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Breeding Real Quarter Horses for Real Quarter Horse People!

William T. Hamilton, Trainer & Professional Horseman

“Sir William,” or Bill, grew up in New York’s Southern Tier, in the small town of Cohocton, near the towns of Bath, Wayland, Dansville, and Hornell.   He can’t remember any life without horses, starting to ride almost before he learned to walk.  When he was between the ages of 8 and 10 years old, Bill would ride his bicycle 3 & ½ miles uphill to a large wooded pasture where his family owned and kept 28 ponies….five of which were “broke.”   Unfortunately, Bill didn’t know which five were the “broke” ponies, but by the time he finished his daily walking down, catching, and riding a pony every day over many months, all 28 wild ponies were “broke to ride.”

As a teenager, Bill rode in rodeos, back yard shows, and worked year round at a “Dude Ranch.”  In the mid 1970’s he attended SUNY Alfred’s Equine Science program, where one of the instructors said to him, “perhaps you ought to be teaching the class their riding skills…you most certainly know more than I do.”  And it was probably true.  Bill continued to sharpen his training skills, and over the years was found competing at NRHA events and AQHA shows, often winning over well-known trainers.   He was a Yankee Reining Horse Association Reserve Non-Pro Champion on a good, honest, little Quarter Horse named, ‘Jazz,” that he often rode “bridleless” during Reining exhibitions long before the advent of the NRHA Freestyle Reining classes.

Bill kept up with the best of the horsemen, reading voraciously training articles in magazines, going to clinics, seminars, and exhibitions…anywhere that professional horsemen gathered to talk about horses and training methods.   He spent many hours watching and talking with such Reining greats as Bob Loomis, Dick Pieper, Bob Anthony, and Al Dunning…Not to mention the infamous Bill Horn, who in the 1980’s once offered Bill the opportunity to come and ride reining horses with him as an apprentice trainer.  Unfortunately, personal tragedy coupled with sudden lifestyle changes, including the custody of two young sons, prevented Bill from realizing his dream at that time.    

According to Bill, though, it was not World Champion professional horsemen that taught him the most.   Two mentors early in his life were instrumental in developing his highly tuned horsemanship skills.  One was his local 4-H Leader, Harold “Tootie” Plain, a retired US Cavalryman, and trainer of some of this country’s earliest Western Pleasure horses.  The second was a big Buckskin mare named “Talis,” who stepped off a truck out of Oklahoma .  To this day, Bill doesn’t know the mare’s breeding, or where exactly she was raised and trained, but he credits that great mare with teaching him more about horses that just about anybody, or anything he can think of.  “She did it all,” he says, remembering the multitude of events he and that mare excelled at.  “She was a nobody, from nowhere, but she was truly a great horse…One of the best there ever was…She showed me everything.”

Over the years, Bill’s training and riding style changed from that of a physical “yahoo cowboy” just ramming and jamming to that of a gifted horseman and trainer, who is able to read a horse’s mind so well that he is still often called upon by horse “traders” and other trainers to try out newly purchased horses of unknown back grounds.  It takes a lot of knowledge and skill to step up on a horse that may or may not be “broke,” or may or may not have a multitude of dangerous habits lurking….and it’s too late once aboard to decline the ride.  To this day, he is called upon to “fix” problem horses, not only by individuals who have a horse with bad habits, but also by owners who have had their horses develop problems while being in training with other “professional” trainers.

Over time, Bill’s expertise developed toward Reining horses, but his repertoire of knowledge keeps him turning out some exceptional Western Pleasure horses, and fantastic Trail horses, too.  His training program embodies the K.I.S.S. method (“keep it simple, stupid”), using an “open the door, close the door” philosophy, and the dressage principle of “elbow to the bit.”  He is often heard remarking to his students, “who is smarter, you or the horse?”  And he tells his clients and students, “You can’t dominate a horse physically…You have to get into their minds…It’s a human mind over a horse’s mind.”  According to Bill, there is no “cookie cutter” way to train a horse.  You must be “intuitive”…In other words, “put your book down, and read your horse!”   Truly, his methods work for both English and Western riders, with his students bringing home a multitude of High Point Year End Championships on various show circuits throughout New York .

Bill’s training program keeps young horses minds fresh.  Yes, he does use an arena to start a colt, but most of Bill’s training from novice horse to finished expert is spent by riding horses miles and miles outside in a natural environment, using a roadway in a field to perfect leg yields, bending, and two-tracking.  A flat hay field works for loping and perfecting circles, both small and large.  Bill doesn’t rely on walls to help teach a horse how to “stay on the rail.”   His horses learn his body movement and leg cues for shoulder and hindquarter movements, and develop suppleness going over, under, around, and through natural obstacles on the trail.  Bill’s tip to clients with horses in training is, “Horses get broke by riding miles outdoors, not round and round in a ring...Train and ride by that rule, and your horse will always have a fresh mind, and never go sour.”

Bill’s philosophy that “no horse needs a stronger bit, the rider just needs better hands,” and his belief that the rider must be “as kind as possible, yet only as firm as necessary” has led  him to often tell a student to “leave your spurs at home.”    Ask simply, reinforce kindly, and spend time “reading your horse” are basic principles that Bill uses in helping his students, and clients, develop successful and long lasting relationships with their horses.

Over the last 50 years, Bill quietly perfected his trade,  He is presently the resident Trainer at Anderson Quarter Horses in Cohocton, NY, where he also keeps a string of outside horses in training, and gives riding lessons to not only beginners in the saddle, but also expert riders who wish to reach a higher performance peak with their horses.

For further information to book a horse in training, or schedule a lesson, you may reach

William T. Hamilton, Trainer & Professional Horseman, at 585-919-9723.