Meet The Team
Mike Larsen
Hallie Neuens
Johnny Silva
Mike is what you would call a mountain lovin' man. As a professional guide and outdoor enthusiast Mike has traveled many miles in the high country hunting deer, elk and other big game. Mike's interest in becoming a better horseman has made him a valued partner to 2Rank 2Ride. These 3 amigos are loyal the the American Mustang and all they
Mike is what you would call a mountain lovin' man. As a professional guide and outdoor enthusiast Mike has traveled many miles in the high country hunting deer, elk and other big game. Mike's interest in becoming a better horseman has made him a valued partner to 2Rank 2Ride. These 3 amigos are loyal the the American Mustang and all they offer. This partnership is dedicated to the preservation and useful growth of mustangs
Johnny Silva
Hallie Neuens
Johnny Silva
Johnny Silva is a cowboy from his toes to his nose. Most comfortable on the back of a horse he spent 30 years jumping off of them as a professional rodeo cowboy competing in the steer wrestling event. After his decision to hang up his rodeo spurs he decided to focus on a lifestyle that utilized a horseman. Shoeing and training horses is h
Johnny Silva is a cowboy from his toes to his nose. Most comfortable on the back of a horse he spent 30 years jumping off of them as a professional rodeo cowboy competing in the steer wrestling event. After his decision to hang up his rodeo spurs he decided to focus on a lifestyle that utilized a horseman. Shoeing and training horses is his passion now. John and a few friends designed a mustang training program called 2Rank 2Ride. The focus is to train mustangs to provide an affordable platform for the horse lover to find good honest versatile horses. 2Rank 2Ride also puts its energy and resources helping people become better trainers.
Hallie Neuens
Hallie Neuens
Hallie Neuens
Hallie is a registered nurse and life long friend of John Silva. It's a brother sister connection from back in their rodeo days. As the granddaughter of Mel Stonhouse, Hallie is no rookie in the horse world. She has produced horse sales. Developed performance horse programs, worked cows and is a true complement to women of the western li
Hallie is a registered nurse and life long friend of John Silva. It's a brother sister connection from back in their rodeo days. As the granddaughter of Mel Stonhouse, Hallie is no rookie in the horse world. She has produced horse sales. Developed performance horse programs, worked cows and is a true complement to women of the western life. As head administrator and Merch development and sales for 2Rank 2Ride she is no stranger to the saddle.
2Rank2Ride - About Us
Our Mission
No mustang is too rank to ride. That is the philosophy behind John Silva’s wild horse training program in Powell.
Silva, a Casper native who rodeoed professionally for 30 years, shifted his focus from performance horses to versatile, everyday horses that can perform in the backcountry. This transition laid the foundation for 2 Rank 2 Ride.
After watching Silva’s ability to ride “trashy horses in the backcountry,” Michael Larson and Hallie Neuens were inspired to learn more about training rank horses.
So, Silva developed an intern program to teach the knowledge he’s acquired over a lifetime of riding horses and farriering. The program, 2 Rank 2 Ride, focuses on taking Bureau of Land Management wild horses and training them for others at a reasonable price, in the process also giving interns hands-on experience breaking mustangs. In the future, they plan to sell broke horses to private treaty buyers.
“We take BLM mustangs and we bring them into our training program, and we try to utilize our platform to maybe alleviate some pressure from BLM,” Silva said.
The BLM and the U.S. Forest Service have the responsibility to manage and protect wild horse herds in their respective jurisdictions, according to the BLM website.
“The BLM controls herd growth through the application of fertility measures, such as birth control, and through the periodic removals of excess animals and the placement of those animals into private care,” the site says.
“I want people to understand that we’re not taking things from the wild. We’re taking things that have always been taken from the wild,” Neuens said. “We definitely understand and respect the wild and the wild horses.”
Silva has a long history with horses. Since childhood, he’d help on his family’s Montana ranch during the summer months. He continued his horsemanship rodeoing at Northwest College and finally competed for 30 years in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
Until recently, Silva hadn’t paid much attention to BLM horses until his farrier clientele introduced the idea of mustangs to him.
“[Mustangs] definitely have mountain covering skills, and they’re dirty and wicked tough,” he said. “I mean they’re just mule-tough.”
In addition to their hardy nature, Silva says mustangs are readily available and reasonably priced.
However, the 2 Rank 2 Ride team also faced challenges with BLM wild horses. Silva said there was a sharp learning curve when breaking wild horses compared to their domestic counterparts.
“You’ve got to find that window to their soul, and then you got to wait for them to open the door before you try to step in,” Silva said.
The wild horses also require a different training process. 2 Rank 2 Ride’s program emphasizes patience and understanding of the wild horse’s unique problem-solving abilities.
“City kid versus a kid that was raised in the Bronx,” Neuens said of the difference between mustangs and domestic horses. “These Mustangs are just entirely different. They’ve been there, done that.”
Silva and his team also faced challenges with the aesthetic value of the BLM wild horses. “They look a little ratty-tailed. You’re not thinking of a fine athletic specimen when you see them,” Silvia said.
Nonetheless, the team plans to exceed past challenges. The program intends to use funds from merchandise to support the training program. Next week, the team will head to the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo. Their goal focuses on raising awareness and generating traffic to their online store, currently under construction.
The 2 Rank 2 Ride team will also host a finished BLM horse giveaway. The mustang will undergo a year of training. Customers who purchase merchandise will be entered into a drawing to win the horse this spring. The team also hopes to engage an active social media following that will highlight the giveaway horse’s progression.
“I mean he’s way cool looking,” Silva said about the horse. “He’s extremely gentle.”
Silva intends to use social media to bring people and horses together.
“[Our social media platform] will build another synergistic network of like-minded or like-interested people to collectively come together to share practices and pull ideas,” Silva said.
Ultimately, Silva looks forward to helping the 2 Rank 2 Ride team progress in transforming wild BLM horses into finished horses that can take on anything from the backcountry to ranch work, “from sagebrush to safety,” Silva said.
He noted the positive influence horses have in his own life as well.
“I’m happiest when I’m in the saddle,” Silva said. “I hope it’s changing me for the better.”
Viewers can look for updates on the giveaway horse and the program at the 2 Rank 2 Ride Facebook page. Social media followers can also gain “a little taste of how we do it out here in Wyoming,” he said.
“It’s the western lifestyle that we love. So it’s not anything that we wouldn’t be doing every day,” Neuens added.