Famous Horse
Trainers

One of Arizona's most decorated horsemen. Multiple AQHA World Champion trainer across reining, working cow horse, and Western pleasure. Based in Scottsdale, Dunning has trained horses and riders to world-championship level across five decades.

Built natural horsemanship into a worldwide franchise. Student of Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, and Ronnie Willis, Parelli developed his signature Seven Games system and grew it into the most recognized horsemanship brand on the planet.

Creator of Join-Up — a gentling technique based on reading equine body language — and author of the bestselling memoir The Man Who Listens to Horses. Trained horses for Queen Elizabeth II and carried natural methods to an international mainstream audience.

Australian-born creator of Downunder Horsemanship — the first clinician to bring horse training to television. Two-time Road to the Horse champion, 300,000+ DVDs sold worldwide, and now competing at elite levels of reined cow horse sport.

America's Most Trusted Horseman. A late starter who discovered horses at 24 and built the most accessible natural horsemanship program in America — training 100,000+ horses, certifying 500+ professional trainers worldwide, and teaching through his landmark book Lyons on Horses and Perfect Horse magazine.

Native Texan, PRCA bull rider turned horseman. Creator of Extreme Cowboy Racing and founder of the EXCA. 2010 Road to the Horse World Champion. Known as "The Cowboy's Clinician" and "Public Defender of the Horse," Cameron runs clinics worldwide from his legendary Double Horn Ranch in Bluff Dale, Texas.

The last great all-around horseman. Three NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity titles, two World's Greatest Horseman crowns, 37 World Championships from halter to reining. AQHA and NRCHA Hall of Famer. Passed away unexpectedly November 9, 2024, at the World Show he never missed.

Eagle Point, Oregon horseman and Bob Avila protégé. Won the 1995 NRHA Open Futurity while still Avila's assistant at age 25. The first rider ever to achieve $2 million status in two different associations. EquiStat Elite $4 Million Rider across reining, cow horse, and cutting.

From a dairy farm in Bergamo to the greatest reining career in history. First European to win the NRHA Open Futurity (2001), youngest ever Million Dollar Rider (2006), NRHA's all-time leading earner at $9M+. WEG 2014 Silver Medalist. NRHA Hall of Fame 2024.

Founding member of the NRHA (1966), four-time NRHA Futurity Champion, three-time Open World Champion, NRHA President, Hall of Famer, and the sport's first Million Dollar Rider. Thirty consecutive years of Futurity finals. Bred and rode the legendary Trashadeous. "The ultimate reiner."

California-born NRHA Million Dollar Rider and 2006 World Equestrian Games Gold Medalist with Team USA. Star of Taylor Sheridan's The Last Cowboy and Yellowstone. Based at Bosque Ranch in Weatherford, Texas. Reining's most recognizable modern public face.

First $2M and first $3M rider in NRHA history. 11 years the NRHA's All-Time Leading Money Earner. Won prize money on 229 different horses. Two WEG Team Gold medals. NRHA Hall of Fame 2000. Owner of Hollywood Dun It and Colonels Smoking Gun. Father of a three-generation NRHA Million Dollar Rider dynasty.

One of reining's most inspiring self-made stories. First NRHA check was $36.28 in 2000. Four NRHA Futurity championships (2012, 2015, 2021, 2025), $6M+ career earnings, star of The Last Cowboy. The Americasnextgunmodel dynasty — rode the mare to the 2012 title, her son Maverick to two more titles, and her son Belissimo to the 2025 title.

Ohio's greatest reiner and reining's all-time earnings leader for 14 years. Seven NRHA Futurity championships, five World Equestrian Games gold medals, NRHA Hall of Fame 2011. The Wimpy's three-generation dynasty: rode Wimpys Little Step, Wimpys Little Chic (the Triple Crown mare), and Andiamoe to the Futurity title. Known worldwide as The Green Shirt.

The only rider in history to win the Level 4 Open of all five major reining events: NRHA Futurity (2017, after 27 years trying), NRHA Derby, NRBC, Congress, and Run for a Million (2019 Co-Champion). NRHA $5M Rider. 3rd all-time. WEG gold and silver medalist. 2019 Horseman of the Year. Star of The Last Cowboy Season 1.

The second-highest earner in NCHA history at $11M+. Two-time NCHA Futurity Champion (High Brow CD 2007; Dual Reyish 2017 — owner met horse and trainer the night before). Two-time World Champion. Three-generation family dynasty from Summerdale, Alabama. Kittennish — “the best horse I've ever ridden” — 2024 Run for a Million Champion.

The NCHA All-Time Leading Open Rider with $11M+ in career earnings — and the first rider in Western performance horse history to cross $10 million. 2010 NCHA Futurity Champion on One Time Royalty (score 230 — barely made semi-finals the night before). Three-time NCHA Leading Money Earner. An unassuming cowboy from Marietta, Oklahoma. Philosophy: “Work hard.”

Rode Special Nu Baby to a world-record-tying 234 in 2015 and the NCHA Open World Championship. 2016 NCHA Futurity Champion on Second Spot. One of only three riders to win two NCHA Horses of the Year. Son of Dick Gaines — the only person in all three NCHA Halls of Fame. “You can't win if you're afraid to lose.”

The only horseman to hold Hall of Fame status in both NCHA cutting and NRCHA reined cow horse. Won the 2007 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity and the 2014 World's Greatest Horseman on the same horse — Oh Cay N Short “Coyote” — seven years apart. First rider in NRCHA history to accomplish that. 2014 NCHA World Finals record composite of 924 points on CR Sun Reys. Patriarch of the Rice dynasty.

Third generation of the Rice dynasty. Won the 2018 NCHA Open World Championship on Hashtags and the 2018 NCHA Futurity Open Championship on Crey Zee — in the same calendar year. 2019 NCHA Open Horse of the Year. Son of Boyd Rice (NCHA + NRCHA Hall of Famer); wife Kylie’s parents bred and owned Crey Zee. “We were going to train horses just like him. To us, it’s a lifestyle.”

NCHA’s #2 all-time earner at $9.5M+. Set the world record score of 234 on Dont Look Twice in 2011 — co-record to this day. Won both Open and Non-Pro at the NCHA Super Stakes in the same year (1994) — a first in history. Former NCHA President. Hall of Fame in both Open and Non-Pro divisions. Breeder of a five-generation dynasty of NCHA Hall of Fame mares, all starting with a mare his father bought for him at age 14.

The only person in NCHA history to breed, own, train, AND ride his own horse to the Triple Crown — Docs Okie Quixote (1983 Futurity, 1984 Super Stakes, 1984 Derby). Only the second Triple Crown ever. 8-time World Champion. Wife Joice bred Docs Okie Quixote; he was born one month after the Heims moved from California to Thackerville, Oklahoma. She named him “Okie.”

The most productive open career in NRCHA history at $3M+. First competitor ever to reach $2 million in NRCHA earnings (2011). 2006 Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion on Smart Crackin Chic. Three-time NRCHA President. FEI World Reining Masters Champion. AQHA Professional Horseman of the Year 2000. “Training horses is choosing to work 20-hour days so we never have to work an eight-hour day.”

The most decorated active competitor in NRCHA history with six Premier Event championships: three Snaffle Bit Futurity Opens (2012 CD Diamond, 2014 Good Time, 2018 SJR Diamond Mist) and three World's Greatest Horseman titles (2015, 2019, 2022 Hott Rod). Youngest NRCHA Million Dollar Rider ever at 32. Utah kid who made it to the top by 19. “The stars are always within reach but the better you prepare yourself the closer those stars will be.”

Born into the legendary Wright cow horse family of San Juan Bautista, California. Never worked outside his family. Son of Walter Wright (NRCHA Stock Horseman of the Year, breeder of Smokums Prize). Brother Greg won the Snaffle Bit. Justin followed — 2021 NRCHA Futurity Champion on Zak 34 with a 226 fence score. “I’ve been here and lost it probably more than anybody in the last four years.” “Everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”

The first and only woman to win the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Championship — 1993, Miss Rey Dry. Born in Massachusetts, arrived in Santa Barbara at 19, worked the emergency room while running a training barn. Found Miss Rey Dry on a hunch from an English-riding past. NRCHA HOF, National Cowgirl HOF, Top 50 Riders of All Time. “There was something about the way she moved that made me think she was ‘the one.’”

The most decorated trainer in American thoroughbred history. Two Triple Crown winners: American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018) — only the second trainer to ever accomplish that. Six Kentucky Derby wins; eight Preakness Stakes wins (record); 17 total Triple Crown race victories. Born on an Arizona cattle ranch; started as a Quarter Horse jockey. Banned from the Derby 2022–2024 after Medina Spirit DQ.

The cowboy-hatted former basketball coach who reinvented thoroughbred racing. Four Kentucky Derby wins. Six consecutive classic victories (1994–96) — an unmatched record. 20 Breeders’ Cup wins. 26 champion thoroughbreds. $200M+ career earnings. First person ever inducted into both the Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse Halls of Fame. Passed away June 28, 2025, age 89.

At 23, rode an Arabian mare named Ronteza into the Cow Palace in San Francisco and won the Open Reined Cow Horse World Championship — the first woman, first amateur, and first Arabian ever. Then built Varian Arabians into the all-time #1 Arabian breeding program in America. ~900 horses bred. Three Polish mares imported behind the Iron Curtain. Bay-Abi’s descendants estimated at 189,000 horses. Passed away March 6, 2016.

The most-watched equestrian performance in internet history. In 2006, rode Roxy (Whizards Baby Doll) bareback and bridleless at the AQHA Congress, performing to “Live Like You Were Dying” and dedicating the ride to her father who had died 24 days earlier. Won. Video went viral in 2008, appeared on Ellen. Also the first woman to win Road to the Horse (2006). 1,000 hours of training behind the ride. National Cowgirl Hall of Fame 2012.

1972 Olympic Team Gold (Munich). Four Badminton Horse Trials titles. Then 20 years as US Chef d’Equipe — 23+ medals, four Olympic Games, never once returned without a medal. First husband of Princess Anne (married Westminster Abbey 1973). Father and trainer of world champion Zara Tindall. USEA Eventing Hall of Fame 2018. Burghley course designer 20+ times.

2000 Sydney Olympic individual gold medalist aboard Custom Made with a record-breaking score — a three-time Olympic medalist, 1997 Badminton champion, and later president of the U.S. Equestrian Federation.

The patron saint of cutting. NCHA Hall of Famer who shaped the modern cutting horse and whose influence on the sport spans eight decades. His approach to cow sense, feel, and developing the complete cutting horse defined a generation.

The first American to win an individual Olympic gold medal in any equestrian discipline — aboard Snowbound at the 1968 Mexico City Games. A lifelong amateur, USET captain, author, and concert violinist.

The Hungarian cavalry officer who built the modern American show jumping style — 25 years coaching the U.S. Equestrian Team to Olympic and Nations Cup glory, and author of the classic de Némethy Method.

One of the most decorated American show jumpers in history — two Olympic team golds, two FEI World Cup titles, and the first woman to surpass $1 million in show jumping earnings.

One of the most accomplished American show jumping riders in modern history — five Olympics, two team silver medals, and a Grand Prix of Aachen title that made her only the second woman to win it.

The only horseman to win the Futurity, Hackamore, and Bridle divisions in the same year — a Triple Crown that has never been duplicated.

The only four-time undefeated champion in Road to the Horse history — a clinician whose cowboy roots in the Australian outback shaped one of the most practical horsemanship programs in the modern horse world.

One of the most versatile western horsemen of his era — dominant at the Cow Palace, trainer of Poco Lena and other legendary horses, and creator of a rein-handling technique still taught today.

The only rider in NRHA history to win the Triple Crown twice — and the first to win The Run For A Million back-to-back.

Creator of the Tellington TTouch Method — a system of touch, movement, and groundwork that changed how the world thinks about animal behavior, stress, and training.

One of the greatest all-around horsewomen of the early twentieth century — trick rider, bronc rider, relay racer, and Cheyenne Frontier Days all-around champion.

Five NCHA Open World Championships — the first trainer to accomplish that feat. A man so respected across the Quarter Horse world they called him the trainer's trainer.

Called "The Last Master" — a horseman so refined that riders traveled from around the world to Portugal simply to watch him ride.

The most decorated equestrian in Olympic history — team gold at all seven of her Olympic Games and an unmatched partnership with the legendary Gigolo that reshaped modern dressage.

The Düsseldorf mounted policeman who won Olympic team gold on his police horse Goldstern — then coached both the German and U.S. national dressage teams and became a leading voice for classical training.

One of the most decorated dressage riders in Olympic history — six gold medals across six Games, and rider of the legendary Ahlerich, the 1984 Olympic individual champion.

The Austrian cavalry colonel who led the Spanish Riding School of Vienna for more than 25 years — an Olympic dressage medalist who helped secure the survival of its Lipizzaner stallions at the end of World War II.

The man who gave dressage its language — inventor of the shoulder-in, author of École de Cavalerie (1733), and the horseman whose principles still guide the Spanish Riding School of Vienna today.

One of the foundational horsemen of modern cutting — 1949 NCHA World Champion aboard Poco Tivio, and a pioneer who helped transform cutting from a ranch skill into a nationally recognized sport.

The only rider to win the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open seven times — a record that stands as one of the greatest accomplishments in reined cow horse history.

National champion, clinician, and educator in the Arabian horse industry — known for training competitive western pleasure horses while keeping softness, patience, and communication at the center of every ride.

From NRHA Reserve World Champion and Team Australia at the World Equestrian Games to one of the most influential modern voices on horse behavior, relaxation, and emotional connection.

The first known writer on horsemanship — whose ideas about gentleness, balance, and partnership with the horse remain as relevant today as they were more than 2,000 years ago.