By Tom Smith
The weathered face and hands of Ken Treadway reminds one of worn wooden bucking chutes and heavy iron hinges. Ken Treadway is a third generation stock contractor. When he was a boy, Madison Square Garden was the big show and rodeos traveled the country by rail. He can remember horses being unloaded from stock cars at the train depot. In the forty years that Ken has been in business he has seen a lot of changes in the sport of rodeo; changes that Ken has helped to bring about. I don�t think anyone could deny that Ken Treadway has helped improve the quality of rodeos east of the Mississippi.
After all these years he shows no evidence of slowing down. In 2005 at the 35th International Finals Rodeo he was awarded the �most active stock contractor of the year�. This indicates he had produced more rodeos than any other producer. Ken is a two times IPRA Stock Contractor / Producer of the Year. Over the course of his career he has won more awards than can be mentioned. Treadway livestock is known through out the rodeo industry. World Champion Bareback Horse, Bucking Bo, World Champion Saddle Bronc Horses, Big Sky and Cherokee Maid and twice World Champion Bucking Bull, Matador wears the Treadway brand along with several IFR Champions and countless IFR qualifiers. Ken also served on the IPRA board of Governors for eight years. When asked about his status as a professional stock contractor, he just smiles and says �I�m just a horse trader who puts on a few rodeos.�
Rodeo has been a constant in Ken�s life. He smiled as he reminisced about his childhood, �I was probably ten years old before I realized that everyone didn�t put on rodeos. When I was ten or eleven I helped take a load of horses to the old Greenville Memorial Auditorium in South Carolina. It was the first indoor rodeo I had ever been to. I remember telling my mom that it felt like I was at Madison Square Garden.�
Ken�s career as a rodeo contestant was short. He rode bulls and bucking horses but wasn�t able to compete on a professional level because he was always working the events for his father and grandfather. Ken was sorting bulls and flanking horses when he was barely ten years old. One event brings both a smile and a painful grimace to his face. His grandfather had a big stout gray bronc named Meko. Ken was under strict orders to make sure that he pulled a lot of flank in the horse. The bronc was so strong that he would take the strap away from the flank-man before it was pulled tight enough. Ken stood ready while the rider pulled his saddle and measured his bronc rein. Heeding his grandfathers warning Ken wedged his Sears and Roebuck boots (long before Lucchese and Boulet were in fashion) between the wooden slats and squeezed the latigo flank strap tightly in his hands. The big bronc blew out of the chute with such force it almost took young Ken with him. He held on to the flank until he could hear the crunching sound of his toes being crushed between the wooden boards. He worked the rest of rodeo crippled with pain afraid to remove his boots. He grins about the incident now but said he learned a valuable lesson.
Horse trading comes natural for Ken. He was raised in the trade following in the footsteps of his grandfather, and it has provided a good life for him and his family. I asked how he got into the horse trading business. He said when he was around eleven or twelve he worked the summer in a neighbor�s tobacco field. He received $35 for the entire summer effort. On payday he stuffed the hard earned summer wages into the pocket of his overalls and started home. On the way home he passed a farm house. There was a bay mare tied to a tree in the front yard. The boy studied the horse for a moment and then walked up and knocked on the door. He asked the owner how much it would cost to purchase the mare. The owner, a little put off by the solicitation, told Ken the he would sell the mare for $35. The savvy farm boy made a counter offer of �I�ll give you $25 dollars if you throw in a bridle.� The owner made a bewildered response, �You really have $25 dollars?� Ken handed the man the money, put the bridle on the mare and rode home. The next day he rode the mare to the livestock sale. �I sold that mare for $65�and haven�t worked in a tobacco field since.�
When the boy grew to a man the love for horses never left. Ken�s eyes sparkle when he talks about his equine friends. �The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man. I love them�� His wife Pam says that she has to call him in from the barn almost every night. �Ken would get up in the middle of the night, and drive five hundred miles out of his way to look at a prospect. His knowledge of the animals extends far past the rodeo arena. He knows breeding and blood lines. He is a true horseman. Ken and Pam are known for their famous Paint horse grand entries. They are both very active in the American Paint Horse Association which recently featured the pair on the cover of the magazine. They also were selected to produce the opening of the APHA World Show celebrating 40 years in Paint horse history.
Over the years Ken has seen a lot of cowboys come and go. Every cowboy I know has a Ken Treadway story. His unique voice is imitated by lots of comedians and funny men and is always recognized with a big smile. Stories of stale danish breakfasts and bologna sandwich suppers are humorously remembered by hands that have stayed in the Treadway bunkhouse. Judge Jim Halpin has worked for Ken and has been friends for twenty years. His admiration for the man was obvious when he stated that �Ken won�t ask us to do anything that he wouldn�t do himself.� �He is always positive, and makes you feel like you can do anything�� Bullfighter Micah Phillips agreed and added �Ken can make you think you could hang from the rafters on a piece of dental string�I�ve learned an awful lot from him. I�m often amazed at his mind, it�s almost photogenic. He never forgets a horse or bull once he has studied one.�
The men who travel with him� almost 200 thousand miles a year� poke fun at the fact that Ken probably only drives about twenty miles out of the 200,000. He�s always in the passenger seat� �Ken is so adapt at traveling that he can take his left foot and adjust the heater without anyone ever noticing. He can ride twenty hours and bounce up wide awake and ready to work, even if it�s 30 degrees and sleeting.� When you ride for the KT brand you figure out pretty quick that there is the �Right way the Wrong way and the Tread way.�
Four Times World Champion Bull Rider Dennis Morris jokes �I would have won five world titles if Ken hadn�t thrown me off so many bulls�� Dennis an active stock contractor in his own right has always been impressed by Ken and the entire Treadway organization. �Ken probably puts on fifty to sixty rodeos a year. He and Pam will put the same effort into a three hundred dollar added rodeo as they do a two thousand dollar added rodeo. The professionalism is always there, even when he has three or four shows on the same weekend. I rode bulls for over eighteen years, and have never been to a bad Treadway production.� �Ken takes care of his livestock, how much he spends on feed has always impressed me. Ken has probably loaned stock to every contractor on the east coast, and has helped a lot of them get started. He�s been a big influence on my career and has helped me out a lot, with stock and with advice.�
Ken remembers 48 year old cowboy Harold Miller when he was just a kid. �I remember Harold drawing a bull as a teenager and being scared to death. I told him he could ride the bull, he ended up winning first place�Harold grew into one of the toughest cowboys I�ve ever known. He has helped a lot of kids get started, and has been real good for the sport as a whole.� Harold will tell you, �When it comes to bucking horses Ken Treadway is the first name that comes to mind. I�m sure glad I was able to find the bronc �Miller Time� for him. No one appreciates a good bronc like Ken. He never bucks a horse twice the same weekend. Mr. Treadway and I go way back. I�m proud to know him.�
World Champion Bull Rider Jerome Davis remembers his first Ken Treadway rodeo. Jerome recalls Ken being sore at him for over riding a bull and challenged the high school age �spur happy� kid to come to the next one. �I was pretty cocky, but remember thinking I had just messed up� One time Ken threw me off and I was pretty upset and was stomping around. Ken came up, put his arm around me and told me �Son, don�t act that way, sometimes you win, sometimes I win. Tonight it was my turn, that�s all�next time maybe you will win.� Jerome remembers the exchange with a smile.
Tom Smith remembers Ken always making room to exhibition a bareback horse no matter how crowded the performance was. I don�t care which horse it was he always said �I got you a good one, she�ll just jump and kick down the pen�. He always thanked me for coming, and had a kind word about my ride even when I landed on my head. A few years ago Ken came up to the panels where I was reminiscing and watching the action. I guess he read my eyes, because he squeezed my shoulder and said �Son, you could ride those bucking horses�� I may not have a trophy room full of buckles and saddles� but with memories like that I don�t suppose I need them. I know that I�m speaking for a lot of people when I say� thanks Ken Treadway�. Thanks for providing us a place to dream and for helping us grow up to be cowboys.