KNOW THE PRO

Indiana native Ben Bowman has paved an unlikely path to reined cow horse success.

BY JESSICA LASH

Sandborn, Indiana, isn’t exactly Western horse country. Nestled between the borders of northern Kentucky and eastern Illinois, it is home to a modest 400 residents—many of whom work the fertile White River bottom farmland or commute to jobs in neighboring towns. But in this corner of northeastern Knox County, reined cow horse trainer Ben Bowman first became enamored with horses, training colts and working cattle alongside his coal-miner father on the family farm.

“My dad started lots of colts,” Bowman shared. “He wasn’t really into cow horses—those weren’t big in our area—but he trained a lot of horses for everyday use. He did it for as long as I can remember, so it just felt like home to me.”

Bowman grew up showing horses in a variety of disciplines at his local county 4-H fair before dabbling in cutting, reining, team roping and, eventually, cow horses. As life accelerated toward adulthood, Bowman looked toward a career with horses as a tangible option.

“I worked a few little jobs here and there, but it was just enough to know I didn’t want to do that kind of work,” Bowman admitted. “Training horses in some capacity has pretty much been my whole life’s pursuit. It’s what came naturally to me.”

Bowman began training horses full time at age 20. In the early 2000s, he took the unlikely leap to reined cow horses, where his focus has remained steadfast for more than two decades. But training and competing on reined cow horses in the agricultural Midwest has not been without its difficulties, and Bowman admits he has had to work overtime to carve out a place for his program amongst sparse opportunities.

“The cow horses in my area—well, there pretty much are none,” Bowman said, with a laugh. “Indiana definitely isn’t the place you think of when you think of cow horse events. It hasn’t always been easy, but we make it work.”

Despite the challenges, Bowman has stayed the course, cultivating his plot of land into a thriving cow horse facility. He maintains a barn with 20 to 25 training horses, which is the maximum capacity his facility can accommodate, and has adeptly led both Non Pro and Youth clients to numerous world titles in the past several years. And while Bowman admits there may have been easier paths to the reined cow horse arena, a lifetime of training horses has taught him an unwavering truth: anything is possible if you are willing to put in the work.

Reined Cow Horse News: How did you get your start in cow horses?

Ben Bowman: We ran about 100 head of cattle on our farm when I was growing up, so I always had that background with cows. I dabbled in reining, but there just were no cow horses in my area. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, the cutting horse industry was going pretty strong in my area, so I went to work for cutting horse trainer Ben Ingram for a couple of years. When I left there, I felt like I had enough knowledge to put it all together and start training reined cow horses.

RCHN: What did you learn from Ingram that helped you find success in the National Reined Cow Horse Association?

BB: Ben taught me so much about cattle— how to get a horse to work a cow, which cow to pick and how to read it in the show pen. A lot of our young horses there started tracking cows around to give them a job to do and teach them how to guide. I look back and know I learned a lot during my time with Ben, but reading cattle was probably the biggest thing.

RCHN: What has been the most challenging part of your career training cow horses?

BB: That’s easy: location. Indiana wasn’t big into reined cow horses when I started 20 years ago, and it still isn’t now. Our closest show is six hours away. Fort Worth, Texas, is a 15-hour drive. Nothing about doing this in Indiana is practical. In recent years, I’ve had clients who have been willing to keep good horses and travel the long distances to the shows, but there’s no way around it; we definitely have to fight the logistics of traveling so far all the time.

RCHN: What motivates you to keep working in this discipline despite its challenges?

BB: I love taking a horse, getting it really broke and teaching it to do its job well. It’s fun to watch a horse develop and know I’ve had a part in its journey. Watching my Non Pro and Youth riders find success makes me as happy as anything else. I’ve had clients in recent years who have won world titles in NRCHA events as well as in the American Quarter Horse

Association Versatility Ranch Horse. Watching the horses I’ve trained go on to have success with their owners is really satisfying. When it all comes together, it makes me think maybe I’m doing the right job.

RCHN: What do you love most about reined cow horse events?

BB: The people who compete in reined cow horse events live this every day. We breathe it and sleep with it. We have to because the horses need to be so broke to do the job well. I think a lot of people watching from the outside don’t really understand what it takes to make it all happen, but the people on the inside know it’s hard, hard work. It’s a whole different mentality in the reined cow horse community.