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Secure in the Saddle

Young horsetrainer follows in family footsteps

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In some ways Mission Valley’s new horse trainer is a young man just trying to get his start in the business. In other ways he’s been preparing for the job for his entire life. 

“I could ride before I could walk,” 20-year-old cowboy Dusty Morigeau said. “There’s just something great about being able to say that.” 

Morigeau grew up in Dixon and watched his grandfather and father work with horses. It is a family affair. His great-grandfather and great-great grandfather were both horse trainers, and as far back as Morigeau can remember, he wanted to follow in their footsteps. He participated in the kiddie rodeos around Dixon and Mission Valley before joining the high school rodeo scene. 

“I started training horses when I was a high school senior and did college rodeo,” Morigeau said. 

By the time he graduated from Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming with a degree in equine studies he had a great foundation laid for horse training. 

Ken Noland of St. Ignatius has been training horses for more than 50 years but after a recent tumble that resulted in some broken ribs, he decided it might be time to start handing the training reigns over to some newer blood. His wife, Ronda, remembered Morigeau as a horse-obsessed schoolboy she had encountered as a teacher. They thought Morigeau might be a good fit.

“He’s a good little cowboy,” Noland said as he watched Morigeau work to train a horse to bow down so it could accommodate a shorter or disabled rider. 

Morigeau has spent much of his summer green breaking horses in Noland’s barn and corrals. 

“Just being here in a month, I’ve learned quite a bit of stuff,” Morigeau said. “He trained trick horses so a lot of the laying down and stretching them, he’s taught me.” 

Morigeau said that each horse he trains has a unique personality and set of challenges to work with. 

“Some horses are harder to accept the saddle, some horses are harder to accept the bit,” Morigeau said. “There is no one specific thing that is hard, but there is no specific thing that is easy.”

Morigeau said he likes to know that his work makes a difference in his horse’s life and that the best part of his job is being able to ride every day. 

He enjoys riding so much that he doesn’t stop on the weekends. Morigeau has finished near the top in rodeo events across the state this summer.

In his rodeo hat, Morigeau carries a photograph of his late grandfather, Doug Morigeau. Morigeau beaded the hatband with his grandfather’s initials. Doug was brutally murdered in a 2012 home invasion. 

“I carry him everywhere with me,” Morigeau said. “He’s not here in body, but he’s always here in spirit for me.”

The rodeo is fun, Morigeau said, but horse training is more stable. 

“Behind every good cowboy is a good paying job,” Morigeau said. “You’ve got to have some way to make money when you aren’t making money on the rodeo, and there ain’t nothing better than riding horses.” 

 

 

 

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