Utah’s horse whisperer expands Copper Cloud Ranch

Dell Timpson makes a career out of his love for horses

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Romeo has his outside ear cocked forward and his inside ear trained toward Dell as he trots around the round pen. Dell attentively watches the horses’ every action and reaction, from the way he holds his head, where his ears are pointing, where he’s looking, the way he’s breathing and numerous other signs too subtle for the average horse trainer to notice.
But then again Dell Timpson isn’t your average horse trainer. Timpson owns the Copper Cloud Ranch in Big Water, Utah with his wife Amy. Timpson has been training horses since 1986. Working with horses is all he’s ever really wanted to do, he said.
“I was always obsessed with them,” he said. “When I was a kid we had neighbors who had horses who let me ride.”
He got his first horse when he was 16 and started training them in his 20s. It was a time when things had just taken a dramatic step forward in the way that horses were trained.
“Horsemanship is the partnership the trainer develops with the horse,” Timpson explains, “and you can’t have a good partnership with the horse unless you understand the horse. It was something Indians have understood forever, but white men were just starting to learn.”
Part of Timpson’s horse sense comes from his deep, decade’s long experience, some comes from instinct, and some comes from training with Monty Roberts, a man who many horse experts have called the best horse trainer in America.
Many of you will remember Roberts from the 1990s as the man known as “The Horse Whisperer.” Roberts believes horses use a non-verbal language to communicate with each other, and that an observant, conscientious human can learn it, too, and apply it very successfully in their horse training. Roberts, training horses using their own language, was responsible for teaching a new generation of horse trainers a kinder, gentler way of training horses. Timpson was one of his students.
Timpson is a great admirer of Roberts and his methods of horse training.
“What sets Roberts apart is that he’d watch wild horses for hours to see how they behaved and interacted with each other. He learned to recognize the equine signs of dominance and submission. The number one thing to understand when understanding horses is that we’re a predator and they’re prey,” said Timpson. “If we try to enforce dominance over them, it’s only natural for them to fight for their life. The old method was that of master and slave. The old ways used a lot of force to make the horse submit. It could get pretty brutal.
“Most people are probably familiar with the term `breaking a horse’ and that’s exactly what it used to be. They would literally break their spirit. Knowing a better way to do it now, that’s not how we do it anymore. You’ve got to put yourself in the horse’s mind and see things from its perspective. To be a true horseman, you’ve got to understand the horse and work at its pace and ability.”

Which brings us back to Romeo, a 2-year-old in the beginning stages of his training.
At the beginning of Romeo’s training day, Timpson works him in a long trot to help relieve some of his energy and watches for signals the horse gives that he’s growing relaxed. The signs are very subtle, but after a few minutes exercise Timpson likes what he’s seeing in his horse’s behavior. Romeo’s breathing has slowed down, his muscles have grown relaxed and he no longer has his tail kinked. As the horse grows more relaxed, Timpson shortens his circle, brings him in closer to him.
“The idea is to teach them that the most comfortable spot in the pen is next to me,” Timpson explains. “Horses are social animals. They realize that they’re protected when they’re together. Now they look to me to fill that role.”
The ultimate goal of training a horse is for it to be ridable, gentle and unspookable, said Timpson.
After Romeo has been warmed up and calmed down in the round pen, Timpson saddles him and leads him to a larger corral. Once inside the larger corral, Timpson mounts him and continues his training.
“You don’t want to be dominant but you want to be confident,” Timpson said. “A horse can feel your confidence and your focus.”
The amount of time a trainer spends building a relationship with his young horse really starts paying off once he or she gets in the saddle, Timpson explains.
“The idea is to always maintain a partnership,” he said. “Don’t fall back into the master and slave dynamic. When you’re really doing it right, you just become an extension of the horse. Eventually you reach the point where you’re both thinking the same thing and you both react accordingly.”
Timpson explains further.
“When you’re ready for him to go, you don’t have to jab him in the flanks with your spurs,” he said. “That’s the old way of doing it. No, you just look up to where you want to go, you lift the reins and lighten up in the saddle. To go left, open up your left leg and close down your right leg. To slow down, relax back into the saddle and push down on the stirrups like pushing on the brakes. It works great.”
It’s a methodology that’s less about closing off what’s wrong and encouraging what’s right.
“The idea is to let them think that their movements are their idea,” said Timpson.
Timpson moved to Big Water, Utah, in 2009 and established Copper Cloud Ranch, with the purpose of offering trail rides to guests staying at Amangiri. Most of his business still comes from Amangiri clientele. In recent months, Dell and Amy purchased the Paria Outpost and expanded the Copper Cloud Ranch to include its property.
But you don’t have to be an Amangiri client to book a trail ride with Timpson and his famous horses. Locals can also book trail rides and horsemanship and riding classes. Timpson will make sure you’re matched with a horse suitable for your level of riding ability and comfort.
Back in the large pen, Timpson leads Romeo through a series of obstacles, followed by some roping exercises where Timpson and Romeo practice roping a mechanical “calf” being pulled behind an ATV.
This is where the trust that he began to form with Romeo blooms into something magical. Where cowboy and horse start to think and move alike.
A day like this is all he ever wanted, Timpson said.
“The thing I love about training horses is that there’s always something new to learn,” he said. “Every day is different. Every horse is different. I feel like I’m one of the luckiest people in the world. Every day I love waking up and going to work.”