Great Florida Cattle Drive: Unbroken Circles

I started in film-making 30 years ago in LA. Lower Alabama, that is. I first picked up a camera in 1984 working for WeCare, a prison ministry in Atmore. Since them, I have been filming and producing video content. In 1988 I received my bachelor’s degree in communication from Florida State University and started Live Oak Production Group, an independent film company, in 1991. Since then I has produced countless shorts, 7- hour-long documentaries featured on Public Television, and recently garnered an Emmy for the work on the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition: Everglades to Okefenokee film. Florida Wildlife Federation recognized me as the 2014 Conservationist of the Year for Florida. This award means just as much or more than the Emmy because it validates my work not just as a film-maker, but as an artist striving to protect Florida’s natural beauty.
In a surprising and a revealing way, the Great Florida Cattle Drive brought some of my childhood memories into focus. To explain, travel with me on a journey that begins in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the late 1950s. I was born into an Old Order Amish family with seven sisters and one brother. I was number four, the first son after three older sisters. Horses were the source of transportation to Sunday church, to the local store and equipment supply center. We used mules and draft horses on the farm to pull the plow, work the hay machinery and transport harvested produce. At age eight I had my first Shetland pony, an ornery stud. Riding Billy (the pony) bareback was a thrill for this young Amish boy. Today I still have some scars from a few wrecks, a crooked nose from a broken bone, and scars on my knees from a few falls. Later, my Dad bought a small cart and harness to hitch to the pony. My sisters and I enjoyed riding to my grandparents, picking up staples at the local country store, and riding around the hay fields on the farm. When I got older, I had my own horse that I trained so I could ride around on the farm.
During my teenage years, the last thing I wanted to see was the backside of a horse. Sure, I wanted horsepower, but one horse wasn’t enough. I traded in my horse for a muscle car that boosted over 200 horsepower: a 1970 Plymouth Duster, black with white racing stripes.
As I become a young adult, I joined a gospel band and traveled the country, got married, got my GED, and finished college with a degree in communication from Florida State University. For almost 25 years I had very little to do with horses and cattle—I was more interested in travel; art; making documentaries of Florida; and raising my two kids, Nic and Laura. During the 2013 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition, I rode a horse on several occasions. My love for the equine species had been dormant, but being back on the saddle brought back fond memories of riding horses as a young boy, and I yearned for a horse of my own. Little did I know that wish soon would come true.
A few months before the 2016 cattle drive, our neighbors told us about a problem they had: they wanted to move their quarter horse, Lefty, closer to home, but didn’t have the land to do so. We offered a few acres of our land so they could build a fence and barn. After completing them, the day arrived for Lefty to settle in to his new home. But when it was time to be unloaded from the trailer, Lefty refused. I talked to him a bit and he followed me off the trailer. From the day he arrived, it was like he chose me to be his human.
Since then, Lefty has been a constant reminder of my roots and heritage. We go on early morning and evening sunset rides around the back pasture and woods. Seeing the world between the ears of a horse is therapeutic, and I am reminded that everything is going to work out fine, and that life is good. Recently I’ve been working with Lefty on how to work with me while I have a camera on hand. Who knows, maybe I’ll have him trained well enough to go on the next Great Florida Cattle Drive.
For me, things have come full circle: I’m back in the saddle, riding the trails, making memories, and making sure the circle will be unbroken.