a house dog. excluding the animals with a true lazy bone, they aren’t built to hang around.

which brings us to why thoroughbreds are such incredible sport horses. they in fact crave a job. they crave work, exercise & competition. that competitive streak is why polo players use them quite often.

i would like to bring up an organization some of y’all may have heard of, The Retired Racehorse Project. OTTB’s always pull my attention when they come through the ranch, so i decided to compete in the RRP’s Thoroughbred Makeover this year with one of my own. a full article on the competition & training process will come soon, but i encourage anyone reading to research the Thoroughbred horse in your own discipline.

to wrap up this post i’m going to throw in a photo of me on my 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Graduate, who finished 4th, competing in Polo.

“Tahlullah” registered name, “Whateverusaydear”

if you’d like to read up on the RRP & how it’s helping former racehorses build new careers, click here.

for my polo playing readers, i highly encourage the Thoroughbred Makeover as a way to advocate for these horses we have used for decades in our sport. here’s an article from the USPA on next year’s competition.

& last but not least, please note the Thoroughbred Makeover offers 10 disciplines to compete in ranging from Eventing to Ranch Work. for anyone looking to compete, sponsor the competition, attend or simply learn more about it, use this link to go to the Thoroughbred Makeover website.

Determination

“Do all you can to live a peaceful life. Take care of your own business. Do your own work. We have already told you to do these things. If you do, then people who are not believers will respect you. And you will not have to depend on others for what you need.”
— Thessalonians 4:11-12

hey yall! it’s been a minute since i posted a blog & this ones gonna be a little different than what i’ve been posting.

i’ve been doing some “soul searching” as some might call it & i just wanna reflect & share what i’ve learned, hopefully to inspire some of you.

this year i had BIG goals. ya know, new year goals & really big plans. i didn’t meet them.. but i’ve started looking at it more as i haven’t* met them.. yet.

prospective changes everything. i wanted all my orders held over from december to be finished by february. i still have one to finish & i just finished one yesterday. it’s not a failure, it’s a set back that i had to work through. life happened. life HAPPENS- all the time! things don’t always go according to your plans & that’s okay.

i had a wreck with a horse a couple weeks ago, which gave me the perfect excuse to take a few days off & recharge. turns out that’s all i needed. i had been working nonstop for 4 months trying to meet my goals, but i felt like i got nothing done. take time for yourself, it’s important.

i have been listening to podcasts, reading books & taking time to myself. one of my favorite books is Matthew McConaughey’s “Greenlights”. what stands out to me in his book is even a movie star, widely known who probably doesn’t want for much financially, still has set backs. he too has yellow & red lights as he puts it.

here’s what’s funny about red lights.. if you wait for your turn, they change to green.

after my accident i couldn’t ride for about a week. i have a mare in training of my own, i was helping my dad start one of his & i was planning on getting my horses legged up for polo season. my wreck felt like a red light. i slept for almost two days straight, then i hit the leather room. i realized i was spreading myself too thin. i was exhausted & not putting my best into my priorities, i was putting just enough in everything i was doing. i had no focus, i was just rolling through the motions & they were kicking my ass.

my accident, which felt like a massive red light, two days later turned green.

my cousin took my to the PBR in OKC the weekend after my accident, then we went to the racetrack, saw some friends, did a little gambling. i not only got to rest, i got a break.

don’t be afraid to take time to yourself, reset, reboot & get back to the grind.

so i wanted to just go over a few things that i HAVE accomplished.. later in the year than i preferred, but they’re checked off the list & that’s a big deal to me.

i’ve had multiple friends & customers ask me to start doing videos of my work to learn the basics & witness the work put into my orders. so if y’all head over to my instagram there’s some live videos showing a little insight & behind the scenes!

i also started a tiktok under my personal name where i have posting my custom orders as well as some of the good stuff that happens around the ranch.

i’ve had quite a few orders go out & a bunch more getting wrapped up.. but here’s a peak at what i’ve got done recently.

i hope y’all took something away from this & are encouraged to take life by the horns. have a blessed day!

The History of the Wild Rag

hey, y’all! i’m glad you’re back. today i’d like to talk about an essential piece of a cowboy’s wardrobe.. wild rags.

the first wild rags were actually cut squares out of flour sacks in the early 1800s. they were used to keep their necks warm in the bitter cold, as well as protect them from the sun in the summer. In the 1880’s wild rags really took a hit. upper-class cowboy & cattleman wore silk wild rags to show their dignity. famous cattleman including Charlie Goodnight & Oliver Loving styled silk wild rags around their necks. but dignified cattlemen weren’t the only ones to wear fancy rags. outlaws like Curly Bill & Johnny Ringo also wore wild rags.

wild rags are practical to the western working class since they serve many purposes. you see them most frequently wrapped & tied around a neck in a stylish knot. knots themselves have evolved over the years from basic ties to square knots & buckaroo knots.

besides the obvious of using a wild rag for warmth, they have also been used as protection from the summer sun, keep dust off cowboys’ faces in long cattle drives & of course, used by outlaws & thieves to protect their identity.

wild rags were not only worn by cattlemen & cowboys, but also by the women of the west. famous woman outlaws like Belle Starr, professional entertainers like Annie Oakley & Helen Gibson as well as many more ranching & rodeoing women.

in todays world wild rags are worn both as a crucial part of my worlds uniform, as well as a fashion statement. the western fashion industry has recently taken wild rag fashion to the next level. they are now worn as bracelets, tied in hair-do’s, worn as a fashion belt & even as a shirt.

i’ve asked some lovely ladies to share with me some of their favorite ways to style a rag.. this is what i got! weather you’re a working cowboy staying true to the "old cowboy way” or looking for a way to spice up your outfits, everyone can appreciate a good wild rag.

most of the wild rags used in these photos are made by my personal favorite Daisy If You Do Co. not only are her rags loud & vibrant, they’re also handmade. Daisy If You Do Co. offers custom rags as well as logo rags for businesses- & yes, The Flying 6 rags are made by Daisy If You Do Co.

if you’re new here you might not have heard, The Flying 6 now offers logo wild rags! to order please reach out to me on any of my social medias or email me.

The Machine

hey everyone! welcome to The Flying 6, i’m happy to have you. first off i’d like to introduce myself. my name is Gracie Brush, i was born & raised in Yakima, WA, the self proclaimed “Palm Springs of Washington”. At age 16 my family moved from there to Haskell, Oklahoma. between homes we stayed with my grandpa (b-ba) in southern California for about 9 months.

a kitchen view from our WA home

a kitchen view from our WA home

I’m a third generation polo player on my moms side. Around age 10, mom started playing competitively again after mainly raising, training & selling polo horses for years. At 11, i played my first tournament game.

mom on her TB gelding “Cowboy”

mom on her TB gelding “Cowboy”

polo is my upbringing, but so is living the ranch life. along with raising polo ponies my family also comes from the cattle industry. as a kid in Washington we had about 150 mother cows which we ran with our broodmares.

coming from two very different sides of the equestrian spectrum, i have a passion in both. my brand, The Flying 6, has been made to accommodate to both worlds.

me & my cousin circa 2015. the last gathering before the herd was sold

me & my cousin circa 2015. the last gathering before the herd was sold

what i’d most like to talk about today is my well known & loved mare, Cantina. Cantina is a 13 y/o Argentine Thoroughbred playing horse. we got Cantina when i was 13, she was only 7. Cantina was way too much horse for me on the field, but i loved her. She hated to stick & ball, she would switch leads mid swing.. practice was & still is a complete waste of her time. but because of that, she made me work hard. she made me good.

Cantina belonged to my parents & was leased to professionals in the PNW to play, sometimes for a weekend & sometimes for months at a time. she got the nickname “The Machine” by our local professional players.

my very first ride on Cantina

my very first ride on Cantina

after a couple years of leasing, i got a little better. i matured into my own riding. Cantina started to get depressed. her coat was bleached, she was unhappy & losing weight. we decided to keep her at home for a while & let her recoup- this is when we clicked.

Cantina has taught me the game of the big dogs. sure, i could push the ball around & follow the play, but she put me right in the middle of it. i had to learn to “get out of her way” as my mom would tell me. let Cantina play & you’ll play the best polo you could ever imagine yourself playing.

a few months down the road, Cantina was given to me for Christmas. since then we have played in the USPA NYTS program, tons of small tournaments & lots of practice (her favorite). Cantina pushed me from being a rider to a horseman. she gave me the kind of horse i want all of my future prospects to be- a Machine.