A Passion not a Pastime: Deveraux family dedicates daily life to training good, honest, versatile horses

Newcastle resident Craig Deveraux’s life has been a whirlwind of chasing his biggest dreams and living out his greatest passions. 

Unlike many Wyoming cattlemen, Craig wasn’t born into a ranching family, but this didn’t stop him from achieving his lofty ambitions. In 1995, Craig obtained some leased land and bought some cattle because they were cheap. 

“The first cattle I ever bought were 650 weight steers that cost 50 cents,” he shares. “It looked like we might get a spike in the market, so I started leasing as much country and buying as many cattle as I could.”

“I started buying real cheap bred heifers. At the time, a bred heifer was around $500 to $600, so I kept purchasing leases and wound up taking care of the place we have now for the people who owned it,” he continues. “I ran half of the cattle and they ran the other half.” 

Craig explains the couple decided to sell out the following year and he was able to make a deal on the property. 

“I sold all of my cows to make the down payment,” he laughs. “And now I run a little bit of everything – a few hundred cow/calf pairs, some yearlings and other cows we’ve taken in – on about half and half private-leased ground, a forest service permit and two deeded lots.” 

Living out a passion

For Craig, owning and operating a ranch has been a dream come true, but over the years he has found an even deeper passion in horses and has now been in charge of the Full House Horse Sale for over a decade.

“I got started with the Leo Perino Horse Sale, and my old partner was Leo’s granddaughter Jill Pischke,” Craig explains. “When Leo passed, his boys took over and I was selling horses and helping out. The boys phased out of it, so Jill and I picked it up and changed the name and a few other things about it.” 

Craig notes life got busy for Jill as well, and eventually the sale was turned over to him and his family.

Today, he and his wife Jolene, along with their three kids Abi, Cooper and Jake eat, sleep and breathe all things horses. 

“The family doesn’t separate the horse sale from daily life. The horse sale is daily life,” reads the Full House Horse Sale website. “This is not the family’s job or a pastime hobby. Training good, honest horses is an obsession, a passion, and the sale is a dream that has come to fruition and an opportunity to live out this passion.” 

“This isn’t anything we wouldn’t do if we didn’t have a sale because we are horseback every day anyway,” Craig states. 

Building a legacy 

The Deveraux family’s dedication is evident in the impressive collection of rope, rodeo and ranch horses offered through the Full House Horse Sale, which boasts some of the most versatile mounts in the region. 

“There are some other good, grassroots ranch horse sales in Wyoming, but what sets us apart from those is the performance end of our sale,” Craig states. “We offer extremely experienced ranch horses that are also seasoned as rope horses, barrel horses and performance horses.” 

“And, what sets us apart from other performance horse sales around is the versatility and ranch horse end of our sale,” he adds. “None of these horses are going to be surprised when you go out and rope a big mama cow, gallop across a creek or wade through a deep pond.” 

Craig reiterates the versatility of horses offered through the Full House Horse Sale, noting it wouldn’t be possible without returning consignors who are some of the area’s best horsemen and women, as well as each and every member of his family.

“Jake was going to school in Gillette so I would shuffle him horses back and forth. I would ranch on them here for a few years and then send them over to him so he could haul them to ropings,” Craig shares. “Now he is up in Dillon, Mont. He has a four-horse trailer so he can only take four horses, but he will be back in the spring to help us get ready.” 

With Jake so far away, Craig notes he and Cooper have taken on a heavier work load. 

“We saddle horses every morning to gather calves and we have an indoor barn that we can rope or work cattle in,” he says. “Cooper will probably take some horses down to Arizona to rope on as well.”

Additionally, Craig notes his daughter Abi lives in town and works full time at the bank, but on weekends and in her free time she can be found back on the ranch. 

Maintaining

a high standard

According to Craig, the Deverauxs offer between 50 and 60 high-quality horses during their Full House Horse Sale, held at the Weston County Fairgrounds in Newcastle every spring.

“We have changed the dates a few times throughout history because it conflicted with some things we couldn’t miss, but right now and for the past three years, we have held the sale every third Saturday in May,” he says. 

Additionally, the family holds two fall sales – a breeders prospect sale and a second Full House Sale. 

“Next year, our plan is to combine these two sales,” Craig shares. “We want to have a big two-day sale some time around the third week of September where we host a preview and loose horse sale on Friday morning; then the riding, performance and ranch horse sale on Friday afternoon and a colt sale on Saturday at noon.” 

Regardless of the sale format, customers of the Deveraux family can be sure the horses they purchase are sound, honest and versatile. 

“It is important our horses learn to move and perform correctly and at an extremely high level,” reads the family’s website. “Excellent horsemanship is a pillar of the Full House Horse Sale. It’s a standard we hold ourselves to and we deeply pride ourselves in bringing to the Full House Horse Sale offering.” 

For more information on the Deveraux family and the Full House Horse Sale, visit fullhousehorsesale.com.

Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.