Benny Guitron Born in Glendale, Calif., on February 12, 1948, Benny Guitron is the fifth of Felix Guitron Sr.'s six children. Young Guitron, inspired as a youth by the great horsemen of his dayJimmy Williams, Harold Farren, Red Neal, Don Dodge and perhaps most significantly, vaquero trainer, Tony Amaral Sr.became fired by a dream. Determined to achieve his dream, Guitron set out to be like those horsemen and to train horses in ways honorable to tradition. His eagerness to soak up whatever knowledge was available molded the aspiring young man into the all-around, renowned horsemen he is today. Guitron Sr.

played a crucial role in fanning the flames of his young son's aspirations. Having immigrated to California from Mexico, the elder Guitron worked hard to save money and eventually purchased his own spread in the Coachella Valley. Though Guitron Sr. farmed for a living, a passion for horses also was a part of his life. Under their father's guidance, Benny Guitron and his late brother, Felix Guitron Jr., competed on the open horse-show circuit, gaining exposure to the world of professional horsemen and the top trainers of the day. The Guitrons' hometown of Indio, a quiet community in those days, also was the location of a popular show that drew elite horsemen from throughout California. This is where Benny Guitron first met the legendary California vaquero Tony Amaral and set his sights on becoming a horseman of similar ability.

After his father's death in 1968, Guitron took the leap toward his goal of being a cowboy and called Amaral, asking for a job. Not too long before, a juvenile Guitron had admired Amaral from afar, and now, as a 20-year-old man, Guitron was taking the first steps to fill the boots he so idolized. In the year that followed, he learned some of the vaquero trade secrets and found he had a natural hand for starting and training horses in the old Spanish methods. The times then were different, and knowledge didn't come by way of books, videos, or clinics. "That was probably the most secretive era there ever was. If you wanted to learn something you got up real early in the morning and hoped you caught them doing something," Guitron remarks of horsemen he admired. "Tony helped me a lot, but not the way a trainer does today. He'd be telling you a story as you rode through the hills, and if you were smart enough, you'd figure out he just got done telling you what to do to the horse you were riding.

If you didn't get it, he figured you obviously didn't want it bad enough." Just eight years later, in 1976, Guitron won his first National Reined Cow Horse Association World Championships Snaffle Bit Futurity title on Kit's Smoke. Guitron went on to win the 1979 NRCHA Bridle Horse Championship and 1979 All-Around Stock-Horse World Championship on the mare in 1979. He is the only rider to make the finals of the stock-horse contest every year entereda total of six times. Guitron also has been a finalist at every major cow-horse snaffle-bit futurity and is a two-time winner of the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Maturity, as well as being the 1983 NRCHA Hackamore Maturity winner. He holds multiple American Quarter Horse Association world championship titles, including 2002 Senior Working Cow Horse World Champion, and youth and amateurs under his tutelage have won several world championships. In 2008, Guitron received the highest honor for his contributions to the reined cow-horse industryinduction into the National Reined Cow Horse Association Hall of Fame. Guitron resides in Merced, Calif.

, with longtime partner, Paula Diuri, a horse enthusiast in her own right. The horseman openly professes his gratitude for her support, saying, "I owe a lot of my success to that girl." Throughout his prosperous career, Guitron has surrounded himself with good horsemen, who became not only his mentors, but also his friends. Included among them are Bobby Ingersoll, Matlock Rose, Wayne Havens, and Greg Ward. As for their contributions to his life, Guitron simply says, "I have been so blessed." Al Dunning Al Dunning currently trains out of his Almosta Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. The father of two, he was born in Chicago, Ill., in 1950 and moved to Arizona at the age of 8.

There, the combination of inspiration, good mentors, and hard work paved the way to Dunning's success in the horse industry. Growing up while watching the television Westerns Laramie, My Friend Flicka, and Fury fueled a love of horses in the young would-be trainer. Although Dunning didn''t take a shine to showing horses until later, he tagged along to shows just to be around the horses while his youngest sister, Denise, competed. Events in Scottsdale offered different venues, where aside from experiencing the usual horse-show culture, Dunning also worked the roping chutes while team ropers rode and spun their loops. Top cowboys, such as Dale Smith, Dean Oliver, and Chuck Shepherd, made remarkable impressions on a young Dunning. He recalls thinking at the time, "Man, that cowboying is really a big deal." At the tender age of 12, Dunning met Jim Paul, who not only mentored the eager young trainer, but also actually became a father figure. This connection was the first of several such crucial connections, which became turning points that changed the course of Dunning''s path.

Lessons learned under Paul were tough, and nothing came easy. Broncy colts, wild rides, and creative training techniques put young Dunning in precarious situations that most riders todayyouth and adult alikewould balk at experiencing. Back in those days, however, a young man did his job as he was told, trying hard to show no fear. Dunning laughs while reminiscing, then adds, "That's just the way it was back then." Under Paul's guidance, Dunning became a youth champion in every event, from halter to reining and roping, and he often showed as many as six stock horses per class. "I was like a trainer-youth," Dunning says, summarizing his show experience. Those many good years with Paul opened doors of opportunity for Dunning, and in 1965 he attended his first big show, the Sacramento State Fair. The great hall-of-fame horses and riders he mingled with there further inspired Dunning as a trainer.

"I just followed Jim [Paul] around with my mouth open," Dunning says, and fondly remembers watching Tony Amaral, Don Dodge, Harry Rose, and Jimmy Williams. "I wanted to be like them." Back then no one specialized in a single event as only a reiner, a pleasure rider, or a hunter-ju.