Cain Quam Autobiography

I was born in southern Saskatchewan. I started riding before I was old enough to walk. My father would set me on the saddle in front of him and we would go checking the cows. By the time I was walking, I was riding my pony sugar by myself. I started my first colt when I was 8 and I have never looked back.

I'm a 4th generation horse trainer, so you could say I come by it honestly. I found I was intrigued and inspired by my Grandfather, Bill Gomersall, an old-time cowboy whose endless wealth of knowledge and patience seemed to be just short of magical. I decided, like my Grandfather, to spend my life a-horseback.

My mother and father were rodeo stock contractors so I learned at an early age how to handle wild horses. I learned and developed the subtle communication needed to handle these sensitive horses. This laid the foundation for the communication and feel I would use in my training. After I left home I spent some time rodeoing semi-pro. I rode bulls, saddle bronc and bareback horses, as well as roping a few steers. After some time I realized that training horses was more fulfilling than trying to out do them in the rodeo arena. So I quit rodeoing and concentrated solely on the love of my life - working with horses.

I worked for several large ranches and several government lease pastures where a-horseback I cared for thousands of head of cattle. Because of my background as a rodeo cowboy, I was labeled as a man who could ride the rough string. Because of this label I got a lot of problem horses "broncs and spooks". With a little time and patience, the majority of these callused horses turned out good. As a result of this I found myself getting more and more problem horses. It was a tough way to make a living, but it was invaluable as far as experience. These horses didn't allow for mistakes. Eventually people started to realize that if I could help a problem horse, I should be able to do much more with a horse who had a fresh mind.

I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with excellent cowboys and horse people all my life. With an open and inquisitive mind I traveled the country, taking every opportunity to work with and learn from every horse person I could. As time went on I started to realize the horses were the teacher and I was the student. With this realization I started to talk less and listen more to what my horses had to say. This changed my life dramatically. Never before was I so in tune with my horses. My strive for perfection never ends, and I find my horse vocabulary grows larger with every horse I meet.

People eventually started to ask me to teach them how to communicate with their horses. I found this very rewarding and stimulating. I found that explaining and teaching other people to communicate better with their horses, gave me an even greater understanding of what I was doing.

August 23, 1997 I married Roberta, a wonderful woman who shared my love of horses and the life that goes along with it. I decided to quit riding the government pasture and just train horses full-time so that I could be closer to my new bride. In the spring of 1998 we bought our own place southeast of Regina, Saskatchewan. In fall of 1998 we had our first addition to our family - Cheyenne. In fall of 2000 our second daughter Jaelynn was born. We have begun to specialize in the performance horses. We currently are training and showing several reining, pleasure, cutting, and reined cow horses. The rest is the future, and one never knows what this may bring, but one thing is for sure, you will find us with the horses.