NCHA OPEN RIDERS HALL OF FAME NCHA Open Riders Hall of Fame rider Tate Bennett and Red Hot Spot.
TATE BENNETT Self-made millionaire.
I
t’s been a long road to a million dollars for Tate Bennett. The 38-year-old professional horseman earned his NCHA Open Riders Hall of Fame induction one horse at a time, quite literally. Bennett and his family run a small ranch operation out of Hereford, Texas, where he and his wife, Laura, and two boys, Bray and Brody, work horses and care for cattle. “I got into cutting mostly because I was always into being a cowboy and roped a lot when I was younger,” Bennett said. “I’d ride my horse to check the cattle daily. It was just part of who I was.” Bennett started working with Curtis Vast out of school, starting colts and prepping them for the 2-year-old sales. After that short stint, Bennett returned to working for himself, inspired to get into working with sales horses. And that is how he embarked on the journey to his million-dollar earnings status. “I realized that I could make good money selling horses and cutting, so that’s where I started. It was almost like I shouldn’t have gotten my Open card and just been a Non Pro, that’s the approach I’ve taken throughout my career,” Bennett said.
52
CUTTING HORSE CHATTER • MAY 2021
The first horse Bennett successfully purchased as a yearling and trained from start to finish was Reyn Maker, a gelding with whom Bennett won the John Deere Division of the Open Championship three consecutive times. “The first finals I made was with Reyn Maker at the NCHA Super Stakes when he was 4 years old,” Bennett recalled. “I had maybe $5,000 lifetime earnings, and then the next thing I know, we were making the finals at almost every show.” Bennett credits his dedication to hard work and doing right by the horse for his long road to the million. The million-dollar milestone wasn’t an accomplishment he was driving for, and Bennett was surprised when a friend congratulated him on the success. “I never got into taking in a lot of horses,” Bennett said. “Cutting can own you pretty fast, but I tried to keep my family first. I have little boys that love to rope, and we try to do a little of it all. That’s probably kept me from excelling more in the cutting than I have at this point.” Bennett and his wife purchase yearlings at the sales each year—sometimes just one, sometimes three. He then sets to giving each horse a solid foundation.
“I’ve always taken the approach to buy the underdog,” he said. “I don’t have the funds to buy the high-dollar yearlings, so what I buy is what I train. I’ll keep a couple of horses until they turn 3, but I’ll sell the other ones. We just buy what we need.” Bennett says that most of his lifetime earnings have come on horses that he purchased as yearlings and trained himself. “I’ve been told that nobody does it like we do, and I know I’m one of the very few open guys that you’ll see riding their own horses without any customers,” he said. Still, Bennett continues to look to the future and work hard for his family and his career. “I’m sure earlier I would have said my goal was to earn more money,” he said. “But, as I get closer to 40, my focus now is more on my kids. I’m probably always going to do this to some extent, and I’ve always hoped to win the Futurity, but my biggest goal would be that as hard as this gets and the way I approach it, my plan is to just keep enjoying cutting.”
CHATTER FILE PHOTO
BY MEGAN ARMSZMAN
