OklahomaHorses Magazine May 2022

May/June 2022 • OklahomaHorses 29 The Cutting Edge Burris began recreational equine competi- tion at about age 15. “I’ve enjoyed horses ever since. I competed through the Yukon Round Up Club, and they built an arena. Then I participated and competed there. I just kept on. I never stopped. Then I began to participate in state association competi- tions like the American Quarter Horse As- sociation (AQHA), the Western Oklahoma Ranch Horse Association (WOKRHA), and the Foundation Quarter Horse Association (FQHA). I still compete through all three. Now I compete with horses as much as ten times annually.” Incorporated in 1947, the Yukon Round Up Club hosted rodeos and other events. The club donated its arena and property to a church in 2013. The venue, including the arena, still exists in Yukon. Cattle are herd animals. Cutting involves separating one cow from the herd. A cutting horse needs incredible intelligence and physical ability. In a cutting competition, the horse and rider compete before a judge. Burris says, “Cutting-horse competitions are the main thing I love, and we have different classes in those competitions. I compete in practically every one they’ll let me compete in. I love it all because of my love of the magnificent horse and realizing our need for the horse and what it has done for saving our country.” Burris’ longtime friend Froman Cowan chuckles, “To keep him from beating you in a class, don’t enter the class he does.” A Lifetime of Farming Burris began his lifelong farming career in 1953, and he’s still farming. “I started irriga- tion in the valley in the 1960s, and we use crop rotation. Last year, we grew wheat and then soy. This year, we’re growing corn and then sod. I have help with the farm. At 92, I’ve decided to slow down.” After 55 years of marriage, Burris’ wife, Joan (pronounced “JoAnn”) Rhodyback Burris, passed away in 2005. The Burrises were the parents of three daughters. Burris says, “I married my childhood sweetheart. When I noticed her, I was eleven and she was nine. She was riding a big black-and- white horse, and I thought, ‘My goodness. Look at that cowgirl.’ She was wearing a little straw hat with the cord under her chin and her little boots. We attended the same school. And she always rode that horse to school, and that really impressed this cowboy. We married when I was 20 and she was 18.” The genesis of the Burris farmland came through Mrs. Burris, whose grandfather had moved into the area after the Civil War. “The family helped establish the grocery store in Frisco,” Burris says. “Joan’s grandfa- ther also helped plat the town of Frisco. He was part of the group of Civil War soldiers.” Civil War Union veterans were allowed to file in advance for land-run lots. A group did so, planning and platting their town before Oklahoma Territory’s first land run, in April 1889. That month, their “Veteran City” was official in Canadian County. The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, known as the Frisco, planned to chug through the colony. So townspeople renamed their settlement Frisco. But the railroad rerouted, and the town of Frisco was dissolved by 1905. Helping Others and Having a Great Time In 2010, Burris cofounded Sunset Thera- peutic Riding Center, an equine therapy center on his property. “We helped all ages of children with disabilities,” Burris says. “It went on to where schools were using the program for at-risk kids who were not doing well academically.” Burris ran the program for about seven years. It spawned other equine therapy programs in Enid and Ada and the Savannah Station Therapeutic Riding Program, now relocated to Yukon, which serves preschool age through adults with disabilities. Savan- nah Station is certified internationally by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International. “I support Savannah Station financially,” Burris says. “And I’ve built fences, and I do anything they need help with.” These days, Burris owns two quarter hors- es. He calls his gelding Mate, and his mare answers to Lady. Previously, Burris bred and raised horses, sometimes owning six to eight. Although he did sell a few, he explains, “My purpose was to raise the best, most excep- tional horse. Everybody’s dream is to have the best horse.” Now riding at least twice weekly, Burris developed trails on his property so he can ride on his land for one-and-a-half hours at a time. “My horses are registered with the AQHA,” Burris says. “In competitions, I’ve won a lot of ribbons over the years and very few trophies. But I’ve had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it.”.