Dan Eddleman

One wonders how some people do what they do. Dan Eddleman is one of those people. He was blessed to be born a cowboy with horse sense like few others. He was on the cover of the Quarter Horse Journal’s 10th Anniversary Edition, when he was only 5. Some of that gift was passed down from his mother Jimmie Lue and his Papa, Warren Shoemaker, but part of it was by his will alone. While at times it came close to narcissism, there was never a doubt in his mind that he could do whatever he set his mind to do.

People sometimes look at a person like Dan and think he was privileged. What they do not understand is that he worked harder, longer and smarter than almost anyone to gain the success he knew. And, as hard as he could work, he could play. When Dan was being funny, the laughter brought all around him to tears. From the “Snake on the Plane” with Chris Lybert, to the “limpid” monkey on the strip in Las Vegas, Dan was part of an elite band of cowboys, along with his cousin Arlen, that played as hard as they rodeoed.

When the family ranch was being foreclosed by the bank, Dan was the force behind getting it back. When the bank told him no to a loan, he drove every day to Billings and sat outside the loan officer’s office for weeks on end. A rational person would have given up. Not Dan. Tenacity? Bullheadedness? Of course. But there was more. That banker could see he would never give up, and that is a rare quality. When he recovered the Oarlock, he knew that could not be the end. With hard work and rolls of Copenhagen and huge cups of iced tea, he would conquer the West. And he did.

From the Oarlock and Tongue River Ranches in Montana, to the Matador and the other ranches in Texas, to the Slash D and Pine River Ranches in Oregon, to the Monster Lake Ranch in Wyoming, he along with his beautiful family — Sandy, his Mom Jimmie Lue and finally the joy of his life, Mattie Lue — worked, built and sold some of the prettiest places on earth. It was said he bought and sold ranches like most cowboys buy and sell horses. Was it easy? Absolutely not, but it was in his blood to do the next deal.

Dan went on trail rides with the movers and shakers of industry, yet he was probably more comfortable with an old grizzled cowboy that was down on his luck. He was a walking contradiction sometimes. He had a habit of befriending ne’er-do-wells, and he could take the best hand ever and eventually run them off, while letting a no-good lowlife stay. Why? Nobody knows, but it was probably because underneath the tuff gruff exterior, was a heart that loved an underdog.

A four wheeler got the best of him at Monster Lake, and things began to change. The injuries were severe, and he never quite recovered. Was hard on him? Yes, and all that were around him. But his life was blessed with his beautiful daughter Mattie and her newfound beau, Nash. He watched them work harder than even he had to build a life of their own. The joy he felt when they brought their love to the Bliss Camp at the Oarlock to be married he may not have been able to express, but that final dance will live on with his memory and in our hearts forever.

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