Ron Ralls - World’s Greatest Horseman, RUN FOR A MILLION QUALIFIER and Stud!

By Joe Carter DVM

Ron Ralls is a two-time World’s Greatest Horseman and he has sired a World’s Greatest Horseman - nuf said? Yes, but no. There is much more to this story and it continues to unfold right before our eyes.

I met Ron Ralls in 1985 outside Solvang, California. It is almost 40 years ago. I had two first impressions of him - one, his mustache was legit and two, he didn’t say much.

My first recollection of Phillip Ralls is when he was four years old. The Ralls and the Carters were next door neighbors at Monty and Pat Robert’s Flag Is Up Farm, a predominantly thoroughbred farm in California’s Santa Ynez Valley. Ron was the resident cowhorse trainer - at a thoroughbred farm, go figureand I was the resident veterinarian.

My two year old daughter, Jessi, and Phillip were playing together one afternoon when they suddenly went missing. They had snuck out of the yard.

As you might imagine the parents went into “freak out” mode scrambling about looking for the two kids. Little did we know they had crawled thru the fence between Flag Is Up and River Edge Thoroughbred Farm to the north.

Russell Drake the River Edge farm manager and uncle to NCHA professional Dell Bell had a small herd of sheep, that he used to train his border collies, in the pasture behind our houses.

Our homes abutted the fence line between the two ranchs but it never occurred to us to look in that direction. We were looking in the Flag Is Up Farm open country to our east, south and west.

It wasn’t long before we heard some rustling coming from the north. That pasture was quite brushy. We then heard the bleating of a ewe coming from behind a thicket.

Jessi was absconding with a new born lamb and Phillip was protecting her. He was using a stick to keep the frantic ewe - that was chasing them - from running them down.

After the brief scare, we got a good laugh out of it while we returned the lamb to its mother.

In June at the RUN FOR A MILLION qualifier during the NRCHA Derby in Scottsdale, Ron was magnificent on the eight year old Richie Bell owned sorrel gelding TABASQUE O by METALLIC CAT out of the mare NEIVAS by CATS MERADA.

Mr. Bell has been a major owner of Futurity and Derby horses but according to Patty Ralls, Ron’s wife, always dreamed of owning a good bridle horse.

In 2016, Ron returned to Texas from the NFR. While in Las Vegas, he was an integral part of the team that successfully guided SLICK BY DESIGN around the barrels in the Thomas and Mack for 10 rounds with Michelle McLeod on board.

Now back in Ft Worth, he picked out TABASQUE O from the NCHA yearling sale. This is a testament to his horsemanship skills.

Ron says “TABASCO O is just getting better.” I would say so with a score of 222 in his reining pattern and a smoking 223.5 in his fence run which gave them a combined score of 445.5. It easily qualified them for the RUN FOR A MILLION.

Ron will be 69 years old in October making him the oldest qualifier of the 45 professional horseman set to compete in the Cowhorse, Cutting, and Reining sections of the 2023 version of Taylor Sheridan’s RUN FOR A MILLION horse show in Las Vegas.

Ron had an interesting childhood. He was born in Bakersfield, California and raised near Tehachapi. His father, Lawrence Snow, ran a cow camp taking care of 400 momma cows on a 50,000 acre ranch in Waller Basin of the Sierra Nevada Mountains for most of Ron’s life.

Ron’s rudder for the last 19 years is his wife and accomplished horsewoman Patty Ralls. She tells a funny story. “Ron never saw a horse show until he was 28 yrs old. Monty (Roberts) told Ron he needed to go watch the Snaffle Bit Futurity and so he drove to Reno as it was held there that year. He didn’t even know what a lead on a horse was at that time. A lead to Ron was what you tied to a halter!”

Ron tells a story about his dad “One day when I was about 12 or 13 I woke up with a throat so sore I couldn’t come to work.

Lawrence gets a cow needle and syringe and a bottle of penicillin out of his saddle bag and gives me a shot.” It wasn’t long before Ron was back on his horse.

Van Snow. Van died tragically in an airplane accident in 2009.

Van’s son Cody Snow is a PRCA header. He has qualified for the NFR team roping seven times in a row from 2016-2022 winning over $1.3 million. This makes Ron Cody’s uncle. Ron is known for his good nature and helpfulness. His horsemanship is exceptional and his guidance is sought by professionals in many facets of the horse industry.

Ron remembers the cow camp days, “Yes it was year round. It would take 2 weeks to get over the ranch one time. Then we would have to spend another 2 weeks to look for strays.”

Lawrence’s cow camp life style wasn’t conducive to long term relationships. He was married six times. Ron says, “there is a total of 12 (children) - that we know of. They currently range from 81-29 years of age.”

“That we know of” seems to be the operative concept here. Ron has a full brother and a full sister along with nine half brothers and sisters. Interestingly, the twelfth sibling, a half brother, was discovered thru Ancestry. com DNA profiles six years ago. He was adopted as a baby and he never knew where he came from. He now attends Snow family reunions regularly.

Another interest ing tidbit is that, including Ron, there are three half brothers and sisters born in Ron’s birth year of 1954! Now that’s cowboy!

One of Ron’s half brothers was also well known in the western performance horse world - veterinarian

Ron recalls what

NRCHA professional Justin Wright said to him after qualifying for the RUN FOR A MILLION. Justin said, “I just watched your video again from today, First time I seen you start to show your age! You damn near forgot to box!”

There is no doubt that Ron didn’t box long before he made his fence run. “I was worried I was going to run out of cow, so we just went!”

Yes you did Ron. The judges rewarded his intuition with a 223.5 score and his first qualification to the RUN FOR A MILLION.

Ron is an inspiration to everyone, especially those pushing 70 years of age. He doesn’t seem content with just qualifying for the RUN FOR A MILLION.

I asked him - due due your age are you content with qualifying for the TRFAM or will you be trying to win it?

He laughed and says “I may be 69 yrs old but I’m not done yet! I’ve got age and experience on my side! It’s too far to travel to Las Vegas to just hear my name called!“

That really got him stirred up! I can’t even believe I got the nerve up to ask him that question. Lol! Those of you that know him can imagine how animated he got with his answer.

I don’t believe there is a better ambassador for the western performance world and lifestyle than Ron Ralls. We wish him the best of luck in Vegas. He will undoubtedly be a crowd favorite.