Story

The great horsemen of the 20th century were almost unilaterally soft-spoken and humble men of few words. In the latter part of the 20th century, the label "horse whisperer," became popular and it was a title that amused most. Despite their rejection of the title, these men were different; they had an innate sense of the horsemanship that couldn't be taught. They were honest to a fault and their word and a handshake was a binding contract. No doubt about it, they are a dying breed, these men of honor, integrity, wisdom and great talent.
One of these men could have been the "Marlboro Man" in the truest sense of the word. Tall, lean and craggy, always dressed in western fashion, he was extraordinarily handsome. With his looks and style, many friends suspected that if he had pursued an interest in the movie industry (given that the public was very big on cowboys in the 40s and 50s), he could have been a candidate for film work -- another Clint Eastwood or perhaps even a precursor to Eastwood. Amazingly, he chose a different path, one that left a significant impact on another sphere -- the Arabian horse breed.

California Dreamin'
In 1939, near the end of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the Midwest, a young 20-year-old made his way to California, fresh from the flatlands of western Kansas. The son of a stock farmer, Jeff Wonnell indicates that he migrated west from necessity. "Hunger," he states simply.
In the late 30s, Burbank was the horse center of the world, and Jeff found work riding some colts. Although he worked with a few Arabians, he didn't have any particular interest in them at the time. A three-year stint in the Army during World War II in the motorized cavalry, which included a tour of Europe, followed and, upon his discharge, that former customer he had started some Arabian colts for, asked him to train more. For a short period of time, he worked in the aviation industry while living in Los Angeles, did some stunt work and wrangling for the movie industry, and bought horses off the range, which he trained and sold as pleasure horses at several of the big horse auctions.
An exceptionally skilled and highly gifted professional, he had the ability to transform his training expertise into high art, something his former students respected and tried to emulate. His list of apprentices is very impressive, and many went on to become well known, respected professional trainers in their own right. Modest and unassuming, in Jeff's world honesty and integrity meant exactly what it said. A superstar of his time, his training expertise is legendary.

The Jeff Wonnell Creed
It wasn't difficult to find people that had Jeff Wonnell stories and anecdotes to tell. In fact, the same word repeated itself incessantly: Jeff Wonnell is a TRUE horseman.
"Jeff Wonnell is a real horseman and a true friend, which is rare in this business," emphasizes Bob Brooks of Bob Brooks Training Stables, Lodi, Calif., who has known him for 30 years. When Bob decided to go from public training to private training, Jeff gave him some advice.
Always ride your horses,
Don't cheat your customers,
Keep your nose out of politics,
Don't spend all your money on fancy equipment.
"It's a good creed to live by and it has worked well for us," Bob's wife, Kathy, reports.
A trifle bashful and embarrassed by the accolades from his friends, Jeff insists that he didn't have any special training methods, just a lot of work and a lot of riding. "My dad was a horseman, and I learned quite a bit from him," he says. "I had a brother and a sister, but they liked horses from a distance," he adds exhibiting his famous sense of dry humor. "I never really thought of horse training as work. When you can spend your life doing what you love to do and get paid for it, you're lucky. I was also lucky to know a dozen outstanding all-around horsemen. I can't say there was one particular person that influenced me, but rather several good trainers. Mostly I watched other people and if their methods worked well, I'd go home and try to duplicate it."
Jeff particularly admired Red Beyers and Harold Brite and wishes that he could have spent some time observing their training techniques. He also had a great deal of respect for Rocky Wright, one of the earliest trainers that specialized in Arabians. "He worked for the Remount Station when it was at Kelloggs," says Jeff. "When it disbanded, Rocky continued to work for Kelloggs for a while. I watched him train quite a bit, and we were very good friends.
"My peers are all disappearing," he continues candidly. "There weren't very many trainers to start with, but they were all good horseman and nice people. Most of them are gone now like Red, Harold, Rocky and Walter Chapman. I also worked with Tommy Townsend, Gary Reynolds, Billy McHugh, Eric Wagner, Bill Melendez, Carl Bunn, Alan Morgan and Ron Bechtel. I always thought David Gardner was a great trainer and breeder too. He produced horses with great conformation, brains and motion, and his Egyptian horses are top of the line.
"Of course there are still a lot of trainers that I think are doing a good job, but there's also a lot of them that aren't doing a good job too. Most of the good ones grew up in the business, which I think makes a big difference."

From entering a young Poco Padrino (Regis x Rama Jane) in a race where Jeff was showing him in working cow, reining and stock horse at Del Mar in the early 1970s, (which, incidentally, was won with a very young Ray LaCroix riding), to roping and rescuing a rowdy cow that escaped from a show and visited a shopping mall, Jeff and Poco's exploits are legendary. Incidentally, after the race, Jeff and Poco won the Working Cow, Stock Horse and Reining class, and Jeff jokes that Poco would have made a great endurance horse!

The Horses
Jeff's expertise encompassed the entire spectrum of disciplines from halter to working cow. "Back then neither the trainers nor the horses were specialized; you did what had to be done," he shrugs. "The horses are more specialized now, and I think people put much more pressure on them. It required an exceptional disposition for these horses to be so versatile and some of the training methods they use now would not have worked back then."
He found the Crabbet bred horses, with their excellent minds and athletic ability, easy to train. While training at Jo-Lin Arabian Horse Ranch in the San Francisco area, he also became acquainted with the Draper-bred Sureyn/Spanish-bred horses.
"They were exceptionally good in the hindquarters with very good, well-set hind legs," he confirms. "These horses were very athletic and willing to work."
He also knew Edna Draper very well and trained several of her horses while at Jo-Lin. "Edna was quite a gal," he says with a definite twinkle in his eye. "She was real feisty, but knew her horses. The horses from her breeding program all looked like peas in a pod."
Although he says it's hard to remember all the horses that he trained, a few stand out more than others, including Amerigo (Ferseyn x *Szarza, by Ali Said), Khemosabi's sire, and Jurneeka (Fadjur x Fadneeka, by Fadheilan), Khemosabi's dam. Jeff is basically given credit for Khemosabi's existence, as he was the one that arranged the midnight tryst on a racetrack at the show grounds, which resulted in Khemosabi, the super horse of the 70s.
Jeff also recalls the "good" mare Binhara (Sahar x Binni, by Gulastra) that won a lot in the 50s, as well as the national reserve champion park mare Malifa (Mraff x Balyf, by Alyf) that also won the Roadster to Bike class twice. (The Roadster to Bike class was considered an exhibition class that was discontinued in the 70s.)
To name a few, Jeff trained National Champions and Reserves in diversified divisions ranging from park (Malifa, 1965) to Working Cow Horse (Poco Padrino, 1968), to U.S. National Champion Stock Horse (Poco Padrino, 1975). He trained Sur-Neet (Sureyn x Bonita, by Caravan), the first double National Champion in English and Western Pleasure in 1963 (although he was ridden to his wins by Bob Smith), and the next year Jurneeka brought home dual national reserve championship honors in the same division. Amerigo was the 1966 U.S. National Reserve Champion Stallion and, in 1969, he rode Walter Mishek's mare Bay-Kinra (Bay Abi x Hamara, by Hallany Mistanny) to the U.S. National Reserve Championship in Western Pleasure, the same year she was also a U.S. Top Ten Mare in Halter. There wasn't anything, it seemed, that Jeff couldn't do.

Sur-Neet was trained by Jeff until shortly before the U.S. Nationals when he became the first national champion in both English and western pleasure (with Bob Smith riding).

The Fans
Mike Villesenor, former trainer, bloodstock agent and now the General Manager of The Arabian Horse Times, has known Jeff Wonnell since 1961, and like everyone else, speaks highly of him. "Jeff's training techniques are above and beyond reproach," he acknowledges with admiration and respect. "They don't get any better than Jeff. Jeff has forgotten more about horses than any 10 guys will ever know. When I was training horses I occasionally saw Jeff at a show and would ask him a 'little' question. I never wanted him to know that I had a problem with a horse as I was too proud, but I always wanted an answer, and he always figured out a way to answer that question. I'm pretty sure he knew why I was asking, but he never let on. He's been a good family friend for a long time.
"Years ago, when they first started having snaffle bit/hackamore futurity classes at Santa Barbara, Jeff was prone to take his 3-year-old western stud colt in a hackamore, put a 3- or 4-year old filly in front of him in long lines while riding the one behind it and driving the one in front. The one in front would be doing a nice, strong trot, balanced and in the bridle and the one behind would be loping. Jeff would be doing figure eights, changing the horse up front that was loping and trotting the horse in front that was driving. It's the type of thing that you only see at the Spanish riding school in Vienna or when the Royal Lippizan show comes to America. As a devotee of classic horsemanship, I watched him do that and even tried it a couple of times, but my timing and balance was never quite as good as his was. Over the years, I learned a lot by watching him and the methods he used. While he was 100 percent pure cowboy, he used classic dressage methods. He may have picked them up simply because he knew they worked, but he didn't refer to himself as a dressage master. He used good sound horsemanship, which is the basis for dressage."

Noted breeder John Rogers presents Jeff Wonnell and Jurneeka with the 1964 U.S. National Reserve Championship in English Pleasure at Dallas, Texas. Owned by Bert and Ruth Husband, Jurneeka was a double national reserve champion in both English and western pleasure that year with Jeff.

Ruth Husband's much beloved Carinosa with Jeff Wonnell, whom Jeff trained and showed in his trademark variety of disciplines ranging from halter, western and English pleasure to driving and hackamore. Carinosa was a 1968 U.S. National Top Ten in English Pleasure, a champion producer and was recently honored by becoming a Breyer® horse model.

Trainer Bill Melendez of Ventura Farms, Thousand Oaks, Calif., backs it up. "I apprenticed with Jeff Wonnell in the late 70s," he says. "Jeff taught me the language of horses and what it meant to aspire to be a true horseman. He also taught me that being a good person was all right, too. I was attending Junior College part time and routinely came to the barn from school wondering what great training tidbit I might learn. I was rarely disappointed. Jeff might be down in the arena riding one and long lining another or sometimes two from its back or he'd be driving one in the cart, long lining another in front of the one he was driving and maybe ponying a third. He can do anything with horses. He understands how their minds work more than anyone I have known.
"One day I wandered out to the bullpen (a 60' x 90' covered pen). Jeff was lunging a 3-year-old stud colt from the back of Poco Padrino and probably lighting up a cigarette. I must have broken his concentration just enough that Poco started spinning and as he spun, he started reeling the other colt in closer and closer. When everything stopped and the two were wide eyed and nose to nose with Jeff wrapped up like a Christmas present, he just turned to me and with a sparkle in his eye said, 'This is why you carry a pocket knife at all times.' Of course, neither of us had one.
"I have only one regret -- I have not thanked him enough for all the knowledge that he has shared with me and so many others," Bill concludes humbly.

Haat Shaat (Tahas x Sha-Ira, by Tamarlane) and Jeff at the 1965 Whittier Lions Club Show. Owned by the GZ Ranch, Haat Shaat and Jeff were consistent winners in park, formal driving and formal combination from 1963 to 1967.

An early 1949 photo of Jeff Wonnell and Ward Thurston competing in the popular Western pleasure pair class at Pomona, Calif.

King of the Horse Trainers
There is a legion of devoted fans that have delightfully "wicked" stories to share about Jeff, yet underneath it lies the respect and admiration that is only given to a great man. Dr. Bert and Ruth Husband of Haifi Arabians, Murrieta, Calif., make no bones about the fact that they are long-time Jeff Wonnell fans. "We could have written pages about Jeff, but we tried to be brief," they say.
"In the 50s and 60s, when the United States was recovering from WWII, showing Arabian horses became popular and ultimately big business," says Dr. Husband. "At that time Jeff was one of the leading and most successful of the early professional horse trainers. When you brought a horse to him for training there was a seniority system and you had to wait your turn. In 1963, Jeff took our mare Jurneeka to the National Arabian Horse Show in Dallas, Texas, where she was named a U.S. National Top Mare. In 1964, again at the National show in Dallas, she was the U.S. National Reserve Champion in both English and Western Pleasure. In 1965, Jeff showed her to a Canadian National Top Ten in Mare Halter. Thank you Jeff for starting us out on a major, successful business venture!"
"Back in the 'olden days,' Jeff Wonnell was King of the Horse Trainers!" injects Ruth. "One quickly figured out that horses and their care were first, with people coming in way behind. One of his cardinal rules was never to hand feed a horse. We learned it so well that even now 38 years later we cannot hand feed a horse without enduring great feelings of guilt. We do have to admit that our Wonnell-trained horses never nibbled at shirt pockets or nipped our fingers looking for a treat.
"I remember a number of things from yesteryear -- some painful, others happy. Jeff painfully taught me to drive a truck and pull a horse trailer. He yelled at me and used words I had never heard before! He was totally unforgiving if I as much as noticed a beautiful lake or some magnificent trees. I was supposed to concentrate on the road ahead, to the side and behind. Drive looking way ahead so you NEVER had to hit the brakes hard. Start smoothly and slowly and stop slowly; FEEL what the horses are feeling. I have to admit my one real claim to fame was that I was an excellent truck driver/hauler of horses, thanks to Jeff!
"When Carinosa (*Serafix x *Caliope, by Witraz) was 18 months old, we put her in training with Jeff because you had to work your way up in seniority to get his attention. At the age of 2, they won a driving class in Canada and went on to win lots more over many years as did every horse Jeff trained for us. When Jeff had our horses, we knew that they would never be abused either physically or with medication. They were trained to perform and they did."
The Husbands' son, attorney Paul Husband, has equal admiration for Jeff. "Jeff Wonnell is one of the most intellectual men I have ever known," says Paul. "Conversation topics with Jeff range from vintage airplanes to small group dynamics to theology, politics and the history of the California Vaquero school of horsemanship. He observes. He reasons. He postulates. Discussions of his insights and analyses are customarily fascinating, original and, most of all, independent. Jeff is interested in many things, but he is passionate about horses -- riding, breeding, judging and understanding them. His deep desire to understand each horse, together with his intelligence, are probably the chief factors that enabled him to achieve such success.

"I am grateful to Jeff for many things," continues Paul. "When I was on long show circuits as a young teenager, accompanied by my mother (but not my father as he had to stay home and work to fund the family horse business), Jeff acted as a functional father to me.
"The best thing that ever happened to my horsemanship is when Jeff broke his knee in 1964. During the time he could not ride, I worked some horses for him. Or rather, he worked them through me, and as he sat in the grandstand of the training ring, he would tell me how he wanted a horse worked and then yell at me each round of the ring. (Not riding horses made Jeff grouchy!)
"To sum up briefly, in addition to being a great horseman, he is a deep thinker and a fine man."
Mike Villeseñor also remembers when his dad was looking for a mare for his young children. "Dad watched a white Arabian mare at a Palm Springs Show that belonged to the Jo-Lin Arabian Horse Ranch owned by Dr. Sam Hitson and his brother, Jim," recalls Mike nostalgically. "The brothers each had a herd of kids and Jeff Wonnell was their horse trainer. Bucouri (Courier x Budra, by Alyf) was a fairly young, beautiful, alabaster white mare that Jeff had trained. At that show 11 different kids rode her in the kids' classes and Jeff rode her in the open. She was shown in a total of 19 classes at this two-day horse show and won the vast majority of classes, regardless of who rode her. Before the show was over, my dad bought her for $10,000, an unheard of amount of money at that time. She was the seventh or eighth horse in the nation to win her Legion of Merit, and my sister rode and showed her for years and years. She was a grand mare."
Linda Walsh formerly of the JK Bar Arabians in Arroyo Grande, Calif., and now located in Petaluma, Calif., at Kastania Arabians has known Jeff since 1970. "He has an instinct for horses," says Linda. "I've never seen anybody read a horse more quickly or more accurately than Jeff. The amazing thing about Jeff is that regardless of the horse, he finds something for that horse to do. We have brought him some real hard cases -- ones that have fallen into our hands late in their lives and have been mistreated so they had major head problems, and Jeff kept plugging away until he found the solution. Of course, he taught my daughter how to ride because she was just a little girl when we first met and 90 percent of what she knows, in terms of technical ability, was learned from Jeff."
That daughter, Marylisa Walsh, designed and wrote the copy for Jeff's website. On it she says, "The lessons I've learned from Jeff follow the rule of 'You can't tell people what to do, you can only suggest.' The same applies to Jeff's training methods. A horse has the temperament to do a job or he doesn't. Give him the opportunity, encourage him to do what you want him to do and see if he does it. If it takes people a long time to sort these intricacies out, it doesn't take a horse very long. Many times I've seen a nervous or frustrated horse relax in Jeff's presence as if to say, 'Finally someone who knows what he
is doing!'"
Linda Walsh goes on to relate an incident that happened involving her daughter about 15 years ago when she was only 5 or 6 years old. "She kept trying to ride a colt I had purchased," says Linda. "When I discovered her antics, I realized that we were in big trouble so I sent the colt down to Jeff immediately and asked him if he could turn him into a trail or western horse that I could give away to a nice adoptive home. A big, plain colt about 2 or 3 years old, I didn't have high hopes for him since I was looking for an English horse. A few weeks later I called to inquire about the colt and Jeff told me he wasn't going to make a western horse. Disappointed, I asked why. Jeff said, 'He's just not going to make it as a trail or western horse, but I think you can quit looking for an English horse,' which was his way of saying the colt had plenty of action. I got back a fancy English horse that both my daughter and son medaled on, and he is still with us today."
Bette Lamore of Whispering Oaks Arabians, San Luis Obispo, Calif., also can't say enough good things about Jeff. "We love Jeff and almost had to file a paternity suit to get our stallion back after Jeff had him for four months," she jokes. "Jeff took a green broke stallion that I had ridden on the trails with my kids and, in four months of formal hunter training, insisted that we take him to Scottsdale. I tried to point out that Scottsdale is not what most people would consider a 'practice' show, but Jeff believed in our guy so much that he waived his show fees and only charged us gas for transportation. Here is a trainer that put his money and reputation where his mouth was and took the risk with us. It paid off, and TLA Halynov (*Halycon x *Matsya, by Podsnejnik) went Top Five in hunter pleasure, receiving top points from the only hunt seat judge of the three. And this is from a trainer who refuses to put on those little stretch pants himself! With his wonderful assistant, Chris Brutoco, Halynov managed to beat far more seasoned horses ridden by well-known hunt seat trainers. Jeff is simply amazing. Our stallion loved him and you could see it in his eyes. Now that is the mark of a TRUE horseman!"

Memories returned in full force when Jeff Wonnell met Earl Kelly and the 30-year-old Edna Draper-bred mare Cara Glory with her 2000 foal at the September Turlock All Arabian Show.

Finding Solutions
Although Jeff doesn't follow the show circuit as much as he used to, he keeps his finger on the pulse of the industry and looks for solutions rather than placing blame. He talks about the expense of showing and how most families have dropped out. "To encourage participation, we need to disperse some of the sweepstakes money at the Class A shows," he urges. "If people had a chance to recoup some of their expenses, they would probably show more. With all the money paid out at regionals and nationals, a lot of people never have a chance to win any of it."
He also talks about the lack of time for socializing due to large classes and time constraints. "We need to make it more fun for exhibitors," he says. "It's discouraging to see all those 'mad' [upset] people at horse shows. Granted, the shows weren't as critical back in the early 50s when classes were smaller. They also had quite a few game classes, which were exciting, and probably half of the people showed their own horses."
He is also candid about show ring politics. "I think we've got a good rulebook and judges just need to be encouraged to judge by the rules," he says in reference to another annoying aspect that he finds in the Half-Arabian division. "From what I have observed in Half-Arabian halter classes, National Show Horses win both sections. Judges should judge according to type. In other words, a stock horse should be a stock horse. People seem to think that if a NSH can't trot, it automatically qualifies for the Stock/Hunter class. True western, stock type Half-Arabians don't get placed in the halter classes, and it discourages those breeders from showing.
"Another gripe I have is that the country pleasure classes aren't following the original intentions. Those things need to be defined and the judges need to follow the rulebook."
With his usual forthright manner, Jeff also thinks the trainers have too much control. "Approved judges for the big shows are a fairly small group, and they are very dependent on each other," he points out. "To resolve the judging dilemma, we need to make a lot of noise before anything changes. I don't think the three-judge system for the Nationals will be any worse than the five-judge system, but I'd rather have two good judges than five mediocre ones."

Jeff on Bay-O'Shea (Bay Abi x sunny Acres Gi Gi) in the first working cow hose class held at an Arabian show in Monterey, Calif.

Looking Ahead
It's been quite a change from 1939 to 2001, and Jeff has witnessed a multitude of mind-boggling events. For Jeff, one of the biggest changes happened the first time he rode in an airplane. "It was an open cockpit bi-plane -- a Jenny," he recalls. "When you consider where we've gone from there..."
Now a widower, Jeff lives on a 16-acre parcel of land at Arroyo Grande, on the Central Coast, about half way between L.A. and San Francisco, where he raises Half-Arabian Palominos. "There seems to be a pretty good demand for the Quarter Horse/Arabian cross," he reveals. "My goal is to produce a flashy, typey western horse with a good temperament." Although he showed a few western horses last year and only went to one regional show in 2000, he is waiting for those flashy youngsters to grow up. "I don't go to shows unless I have competitive horses and right now most of my horses are too young."
Retirement is not an option in Jeff's book and in addition to training horses and his amateur program, he is looking forward to branching out in yet another direction. He recently returned from a trip to the Friesian Stallion Fest in Holland, where he admits to a certain "involvement."
"I've trained some Friesians and own one filly," he says. "The Friesians are gaining in popularity and a number of people that used to be in Arabians are now breeding them. A lot of people have said the Friesians are where the Arabians were 40 years ago, which wasn't bad. Although I don't plan to give up Arabians entirely," he adds with a grin.
Jeff points with pride to his present associate, Bruce Griffin, who also shows Arabians, and is fast becoming a leader in presenting Friesans and Sport Horses in-hand. Last month, at the yearly Friesan Stallion Kaeurring (judging), where judges approve breeding stallions for the year, Bruce was the first American to ever present horses in front of Dutch judges.
Amazingly, the movie industry recently beckoned again and Jeff auditioned for a car commercial. "They wanted an 'old' cowboy to ride a mechanical bull," he says wryly. "So I went to Hollywood and auditioned for the part. I didn't get it, but it turned
out to be a crummy commercial anyway, and they quit airing it after
only one week!"
In 1999, Jeff was honored at the Region II Regional Championship Arabian Horse Show in Santa Barbara for his 50-year training career. According to Marylisa Walsh, the secret to the longevity of Jeff's career is his genuine love for his work. "Jeff has never stopped being amused by his horses and their people," she says. "He is as caring and full of humor as he is skilled in his profession."
In Ruth Husband's words, Jeff Wonnell truly is the "King of the Horse Trainers."