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The second annual Zane Schulte Trainer of the
Year Award was presented to Bill Riddle on
December 7, 2002. The presentation was made
during the NCHA Hall of Fame party held at the
2002 World Championship Futurity in Ft. Worth,
Texas.
Zane Schulte, whose life was claimed by cancer
at age 16, exemplified a spirit of inspiration
just by being who he was. It is in his memory
that the award was created to honor a trainer
who serves the industry through leadership,
integrity, service or any combination thereof.
It is a humanitarian award and is not about
arena earnings.
In the interview that follows, Bill shares about
how he got started in cutting and became a
successful trainer and showman. He also provides
some sound advice for the non-pro, as well as
some insight about his "success" in life. His
perspective can be summed up in a statement he
made after receiving the award: "Your health and
the talents you are given are not an accident,
and I praise God that he has allowed me to make
a living doing something that I love to do…"
Amen, Bill!
Like so many successful horsemen, Bill Riddle
grew up in the world of horses and competing.
His father was a farmer, but he loved to rodeo
and rope calves. His
older brother, Delbert, was a fabulous calf
roper who everyone expected to become a world
champion calf roper, but he was killed in WW2 at
Iwo Jima. Bill grew up listening to stories
about him and started riding as a child. He went
to college on a calf roping scholarship and also
wrestled steers and team roped.
Tell us a little about how your got
started in cutting.
After college, I taught school for 10 years, but
I realized one day I was teaching just to
support my rodeo "habit". That's when I decided
it was time to turn my attention to horses.
I went to work for my brother in 1977, cleaning
stalls, working colts, and starting two year
olds…the things everybody does when they start
training. We had rodeoed together a lot but he
always had a cutting horse he piddled with. But
in 1975, he had a mare called Lenaetta that
Shorty Freeman, his father-in-law, rode for him
in the NCHA Futurity and won. I had been
competing in rodeo for years trying to win $400
day monies. He showed me a copy of the check
for, I think, $35,000. I thought, "Man, that's a
better deal!" That's when I got interested in
riding cutting horses. Up until then, cutting
had always been boring to me. Except at a rodeo
one year, I remember standing back behind the
bucking chutes, getting ready to pull a bull
rope for a buddy of mine, and they were showing
cutting horses. Matlock Rose was showing a mare
called Stardust Desire and the announcer, Nat
Fleming, began talking about the mare. He said,
"Watch this mare. Look at her front feet, the
agility here. Watch her keep that cow out of the
herd." So, I started watching the mare. I had
occasionally ridden some cutting horses but that
was the first time I realized just how pretty
they worked. From then on, I was interested in
cutting horses.
What are some of your most outstanding
accomplishments?
Well, in the horse world, when I was a sophomore
at Midwestern State University, I won the calf
roping finals at the college finals in Laramie,
Wyoming in 1965. In cutting, my first major win
was the Derby in 1981 on a mare named Docs
Otoetta. She was a Doc Bar mare out of an Oto +
Ponde cross mare. The year the mare was five,
John Paxton hauled her for the World and won the
non-pro title, winning $93,000 and setting a
record on her. When I won the Derby, Crawford
Farms was developing their training program.
Dick Gaines and Paul Crumpler suggested that
Crawford Farms hire me, which they did. For the
next five years I got a chance to ride a lot of
really good horses and get established as a
trainer and a showman. From there I went to
Fares Ranch and won the $1 million Gold and
Silver cutting. The next year, Fares Ranch had a
dispersal sale. The new owners of Aglows First
Rio and Fannins Sugar both had me show them at
the Super Stakes that year. I won both the four-
and five-year-old championship. Those two
back-to-back wins were pretty neat.
Bill, you are the second recipient of the
"Trainer of the Year" award, recognized for your
leadership and service outside of the arena.
Tell us a little more about your work outside
the arena – both with the NCHA and your
Christian cutting camps – and what this award
means to you personally.
With regards to the NCHA, I think it was
probably in 1982 that I got on the executive
committee. I realized that if we were going to
get the judging straightened out, everybody had
to interpret the rules the same way. Judges
didn't have to have the same taste in the style
of horse, but the rules needed to be called the
same way. I had been a basketball official when
I taught school and had a casebook, along with
the rulebook, to tell us how to apply the rules
to a certain situation. So I talked to Danny
Dunn about a casebook for cutting to make the
rules more uniform. He told me to go ahead and
prepare a draft, which I did in the summer
afternoons after I was finishing working horses.
Once it was complete, it was given to the
executive committee, and they established a
committee to review and finalize it. That was my
first real activity with the NCHA. I then ran
for and won a seat on the executive committee.
I've enjoyed my association with the NCHA at the
administrative level. It's been a challenge.
I've lived from the time of no monitor system
and "good ol' boy judging" to a time when—while
no one would say it's perfect—it's so much
better than it used to be. If you don't believe
that, just go get some of the old films and look
at them. I'm proud of that work and being in the
Hall of Fame.
But truthfully, I think the biggest honor that
I've received as a cutter, is the Zane Schulte
Trainer of the Year Award. To me, that's the
greatest honor because it was established as a
result of that young man's life. I don't think
you can accept that award without thinking about
the way Zane lived. In 16 years, he lived
everyday a life that most of us strive for 60 to
70 years to live and never accomplish it.
The Christian cutting camps are really unique.
When I was 14 years old, God really put on my
heart that I should do something for Him, or
rather with Him, when an Evangelist told me,
"You know, son, God can use you on a horse." I
went to church and had a relationship with
Christ, but I didn't understand what he meant at
that time. I would listen to preachers talk
about going into service for God, and it always
seemed to involve going to Africa or being a
preacher. Neither one of those areas of service
appealed to me and in my heart of hearts, all I
wanted was to rodeo and rope calves. That's what
stirred me.
About nine years ago, I met Dawson McAllister.
When he called me and introduced himself the
first time—I didn't know who he was at that
point—he said, "I understand you are a cutting
horse trainer. I also understand that you are a
Christian." I said, "Well, yes sir, but not a
very good one." Dawson was very active in youth
ministry, an organizer of youth conferences. He
told me he was really concerned about the horse
industry and felt like something needed to be
done in the horse show, cutting horse world, to
make people aware that there was something
besides a horse to put our faith in. At that
point, I wasn't ready to do anything, but he
invited me to a dinner where he was speaking to
horsemen. He later invited me to attend a youth
conference and—I don't know why he did it—he had
me stand on the stage with him that night when
he gave the invitation. Out of the 9,000 in
attendance, about 1,500 walked the isle. My life
was never the same after that. It changed the
way I thought about things.
Shortly after that, we established our first
Week with the Stars camp at Mt. Pleasant, Texas.
That first year, we included barrel racers,
ropers, reiners, pleasure riders and cutters. We
only had nine cutters participate. Dawson had
also met with Joe Howard Williamson, who he
invited to help with the camp. Joe Howard had
been a missionary to Africa. At the next year's
camp, we cut it down to barrels, reining, and
cutting. And the following year, we had our
first "cutters only" camp with about half kids
and half adults. After about three years working
with us, Joe Howard started having his own camps
and it seemed like the younger people went to
his camp while the adults came to ours.
This year we'll have our eighth camp at Strawn
Valley Ranch in Strawn, Texas—just outside
Ranger. Don Holder has been very gracious to
give us the facility to use this year. It has
four indoor arenas and 3500 acres. The average
at our camps is 44 years of age. We take 60
riders per session, and about half of those are
returning participants. Over the years, we've
had help from Doug Jordan, Shannon Hall, Tommy
Marvin, and my brother, Terry Riddle—after he
changed his relationship with Christ a few years
ago. This year, we have those guys, plus David
Stewart, Allen Crouch, Bruce Morine. We just
continually add to the number of guys that are
involved.
We work very hard, very diligently during the
camp to teach them to ride a cutting horse, but
we also have two bible-study sessions each day
for five days. Initially, it was a "kid dream"
from Dawson. He wanted to get kids to come and
be around people they could respect, to get
close to an instructor, hence the name "Week
with the Stars." But it turned out that the kids
went to Joe Howard, and the adults came to us.
It's now a retreat sort of camp where for five
days you don't think about anything but riding
your horse and God. We have exceptional music.
All the trainers donate their time, which is a
major sacrifice. That's our time back to the
industry each year. Over the years, we've seen
lots of really special, neat things happen in
this ministry. You can tell by the way I talk
about it that I'm really excited about it.
You mentioned during the banquet that you
feel blessed to have had the chance to earn a
living doing something you love to do. What is
it about cutting that has kept you inspired over
the years?
Since I was a kid, I've been excited about
competing and using a horse, but I never thought
you could make a living riding a horse. I always
wondered what I would do when I quit roping. I
was teaching, and just didn't think I would
enjoy being a principal for the rest of my life.
Those are wonderful, honorable people…very
special folks. I made an effort to be a good
teacher, but it just wasn't really me. About the
time I was drawing close to an age, you know,
when rodeo cowboys begin to slow down, I noticed
that Pat Patterson and other cutters who were
older at that time, were still really
competitive. I saw that there was a way to make
money, and I came in just when the business was
getting really hot and taking off. There was so
much excitement around the horses and it got me
going. I can remember, as a schoolteacher, I
would get up and go to work at the same time
every day and get off at the same time. I'd
wonder what I was going to do with the rest of
my day, and I'd always go to the horses to do
something. I feel blessed to have been given
enough talent to succeed! I see some young men
and women in this industry who would like to
make a living cutting, but they just can't. I
can't imagine anything more frustrating than to
really love this and not be able to do it
successfully. So, I just think you are really
blessed if you like it and can do it
successfully.
What do you feel is your greatest
responsibility as a professional trainer (in
general as a career) in terms of service?
The way I see it—and it gets me in trouble
sometimes—is to try to direct my customers,
especially the news ones, in such a way that
they won't get themselves in a big jam. And
that's hard to do. People have a difficult time
learning about the type of horse they need. And,
while you have the stories of the "off brand"
horse that does well, that's like buying a
lottery ticket; it seldom ever happens. Teaching
customers to keep the odds in their favor is a
major responsibility of a trainer. If you'll
teach them that, then they can stay in this
business a long time, no matter how much money
they have. It gives them a chance. Things aren't
always going to work out, but I see people
trying to play this game that just don't give
themselves a chance to succeed. They aren't
going to stay around very long.
You've been extremely successful in
cutting. What are the factors that have made the
difference…that have produced excellent
performances, consistently, instead of average
ones?
The layman answer to that question would
probably be "luck." But, as I look back, I see
that I have had the opportunity to work for four
fabulous groups of horseman and ride great
horses. You can either say that God had a plan
and executed it in spite of me or that I was
extremely lucky.
The truth is that it doesn't matter how good a
trainer you are. If you are going to show
successfully in horse shows, you've got to have
somebody help you at those shows who cares about
you being successful. You can't just take some
kid that's busy thinking about 14 dozen things
and be successful. I've had some of the best
hands in this business working for me over the
years, from Paul Hansma to Guy Woods. They were
so helpful and loyal to me. It seems that the
dedication and loyalty they showed towards me
must have bled over into the rest of their life.
They are both good family men, and it's amazing
how successful they have been. Having guys like
them around me was tremendously beneficial to my
success as a trainer. I cannot omit Jeanine
Koehler from the list of those who participated
in my success as a trainer. Jeanine kept the
horses in great shape and paid close attention
to their needs. I won the year-end trainer title
twice. Each time, Jeanine was working for me.
My wife, Anne, has always supported me. In the
early days, she helped prepare the horses for
the shows as well as handle the financial end of
the operation. These days, she does the finances
and health records. I'm fortunate to have two
daughters, Kelly and Havey, who are also willing
to help.
As a trainer, what have been your highest
"highs" and lowest "lows" in your career?
Winning the $1 million cutting. When I realized
I had won it, my knees gave way and I had to
lean back to catch myself. I put my hands on a
plastic trashcan, but it gave way and just sort
of collapsed, so I just sat down on the side of
it.
There are more lows than highs: the
disappointment of losing a cow in the
semi-finals on several different horses; the
disappointment of going out in the first go
around. Really, most of the lows in cutting will
go right back to something that happened at the
Futurity. There are enough of those in
everyone's life to last a lifetime.
How do you pick yourself up when you've
had a series of bad runs?
What I normally do, when the "wheels just come
off"—that's the expression I use when you pick a
bad cow, kick a horse in the wrong place, just
make a bad mistake—is go home and take a day or
so off and get it completely off my mind. Then,
I'll begin to work my young horses. As I ride
those young horses, life comes back to me.
So, go clear your mind and analyze what you are
doing, just like all the successful competitors
in other sports. Take Tiger Woods as an example.
He was a very young man when he won the Masters
by twelve strokes, but because coaches he
respected told him that if he continued to play
without changing his game he would have some
great days like that and a lot of bad ones, he
went home after winning that Masters and
proceeded to change his golf game.
Now that, to me, says a lot about the importance
of good coaches. But us "bravo" horsemen know
just what we are doing; we don't need any help.
Now, to me, that just doesn't compute. You
should go back to your films, go to someone you
respect on occasion, and watch trends. When I
see a trend coming, I try to see what that guy
is doing because this business is trendy. What's
popular, the kind of horse that's popular one
year, may be a little different three years
later. I really respected the late Pat
Patterson. I had watched him through the years,
and he changed the way he showed a horse, the
way he trained a horse. It wasn't drastic, but I
watched him make about three changes in my
career. While other guys his age were making
excuses, Pat was finding solutions. His horses
continued to win right up until the point of his
death. And that's been my goal: to never get so
smart that I can't learn something. When things
begin to go wrong, there's only two reasons:
either you are "a foot"—by that I mean that your
horses just aren't strong enough—and in that
case then you need to recruit; or you are doing
something wrong and in that case you need to fix
it. My daddy used to say—not literally, but this
is the thought process—"You can lie to the
world, but you better not lie to yourself." It
often seems to me that our pride gets in the way
of our horse training.
What's the most important advice you can
offer non-pros?
1. Be sure that you are riding for recreation,
to have fun.
2. Find a reliable trainer.
3. Buy good horses.
4. Practice. Practice. Practice.
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