CAPTURING THE COWBOY CULTURE; TURQUOISE TRAIL WRANGLERS 4-H CLUB EARN NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR PRESERVING A WAY OF LIFE.

Byline: ANA MARIA TRUJILLO

The kids of the Turquoise Trail Wranglers 4-H club have reached national fame after being featured in this month's Western Horseman. Kyle Partain, associate editor of the magazine, came to Santa Fe in March to spend a few days with club leaders, Rick Ianucci and Nancy De Santis, at their home and ranch off N.M. 14 to gather information for his five-page article in the issue, titled "Future Stockmen of the Turquoise Trail."

Some of the kids who were interviewed and photographed for the story weren't nervous at all. Especially not the outgoing Cris Ianucci, 14, who helped found the club with her father.

"It's kind of an ego boost," Cris said with a big grin. "It makes you feel really good about yourself and what you're doing even though you're not doing it for the glitz and the glamour. It makes you take a step back and think, 'Wow, this is something that makes an impact.' "

Shaniah Borrego, 12, is featured in a full-page photograph in the magazine.

"It feels really special," Shaniah said.

"I just thought it was really exciting because I've never been in a magazine," said Matthew Flores, 13.

"It's cool that everybody can know more about 4-H and the people that are in it," said Brandon Clare, 9.

"I was tickled," Ianucci said about being featured in the magazine. "(When) we can see these kids lifted up, I'm overjoyed. They're young people with a lot of integrity. They're great athletes, and they're the future. They're our promise to the future."

Perfect fit

Years ago, Ianucci saw that Cris needed another outlet in addition to the rodeo princess stuff she was already doing. She looked into other 4-H clubs in the area, but none specifically focused on horses and rodeo work, which is what she was looking for. She said she also wanted to connect with other kids who had similar interests.

"We tried out (other clubs) for a year or two, and we just realized that a lot of the kids in those clubs were doing a lot of different things than we were interested in," Cris said. "We decided that we should come up with our own club ourselves that centered around what the community is known for We decided to dedicate a club to horsemanship, horses and rodeo. From there it grew and grew."

The club -- which focuses on things like reining, roping and working with cattle -- has been active for three years and has grown to include more than 20 members. Members aren't required to know anything about horses. They don't even have to own one. "It's more of a teaching group," Cris said.

"If you have a skill and you have a gift and you don't share it, God will take it away from you," Ianucci said. "We had the talent and we had the desire and just decided to do something that everyone in the community could benefit by -- at least the 4-H'ers in the community."

Matthew hadn't ever been around horses when he joined a year go, and now he is working with the bulls and showing some of the newbies the ropes.

"Matthew is probably the greenest of them all," said his mom, Angela Ortiz-Flores. "We don't have a ranch, we don't have horses, but everyone in this club has been so supportive in guiding, teaching and sharing with him."

Shaniah wasn't into sewing and baking, said her dad, Bobby Borrego. "We were into horses and the Western way, and this (club) was just perfect," Borrego said.

It's not all work. The club members often take trips to local festivals together and do some volunteering. The group is getting ready to volunteer for the equine therapy program for veterans called Horses for Heroes.

"The dream has turned into the reality," Ianucci said. "It's better than we dreamed it was going to be. We've got great kids, great parents and great friends."

Arena dedication

The tight-knit group was devastated when they lost one of their own -- Chad Winters -- in January. Winters, who often volunteered for the club, died in a car accident, and the group wanted to do something remember him.

"He was a old time 4-H'er and was one of my leaders," Ianucci said. "Everybody who knew this young man knew him to be a stand-up guy. He had a lot of loyalty and integrity to the max. He was a good-as-gold kid."

Ianucci and De Santis had already been working on an arena on their property, which they completed July 4 and named the Chad Winters Memorial Arena. A dedication celebration was held Oct. 18.

"We want our kids to be inspired by his memory," Ianucci said. "Hopefully they'll take a little bit of Chad with them into that arena."

A way of life

According to the story in Western Horseman, the club offers various classes and workshops to teach its members about Western culture. The courses cover such things as chuck wagon cooking, horse photography and Western art, in addition to doing rodeo work with horses and bulls.

It's a culture that Cris said is dying out -- especially in her generation

"It's rare that you can see real cowboys like my dad and Mr. Borrego," Cris said as she sipped hot chocolate in the family dining room. She nodded over to her father, who was dressed like the cowboy he is -- jeans, boots and a stiff cowboy hat. "In the culture we live in now, it's a very forgotten way of life. It's almost necessary and important to remember it. If you don't, in a couple of years, the fact that we have the setup we have now is going to be amazing and a lot of the land out there that is farm and ranch land is going to be used up and become megaplexes."

The educational workshops are general part of the club's monthly meetings. Cris invites all kids who are "interested in this kind of lifestyle and wanting to learn to preserve this lifestyle," because they are "always welcome."

For more information about the club, visit http://turquoise trailwranglers4hclub.blogspot.com.

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or [e-mail].