August 2008
By Christine Hamilton
There's no doubt that Jackson Land and Cattle of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a top quality horse and cattle operation. For one thing, it has top horses on the national scene. The ranch and its owner, Richard Fields, made a huge splash in the cutting world in February 2007 with the purchase of the legendary roan sire Peptoboonsmal from Elaine Hall and Larry Hall Cutting Horses. The stallion continues to stand at Carol Roses place in Gainesville, Texas, where JLC keeps broodmares.
And JLCs first competition horses made very respectable showings at the past two AQHA World Championship Shows. AQHA Pro Horseman and world champion trainer Al Dunning rode the mare Rio Gato to two top-10 finishes in junior cutting -- a fourth in 2006 and a sixth in 2007. Brad Barkemeyer rode the gelding Travalin Foxie to a fifth in the 2006 junior working cow horse and a 10th in the 2007 junior heading.
The ranch is definitely a cattle operation. It keeps busy with approximately 600 head of North American Corriente sport steers and 600 head of mother cows. JLC had two successful Wrangler Team Roping Championships qualifiers in 2006 and 2007 at the Teton County Fairgrounds, using the ranch's cattle. The ranch uses the cattle for its own training and roping events and leases steers out before sending them off for finishing. But woven into these business pursuits is a hidden agenda. And it really sets Jackson Land and Cattle apart from other top programs.
Thinking Differently
For three years now, Al Dunning has made JLC his summer training home-away-from-home back in Scottsdale, Arizona. When Richard, along with his longtime trainer and friend, AQHA Pro Horseman Joe McAllister, approached the Arizonan with a request to be involved with JLCs horse operation, it was an easy "yes" for Al. How could you say "no" to being part of building a top cutting horse operation in the shadow of the Teton Range?
But it wasn't long before Al's perspective expanded a bit.
"Mr. Fields told me he didn't want me to be just a horse trainer, and I didn't know what he was talking about," Al said. So he sat me down one day and explained to me that he wanted to do something big. And he wanted me to think outside the box."
Read the rest of this feature article about Richard Field's Jackson Land and Cattle.