Expert horseman reflects on lifetime love of equines

Dave Gamble strides across the arena with purpose, guiding a red roan in a circle with the movement of his body and a flick of the rope. The horse skirts away from him and then stops, but Gamble doesn’t let up. He continues encouraging the horse to move from its hind end and after only a few moments, the young equine begins responding to his cues.

Gamble is a master of this brand of ebb and flow, of wordless communication between horse and human. On an overcast Saturday afternoon, a small gathering of riders convened inside an arena at Standing Heart Ranch in Whitefish to learn from the expert himself. Gamble has made a name for himself teaching horsemanship clinics and private lessons after decades spent learning from greats like Buck Brannaman.

But there was a time many years ago when Gamble wasn’t so different from the folks before him.

He, too, was once young and inexperienced, but what did have, even in his early years, was passion.

AS A youngster, Gamble came home reeking of the stables, much to the chagrin of his parents. His father, an investment manager turned competitive sailor, had no idea where his son’s yearning for all things equine came from, but there was no doubting it. From the tender age of 8, he knew horses would be a cornerstone of his life.

Gamble grew up in Northern Michigan, where summertime transit on the peninsula consisted of horse and buggy teams.

“We used to run around as little kids and hitchhike on those buggies,” he recalled.

Once the drivers had finished for the day, Gamble followed them to back the barn. He was just a kid then — maybe 8 or 10 years old — but they put him to work and he was glad for it. He helped put the horses away and even shoveled the stalls — anything he could do to be part of that world. A couple of years later, he came to Montana for the first time when his father and his partners pooled their money to purchase a large ranch in the Paradise Valley. A pivotal moment occurred one day when he was watching cowboys move a group of heifers into the barn.

“I remember one day sitting on a fence post — I could still take you to that post today,” Gamble said. “There was a cowboy riding around on a saddle horse and he was bringing all the hot heifers into the barn and I just thought one day, I’m going to do that.”

As soon as Gamble got his driver’s license, he began road tripping from Michigan to Montana in the summers where he took a job on a ranch doing everything from moving hay bales to fixing fence. He gave college the old college try, but after a year in school, Gamble was certain that path wasn’t for him. Instead, he signed up for outfitter school in Hamilton. He loved being outdoors and thought, what better way to make a living than hunting and fishing every day?

While his fellow hands went off to party after a long day’s work, Gamble stayed back to chat with the owner to learn about the business and how he hunted. Gamble put that knowledge into practice.

A few years later, Gamble learned of a hunting camp on the market on the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park. He and a partner made the 16-mile ride in to meet the owner, a man everyone called The Silver Fox. After three days exploring the location, it was time for Gamble to go. The only problem was that an early snowstorm had rolled in and they were direly unprepared. He set out with just a jean jacket for warmth and no clue where he was headed.

“I learned that day just what a horse could actually do. The trail was blown shut …and I was always told if you don't know where you’re going, you let go of the horse and let the horse lead the way. The horse led us up that trail, we got over the 10,000-foot divide,” Gamble said. “We were damn cold … There was a chance there we might not have made it if something went wrong. We were so ill-prepared.”

Despite the harrowing return journey, Gamble was sold on the camp. He purchased what became Mountain Trail Outfitters in 1982, and with a few extra hands and some advertising, business grew quickly.

“We started killing some pretty big bulls — and consistently,” Gamble said. “I hunted elk from the first of September to the 15th of December every day for 25 years. That's all I did for a living was hunt and fish. Period, end of story.”

HORSES WERE a part of that journey — they packed in and out every season, and made intermittent supply runs on horseback, too. But Gamble’s focus didn’t shift toward horsemanship until the purchase of one special mare.

The owner said he’d only sell the mare to Gamble if he agreed to attend a horsemanship clinic with famous horseman Buck Brannaman. Brannaman travels the world teaching clinics with a focus on establishing effective communication between horse and rider and a deep understanding of the horse’s perspective.

After the first 15 minutes with Brannaman, Gamble realized how much he needed the skills Brannaman was teaching.

“I couldn't get my horse in or out of the trailer,” Gamble recalled of his early years. Over time, he became quite the horseman himself, constantly working to improve his skills under expert guidance from Brannaman and Ray Hunt.

“I’m always trying to get better, and most people don't want to do that until something happens,” Gamble explained.

But despite maturing into an expert rider himself, Gamble never set out to become a teacher.

His students found him instead.

IN 2008, Gamble and his wife relocated to the Flathead Valley and today own and operate Standing Heart Ranch in Whitefish. A couple of gals stopped by to ride one day and after seeing what Gamble could do, insisted on bringing several friends over. At his first cow working clinic, more than double the number of riders that Gamble could handle showed up. The interest from the community was there and so was Gamble’s passion for helping others become better horsemen.

“A lot of it is feel, timing and balance, and getting some of these people to understand where the horse is coming from,” he said.

Gamble now teaches lessons and holds regular clinics, including this month’s colt starting workshop, held every Saturday afternoon at the ranch.

”It’s on how to handle the horse, what the horse needs to survive and what the horse needs to be comfortable with you,” Gamble explained. “If you can make them feel comfortable, they’ll do anything you ask of them. Period.”

For Gamble, the rewards come from watching rider-horse pairs transform before his eyes.

“When they finally figure something out, it's really rewarding. It’s almost spiritual for some. The most humbling thing to me is people still think I have something to offer to them,” he said. “I don’t think I ever take for granted when I change somebody’s life.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss may be reached at 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.