About Martin Black

Reaching back five generations on both his maternal and paternal sides, Martins' family has ranched in Owyhee County, ID. The Black family was one of the early settlers of the Bruneau Valley, coming to Idaho when it was still a territory and raising one generation before it became a state. The Joyces on his maternal side, settled on Sinker Creek in 1865 and it maintains to be the oldest continuous family owned ranch in Idaho to date.

In the late 1800s Joe Black, Martin's great-grandfather grew up working around the California vaqueros that brought the first cattle into the area. Joe was known as one of the top ropers in the Idaho, Oregon, Nevada region of the Great Basin, referred to as the I.O.N. region.

Joe and his brother ran thousands of horses through the late 1800s and early 1900s. Then Albert his son followed in their footsteps raising quality Thoroughbred horses into the late 1900s.

With the influence of Albert's brother Paul, also a top horseman, along with the abundant supply of horses, and the demand for them on the family's ranch, starting colts and working cow horses was a tradition that Martin started at a young age.

Like Martins' father, grandfather and great-grandfather that started in the very earliest days of rodeo, Martin also grew up learning to rope and ride bucking horses and competed in rodeo and various types of stock horse events.

With this deeply rooted tradition and the desire to honor and maintain it, along with the influence of other present-day horseman, he has studied different elements of horsemanship and traditional gear. More information on the history and traditional use of this gear can be found on the newly released Bridle Horse Series and on the Traditional Gear and Rawhide page.

From race horses in Kentucky to the camp drafters in Australia, from jumping horses in Europe, to the Gauchos of Brazil, along with polo horses, harness horses and mustangs in the wild, he has a wide range of experience and exposure.

What he looks for isn't just a style or particular method, but what works for the horse. "If it works there must be a reason wh y, if it doesn't work there must be a reason why." If we can understand what caused or prepared the horse to react or respond in the manner they do, whether it is desirable or not, then we may learn to identify and influence the action of the horse in what we think is a positive and productive way.

If we can properly identify the problem and the cause, then eliminate the cause; the problem will go away. Don't look for solutions, look for the cause. Solutions will generally glorify or financially benefit someone else, and the horse pays the price. If the cause remains so can the problem.

Horses have incredible memories of their experiences, good and bad to whatever degree of their impression. Their decision making is based on present circumstances, self-preservation and past experiences. In other words, they look at a situation, take an impression from it and then make a decision based on past experience, unlike people that may reason and experiment with various options and may desire a challenge or risk.



More Details about Martin Black

• Martin grew up working on the family ranch and after High School, left home to work on other Ranches with top Horseman in Idaho, Nevada and California.

• At age 24 he took a management position on a 1.25 million acre ranch running 400 horses and 15,000 head of cattle in Northeast Nevada.

• After more than 30 years of cattle being the primary source of income and horses being the secondary, Martin decided to make his living working with horses. With his reputation on the ranches and in the arena, it wasn't long before he was traveling coast to coast in the US, Australia, Europe, and Brazil.

• Along with contract colt starting around 400 horses annually, Martin also does some public and private clinics.

• Martin has worked with Hall of Fame and All Time Leading Trainers of cutting, reining and race horses.

• Started Pleasantly Perfect who went on to win in excess of $7 million.

• Started Smart Little Scoot who is the All Time Leading money earning son of Smart Little Lena. As well as numerous other champions in Cutting, Reining and Reined Cow Horse.

• Earned over $75,000 in Stock Horse and NRCHA events, as well as roping, saddle-bronc and camp drafting competitions.

• Competed in the Worlds Greatest Horseman 3 yrs in a row. Scored in the top ten in Roping, Reining and Cow-working go-rounds.

• Multiple finalists at NRCHA World Show.

• RHAA National Champion Cowboy and Open Ranch Horse, Abilene, TX

• World Finals Ranch Rodeo, Open Champion Ranch Horse two years in a row, Amarillo, TX