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Craig Hamilton
Craig Hamilton knows the horse

He is one of the last of a dying breed in this day and age of instant horsemen; he is a real life cowboy first and last. His upbringing on his father’s 500 section cattle ranch in Northwest Arizona taught Craig many lessons about himself and about the horses that he rode in his everyday job as a working cowhand.

"How and where I grew up was not a pretty place, it is a hard land and it attracts even harder men. Fighting is a way of life, if it is not with another man it is with a horse.
I was as wild as the rest, and also as hard on my horses. I know what it feels like to abuse a horse; I admit that, I knew no better. I don’t even like to think of it now, but I might have never changed if it had not been for one very special horse.


A horse named Cinco.



Craig at age12 with his sister
and father on the Home ranch

 

The first time I ever laid eyes on this big black beast was when he was kicked off a cattle truck at the ranch headquarters. My father said he goes in your string son, so I headed off to catch him and see what he was made of. Well it didn’t take long , I walked up to him the way I had been walking up to horses all of my life and it was then my life with horses changed, and it changed in an instant.
This big black son of a gun crashed into the end of the sorting alleyway and when he saw he was trapped he spun around with his legs spread and his head as high as that 16 hands could get it! I saw death in his big dark eyes, my own... For the first time in my life of working with horses my powder got damp I am telling you.

I saw what it looked like to look into another animal’s eye and know that they are ready to die, and their only thought is to not die cheap.



It’s a long story fit for another time and place, but this horse changed my life, he “Cracked the crust “around my mind and allowed another type of thinking to enter. My father wanted to send him to the slaughter house before he did kill someone, but I could see the heart in him, and the try. I said I can turn that horse around Dad, I know I can. That horse made it, he became one of, if not the best roping and ranch horse I ever threw a leg over. And in the process that horse made, no, he FORCED me to become a horseman as well. I cannot ever thank him enough, and I thank God for allowing me to have known such a creature”

If you spend any time around Craig you will instantly notice one very apparent thing, he has a story to tell. From riding the Cerbat mountain range roping and gathering wild cattle, to helping a scared and dangerous ranch pony become a world class rodeo horse.
That’s another part of the story. Craig is also a third generation National Finals team roping contestant in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assoc, or PRCA, having qualified twice for the finals in 86 and 87.

His father Bill Hamilton was the 1964 worlds champion team roper and 15 times NFR finalist. And his Grandfather “Choc” qualified for the first ever team roping finals. So rodeo is more than in his blood, it is almost a birthright. However In 1987 after Craig’s second NFR appearance he decided to hang up his pro status and pursue his passion into another direction, he started studying horsemanship and teaching clinics full time.

“I wanted more from life than Rodeo was going to give me. Glory is a selfish thing; I decided I wanted to help others learn to help themselves.”

Craig is a different kind of clinician; he does not believe that the horse is more important than the person. He understands that only by educating the rider as he is helping the horse can he make any real and lasting differences in their relationship. He has the ability to not only show you what is going on with your horse; he can explain it in a way that brings you into the horses mind with him. He also brings to the table a sense of realism, he knows what it is like to make mistakes, and he knows the struggle of change and what it takes for a person to find the courage to let go and think a new way.

“To me, the horse AND the rider is a package deal. I don’t forget one while I am addressing the other. What good does it do if I help heal the horse, but I leave the owner without the tools or the confidence to follow through with what we have put in place?”

Craig has studied the horse extensively and with a passion for the last 15 years, when he decided to begin his quest for a higher level of horsemanship he had no idea down what paths it would lead him.

"My father taught me a valuable lesson at a very early age that I never forgot. He said to me, "Son almost everyone you meet can do at least one thing very well, the secret is to learn what that is and make it yours” So I did, and I still do."

Craig has ridden and studied with Reiners, Cutters, and even Dressage. He has studied for many years what some would call Natural Horsemanship as well. He would search out the most troubled horses to work with and to learn from, and the word about the cowboy from Arizona started to spread. It was not long before people from as far away as Canada were calling and wanting him to work with their “Problem” horses. None were too far gone in his opinion, and from that he learned much of what he knows today.

This putting aside his own goals in regards to the horse has allowed him to do something truly wonderful, he is able to connect with a horse on a level that the horse can understand and feel comfortable with.

Craig has become one of; if not the best man in the world in reading a problem horses mind.
From Mustang gentling demonstrations for the BLM to helping the everyday horse owner achieve respect and listening for a better relationship with their horse, Craig has a program that works.

Its not a lot of bells and whistles, he has no “parlor tricks” instead what he offers you is an insight into a horses thinking that is so illuminating it has been called almost a religious experience. His personality when teaching is intense, focused, and very apparently passionate. He has the ability to be able to talk to a group of a thousand and make each one feel as if he is talking to them alone. SS His understanding, his consideration, and his ability to truly “listen” to a horse, transcends into our human relationships and leaves us with new ideas and feelings about our personal lives as well.

If you have not had the opportunity to see Craig, and to watch him “Crack the crust” as he calls it around a horses, or a persons mind so that the softness and listening can begin to flow again then you are missing one of horsemanship’s greatest gifts.


 

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