Meet Mike
"I've learned something from every person and every horse I've ever met, and in every place I've traveled."
That single statement quite nicely sums up the way Mike Kevil thinks. Often referred to as "the thinking person's cowboy," Mike has made a remarkable career observing, identifying, reasoning things through, then teaching what he's learned to both horses and their owners.
Before the modern day term "Horse Whisperer" and the training practices that terminology denotes came into vogue, Mike was a master practitioner of this art. His style of patient, steady training, with an emphasis on understanding the horse, rather than forcing it to blindly yield, sets him in a class by himself. Today, in a world where more and more horse trainers and amateur enthusiasts are using methods similar to Mike's, this horseman remains at the head of the class, beside the very best in his field.
Born in Arizona in 1953, Mike was a rodeo competitor during high school. He earned a college scholarship, but only stayed in school for a semester and a half because, "I was having more fun out of school than in... so I quit and headed for Colorado." Although he regrets not staying in college for a formal education, Mike's travels and the acquaintances he's made along the way have provided him with valuable learning experiences.
In the early 1970's following stints as a guide and outfitter in the Colorado Rockies and a colt starter and exercise rider for an Idaho based racehorse trainer, Mike returned to Arizona to look for a job doing anything. I was flat broke. One day a friend told me about a guy who needed a horse started. I guess he thought I did an all right job, cause he recommended me to his neighbor. Pretty soon I was riding three horses at $5.00 a head, every day. It was the first time in a couple of months I'd been able to feed myself. I thought it was a pretty good way to make a living so I put an ad in the paper to get more horses." Before long, Mike had to cancel the ad. He had more horses than he could ride. "I kept my saddle in my pickup all the time. I didn't have a place of my own, so I made house calls. I started horses in back yards, barbed-wire arenas, open desert, plowed fields . . . whatever was available.
In the winter of 1976, Mike went to work starting colts for Gene LaCroix (for many years the leading trainer of Arabian horses in the world). From there, he moved on to starting colts for two legendary cutting horse trainers, first, Shorty Freeman, then Matlock Rose.
Following those experiences, Mike went into business for himself, primarily starting colts for top trainers including his former employers and adding the likes of Don Dodge and Al Dunning. After two years, Mike was able to buy his own facility near Cave Creek, Arizona. Since then the only thing that has kept his business from growing too big to handle is Mike's self-control and the same good sense about business that he has about horses.
Today, although Mike rides a lot of horses for individual owners, seventyfive percent of his business still comes from other trainers who send him colts to start and problem horses to fix. The types of horses that Mike rides cover the spectrum. It's not unusual for him to step off an Arabian park horse, then onto a rope horse to heel a few steers, then to a young cutter or reiner that some top trainer thinks has great enough potential to warrant being started by Mike.