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KNOW THE PRO Australian-born Lee Deacon deviated from his life plan when he started training cow horses in the United States. Interview and photography by Kate Bradley Byars
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rowing up in Queensland, Australia, Lee Deacon was immersed in the horse industry. From an early age, he planned to be involved with horses. “Originally, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian,” said Deacon, 32. “Until I realized how much school I was going to have to do, I really got interested in the horse training side of things when I was around 12 years old. My dad came over here [to the United States] and rode with Bill Horn, which sparked a fire to focus on training reining horses. He got into it so I got into it, and it’s gone from there.” His father, Andrew, rode bareback horses and produced rodeos, and the family bred approximately 30 broodmares to their Paint Horse-Quarter Horse stallion. Deacon could ride before he could walk, starting the family’s colts along with his father. After finishing 10th grade (when students can leave school for a full-time job), Deacon began to pursue a higher education in horses. His first course was in reading cattle. His father encouraged him to work on a “station,” the equivalent of a working cattle ranch in the United States. “I spent 12 months on a cattle station when I was 16, then the next two
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years I spent working for two of the top reining horse trainers in [Australia],” Deacon said. “I then had the opportunity to go out on my own, so I did that for two years.” Living in Rockhampton, Queensland, Deacon had 20 head of horses in training when a young Chris Dawson came to teach reined cow horse clinics in the area in 2008. Dawson stayed with Deacon, riding horses for two weeks. “My dad was in the process of starting an Australian Reined Cow Horse Association, so he organized some clinics. That year, Chris Dawson didn’t have any snaffl bit horses [in training], so he came over,” Deacon recalled. “After riding my horses, he told me he would recommend me to any trainer in the [United States] if I ever wanted a job. Four years later, I called him and said I was coming over. My plan was to stay on his couch for a month and find someone to work for.” At 21, Deacon left home with a plan to work for a “big name” trainer in the United States, hoping it would be Todd Bergen, before returning to Australia. He arrived in Texas in April of 2012. The risk has been worth it, as Deacon’s focus on cow horse has rewarded him in the show pen with multiple NRCHA premier event titles to his credit, Lee is
Lee and Ashley Deacon, married in 2014, own a successful reined cow horse program based in Marietta, Oklahoma.
also a 2A NRCHA Judge. Personally, it also introduced him to his wife of seven years, Ashley Deacon. “I met Ashley at the Snaffle Bit [Futurity] in 2012. We started dating at the Snaffle Bit in 2013 and were married in 2014.,” Deacon said. The couple went out on their own shortly after, purchasing a horse property in Marietta, Oklahoma. Together, they train aged-event cow horses and coach Non Pro and Youth riders. Deacon’s career has already far exceeded his expectations or dreams as a young man in Australia, and it’s on an upward swing.
