GRASSY RIDGE OXEN
EDUCATINGTHE FUTURE WITH OUR PAST
Please check back as often as you would like to check our progress.
Thank you so much for stopping by,
Rick
How It All Started
I would say this is probably the second most asked question we get, with the first being (usually in a manor of disbelief) MAN HOW MUCH DO THEY WEIGH?! So allow me to give you a brief background as to how we started this journey in our life.
Grassy Ridge Oxen began in 2005 when my wife and I, with encouragement from a friend, decided to start a team of oxen; there were however ulterior motives attached.
After years of participating with my parents at historic events and festivals doing educational demonstrations of natural wool dyeing and other demo's all over missouri we began to entertain the thought of a demo we could do that would be our own. Kim (my wife) and I both grew up working horses and other livestock but at that time we didn't even dream of using or having oxen. We were also involved with 4-H and Youth rodeo as our son was a steer rider and I was retiring; if you will; from my rodeo clowning career.
We had been at this point, going two or three times a year to Missouri Town 1855 (which is a living historic museum operated by Jackson County Missouri Parks Department) and had befriended all the staff at the site. My son, Cody with his love of animals had been helping the ox drover there with the team at that site and loved it.
Being a father who is concerned about the welfare of his son, I was not looking foreword to Cody moving up to the bull riding the following year, so I began to discuss the possibility of starting our own team of oxen with the help of my son in an attempt to redirect his interest from riding bulls to working oxen, as working oxen is much safer and is more conducive to a long life. Needless to say as with most teenage boys this lasted about a year, and with the time invested with the oxen and a new appreciation and fondness that had developed I could not simply sell the team, so we then began to do both rodeo and work and show the oxen.
Now, so many years later with an increasing desire for oxen to achieve the respect that they deserve for their role in our countries history, a devoted fan base and constant participation request's, we are still hauling our team to events in both Missouri and Kansas as volunteers and traveling to rodeo's to watch my son who is now himself a bull fighter. Its funny sometimes what our kids will get us into isn't it? Oh and if you were wondering about the answer to the first question I alluded to in the beginning of this note......approximately 2,000 pounds right now and growing.
Rick
The Life & Adventures of Levi & Sampson coloring book
Written and illustrated personally by Kim and I with actual events that have occurred during our adventures to events throughout Missouri and Kansas and Published by Two Trails Publishing.
This book is written as though the oxen are actually talking to the reader and the illustrations have been recreated from actual photos and events.
This book would make a great gift or you can keep it for yourself and enjoy the oxen in your own home.
This book is an interactive learning experience with information about the AMAZING role oxen played in the development of the United States of America and is full of entertaining pictures to be colored, a cross word puzzle and a maze in which you direct the oxen back home and in the process learn actual commands needed to work oxen.
Kim and I volunteer our time to participate in all the events we go to and it is our hope that the sale of these books will help offset the expenses incurred from feeding and caring for these great animals.
The book is only $5.95 + shipping this pays for the cost of being professionally produced and the rest goes straight to the feed bill.
To order your autographed copy of the book today just click on the check out with amazon button bellow.
Thanks for your support. Rick
