Dilday rides to top of world

There’s something ephemeral about attaining the perfect connection between man and horse - a bond that has been attempted for thousands of years in which a rider and his steed can achieve all possible tasks with little more than a mental command and a flick of his wrist.

But as soon as you think you’ve achieved that moment, it seems to slip through your fingers just as easily as dropping the reins.

For Russell Dilday, that’s the idea - not the money, and certainly not the fame - that drives him to get up each morning at 6 a.m. on his ranch at the south end of Porterville and labor until 9 p.m. each night.

It’s rare that any town can boast a resident who is recognized as the best in the world at what he does, but perhaps few in Porterville realize that Dilday has been named as the “World’s Greatest Horseman” for two years and running.

Asked whether the 39-year-old gets ribbed for holding that distinction, the easy-going Dilday shrugged his shoulders and responded with a smile and slight drawl, “It’s just a title.”

Displaying a humility rarely seen in today’s sports - especially at a professional level - Dilday’s upbringing on the same ranch he purchased from his father and currently resides might have something to do with that.

Since he began riding at the age of 3, the full-time trainer has taken forays into framing houses, welding, hauling hay, working the oil fields and shoeing horses on top of the 17 years he’s been involved with training horses.

Dilday spent his days as a young adult in Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada and even Australia to perform some day work as a cowboy where he was often the first to catch, saddle and “break in” a horse as its first trainer.

“I cowboy’d a lot,” he said. “It’s tough work breaking in horses... especially the older, tougher, meaner horses. I got kicked a lot, bit a lot, tripped over on or they’d just run off through the fences.”

Dilday’s persistence in chasing down runaway horses while biding injuries was tempered by his lifelong desire to connect with the sometimes quixotic animals.

“All through when I was a kid, I always felt I wanted to have a broke horse,” he said. “My desire to have a better broke horse is what helped push me into this business.”

As a result, Dilday has met hundreds of horses whose personalities are every bit as diverse as humans’.

“They can have extreme personalities,” he said. “They’re just like people — everything from criminals to preachers and everything in between. There are some that’ll kill ya and some that won’t. Some work cattle, some won’t look at a cattle. Some hunt and some won’t.”

Obedience is not the only characteristic Dilday looks for in a prospective ranch horse, or “cow horse.” Dilday says competitive horses must have what the industry calls “cow.”

“The most important aspect to look for is that they wanna stop,” he said. “It’s born in them to stop. That is coupled closely with them wanting to watch a cow, dominate a cow, control a cow and go to a cow. Most of them have some cow.

“And then (the horse) has to have a good mind, I think,” Dilday continued. “They can have all the stop in the world and all the cow in the world, but if they’re just miserable, they’ll stick it to you in the show pen every time. They’ll run off on you or miss the cow or they just don’t wanna try.”

But it wasn’t until Dilday met his wife, Tanna, before he really began to understand how to deal with horses.

“I got to know Tanna and I was just busting colts and doing everything the hard way,” he said. “Then I met her dad and saw things in a different way.”

Tanna’s father introduced Dilday to Greg Ward, a professional trainer who competed successfully much like Dilday does now. Ward taught him better training techniques and worked with him until he died of cancer in 1998.

Ward’s son, John, continued the legacy by helping Dilday and his wife establish the National Stock Horse Association (NSHA), which was originally organized to front the costs of saving a Fresno-based futurity (first-year horse showing). After the National Reined Cow Horse Association dropped the Fresno futurity from its lineup, others refused to pick it up so Dilday and his wife put the show on for three years at the Save Mart Center.

“It looked like it was gonna evaporate,” Dilday said. “We needed to name it the NSHA in order to have something to show people in Fresno to get sponsorship dollars. It wasn’t non-profit, but there was a ton of support in Fresno.”

The NHSA’s is now the second largest cowboy show in the world behind the NRCHA futurity. The organization’s World’s Richest Horseman competition puts up the largest pot for first place - $100,000. To give perspective, first place at the World’s Greatest Horseman contest nets $30,000.

Dilday’s career had already begun to take off and in 2003, he purchased a two-year-old stallion named Topsails Rien Maker with John Ward, who later sold his share of the horse to Kevin Cantrelle.

From the moment he met Topsails, Dilday knew the 12-handed horse - which is rather small for the industry - would be something special.

“He’s not big at all but he has a heart as big as a house and he’s got the mindset that he can do anything,” Dilday said. “His personality is, ‘Whatever you wanna do, let’s go do it.’ He’s a dream to train.”

At first glance, Topsails is an impressive, if not imposing presence, whose taut, muscular body of a 9-year-old horse in his prime may cause those unfamiliar with horses to keep their distance. But his gentle, even playful, nature quickly endears himself to anxious onlookers as he will likely initiate contact by nudging his hind legs closer for a satisfying scratch.

“He’s extremely sound for a show horse,” Dilday said of the horse who has amassed roughly $260,000 in lifetime earnings.

After finishing in second place twice and third once at the World’s Greatest Horseman show, Dilday finally got over the hump when he teamed with Topsails in 2008.

“What we do is more on finesse of the bridle horse, how broke the horse you can get with how small a signal you need to get your horse to do something,” Dilday said. “The closest I’ve come to achieving that is with Topsails.”

Dilday isn’t sure whether his two sons, Ace and Colt, will ever pick up his passion for riding and training horses. He says the world is a lot different and faster than when he grew up, but he’ll teach them what he knows and then let them decide their futures.

“My theory is they’ll know how to ride and train a horse, and they’ll know how to weld and work. If they like it, they can go on and that’s fine,” he said. “I’m gonna teach them the one thing I know how to do to make money and they’ll always have that to fall back on.

“And they’ll certainly be able to go to college,” Dilday assured, adding that Tanna attended Fresno State and will see to it her sons have the same opportunity. “I’m lucky I’ve got her.”

As for Dilday, he plans to keep competing until his body gives out. In fact, a 69-year-old buddy of his made $80,000 on the circuit last year.

“I don’t see myself quitting (soon),” Dilday said. “Developing finesse and realizing how responsive a horse is, is just so enlightening. And I’m not close to the end or near where I wanna be.”