Doug Williamson: Defying the Odds

Trials and Triumphs

In 1987, Doug was showing a talented young stallion named Montana Lynx when he received a devastating report. He was diagnosed with cancer, and the disease progressed to the point that doctors expected him to die.

“At first, I thought I had a wart on my lip,” Doug says. “I used to smoke three to four packs of cigarettes a day, and then I chewed, too. At the time I thought nothing would happen to me because I was ‘bulletproof.’”

After doctors removed the affected tissue on his lip, the cancer quickly spread into one of the lymph nodes in his neck. Despite another surgery to remove cancerous tissue, and numerous rounds of radiation, Doug found himself at death’s door in a matter of weeks.

“I got down to 90 pounds,” says Doug, who normally weighed 165 pounds. “Bobby Avila rode Montana Lynx for me at the [AQHA] World Show [finishing reserve in the junior cutting], and he came to see me in the hospital. I didn’t even know it because I was plumb out of it. The doctor told him, ‘We’re afraid he’s going to be dead by Saturday,’ and it was a Wednesday.”

Little did Avila, Doug or the doctors know that Doug was already receiving an alternative form of medication called Indian Mud, or black salve. The Native American remedy, harvested from a
plant called blood root, has earned rave reviews by proponents of holistic treatment, while some critics in the field of medicine say it can be ineffective and sometimes harmful.

“A friend of mine named Dennis Charters had been driving 30 miles from his ranch every day to shove that down my throat, unbeknownst to any of the doctors,” Doug says. “He’d had cancer, and it saved his life. Within two or three weeks I was walking around, and then I walked out of there. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Dennis.

“I still take it today. Every three months I’ll take a vial of it for 30 days. I’m not going to die of cancer.”

During the winter of 1988, Doug began making his comeback, even though it was a painful process. He had become so thin that only his jeans and skin separated the saddle from his seat bones, so he used a bicycle inner tube as padding for weeks. In April and May of 1988, he and Montana Lynx won a couple of small cuttings. In June, weighing just 125 pounds, he rode the horse to win the reserve title at the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association’s Classic Challenge in Reno, Nevada, with a 223, earning $7,555.

Through the years, Doug has encountered his share of horse wrecks. At the 2008 Snaffle Bit Futurity, when he was 66, his mare Smart Miss Merada slipped and fell while he was circling a cow. Close friend and cow horse trainer Ron Emmons was also there showing horses when it happened, but didn’t realize that Doug had broken nine ribs and punctured a lung.

“We didn’t know it until afterward,” Emmons recalls. “He struggled through it, the hole [in his lung] eventually healed up, and now his lungs are fine. It’s another one of his determination stories.”

Emmons adds that a fierce competitive nature has driven Doug his entire life.

“I tease him all the time, telling him that if we were at a show somewhere and they were giving a rusty pocket knife, he’d go try to win it,” Emmons says. “He is that way. But that’s what makes him a great showman. And at that age, he’s still got that competitive edge.

“Whenever Doug is going down the fence, you’d better stop and go watch him. The contestants even do that. It gets exciting and you know something is going to happen. He doesn’t put a lot of mechanics on his horses. He just allows them to cow and be aggressive.”

Gorrell adds that Doug works to keep up with modern styles of training and showing, sharing his advice while seeking insight from other trainers.

“He’s always in tune to that,” Gorrell says. “He’s gotten far because he is open-minded.”

The horse show world is an all-consuming lifestyle, and Doug admits that his drive and passion have contributed to several failed marriages.

“I’ve always been a go-getter, so they say,” he says. “But I have a good relationship with every lady I was married to. And I love my kids. I have two boys and two girls, and have grandkids and a great-grandson. Most of them are in Idaho, and we go see them.”

Doug adds that his wife, Carol, understands the nature of training and showing horses, and she has been his biggest supporter since they began dating nearly 20 years ago. They were married 12 years ago.

“She can keep up with me really well,” he says. “She’s a tough competitor herself. We’re just a really good team, and if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be doing this still.”

When Doug arrives at the Snaffle Bit Futurity later this month, he will have four top-notch 3-year-olds to ride and a grueling schedule to keep. Most trainers begin working their horses around 2 a.m., then stay busy showing all day. Doug gets only a few hours of sleep each night during the two-week show.

“We hired out to be tough, so … ,” Doug stops and laughs.

Carol says that Doug is realistic and knows that one day he will have to slow down, but that’s difficult for him to imagine when he thinks about the young horses he has in his barn. He is excited about this year’s 3-year-olds, and he believes he has contenders for the Snaffle Bit Futurity in 2017.

“He still has some achievements he would like to check off his list,” Carol says. “He wants badly to win a [AQHA] world championship. And he would love to win the Futurity again. He’s already excited about his 2-year-olds [that he will show] next year.

“He’s got a lot of good horses, so every year he and I push back the day that he plans to slow down.”

Doug adds that he has high hopes for one of those young prospects in particular.

“I have a 2-year-old gelding by Doc At Night that is a really good horse,” Doug adds. “So I might have a third generation [Snaffle Bit Futurity champion]. That would be kinda neat, wouldn’t it? And he’s black.”

This article was originally published in the September 2016 issue of Western Horseman.