by Ruthie Stewart

“She is my soulmate and until I met Melinda I never loved anything as much as my horses. Since then we have been through a lot of wonderful things together. I like to think I am the Try and I am sure she is the UMPH in our life together. Lord knows I have put her to the test. There’s an old horse trainer’s saying, ‘if you can’t test ‘em, don’t trust ‘em’. I can say without a doubt I can trust Melinda.”

Melinda and Dale have two daughters, Bobbie and Lizzie. Bobbie works with Dale in the American Horsemen Alliance, an insurance business. They started AHA in January of 2005 after pursuing the idea that only horsemen know and understand other horsemen’s needs and they are dedicated to the concept that the horsemen should have more prosperity. Their purpose is to offer individual horsemen savings through group purchasing power.

The catalyst for starting AHA was fundraisers Dale would hold for injured or sick horsemen who were in need and without insurance. He also formed C.H.A.M.P.S. in 2002. It is a Christian-based non-profit organization just to facilitate these fundraisers for equine enthusiasts in financial need. C.H.A.M.P.S. stands for Christian Horsemen Announcing the Message of the Precious Savior. San Antonio is home to the Livingstons who like the lifestyle in south Texas. They admit sometimes it’s a long way to other parts of the country, but the climate, people and business atmosphere make the distance worth it.

A member of the AQHA Professional Horsemen’s Committee, Livingston presently serves as Vice Chairman of the Professional Horsemen’s Council. He has served on the NSBA judges’ committee and the NSBA Executive Board, and is also an AQHA and NSBA judge. Dale was also on the Show and Contest Committee and the Show Council Committee at AQHA. He has taught the Judges’ workshops for the AQHA, the Color Breed Council, and the NSBA Judges forum for several years.

Livingston has judged the AQHA World Show, All American Quarter Horse Congress, AQHYA World Show, the Northwest Congress, the European Championships, the Brazilian Festival of Champions, and the Mexican Championships. He was honored as the 2007 AQHA Professional Horsemen of the Year.

Dale has had the privilege of training thirteen AQHA World Champions, five of which he showed himself. He has also trained and shown numerous futurity and Congress Champions. One of his favorite performances was on Kay Cee Leaguer in Junior Western Pleasure at the 1990 World Show.

“It wasn’t his absolute best performance, he had better performances, but because Kay Cee had been really sick for a couple of weeks prior and I had people come up to me when I got to the fairgrounds in Oklahoma City that heard the horse had died and were consoling me on my loss. I told them I guess I would be riding his ghost in the Junior, then, and explained that he had pulled through and he was doing okay.”

Dale never rode Kay Cee except for five to ten minutes before the class. He hand walked him the days before the class and in between the eliminations and the finals. “It is special to me because he was good because he wanted to be in spite of the lack of preparation. That horse and I went through some things the two years I showed him and he never said no or I don’t feel like it; he always showed up for work on time and never complained about his job.”

The best horse Livingston feels he ever had was Kay Cee Leaguer’s sire Ima Big Leaguer who he says was a great horse, not because of anything Dale did but in spite of him. “He was a great horse and he taught me. He was the closest thing to my very own Flicka I will ever have. He always did more than I asked, even when I asked the wrong way or for the wrong thing. He just went ahead and did as I asked with a uniqueness I have never seen in any other horse.”

On the top 50 riders list for lifetime money earnings, Dale has owned and promoted some of the AQHA’s best stallions. Some of his other success stories are: KCees Lethal Weapon, Red Dee Hobby, and Leaguers Shadow, and Futurity Champions Barpassers Image, Bares Raisin Kane (the sire and dam of Invitation Only) along with Leaguers Last and many others.

The future of the horse business is exciting and so far-reaching in possibilities that it is hard to imagine where it may be in 10 to 20 years, adds Dale. “Look at where the horse industry has come from in the last 30 years and I believe the future is even brighter for those with the desire to navigate some uncharted waters and faith enough to follow their dreams.” He has seen showing horses advance from something you wished you could do for a living in the United States to making a really good living doing it and being able to represent the United States in the process. “I have seen many great horsemens’ dreams come true in many different disciplines and events. Western performance classes have achieved purses that many thought unreachable when I first started.”

The horse industry is one of the truest forms of capitalism, believes Dale. “No one can tell you what to price your product at; it is worth as much as you can get others to pay for it, not so much a barrel or so much a bushel. But in a capitalist system there are risks as well as rewards so you need some faith, faith in yourself, faith in your horses or what you have taught them, and faith that whether you succeed or not, this is what you are meant to do.”

The show events for the American Quarter Horse have reached an expertise that Dale never dreamed possible. “The horses and exhibitors are simply the very best and those who are unwilling to recognize their excellence, I find, are either unable to compete with them or unwilling to change. I would do some things differently, but that’s the beauty of the horse business, with a good horse and a lot of effort you can make your mark. If your theory or approach is based on sound horsemanship and horseman’s knowledge, it will stand the test of the competition and the test of time. Remember, ‘if you can’t test it, don’t trust it.’”

Livingston is impressed with the focus and accuracy of many of today’s classes. The emphasis on correctness, procedure and the commitment of the horse and rider that it requires to accomplish the level of expertise they aspire for he finds admirable. “I do ask myself at times, in certain events, ‘what is the purpose?’ When we lose sight of the purpose of the event we are participating in, then we become subject to the fickle winds of fads and trends that usually serve no purpose and the horse bears the brunt of this burden.”

He calls himself a horseman first and a show horse person second, and says there is a distinct difference between the two even thought they are connected. The passion for a good horse and the people you meet with the same passion have been what has kept him in the game for all these years. “It is like a large family–you can be in Europe or on an airplane and someone asks you, ‘did you used to own so-and-so?’ You have a conversation with them about a certain horse and by the end of it they invite you to their ranch to see their horses and to their home for dinner. In today’s world if someone says, ‘Hello my name is so-and-so,’ we tend to shrink away and wonder what they are selling, but if they say, ‘Do you have horses,’ the next thing you know an hour has passed and you have copies of the pedigree and papers of most of their mounts.” The common denominator for all the different people in this sometimes weird family is their passion for the horse, adds Dale.

One of the best ways to get to know someone is through the people who love them. Melinda says, “Dale is, for me, truly one-of-a-kind; he is loyal as well as dependable, he is a great friend and a leader. He is a man of his word, not just to his friends but to everyone around him. To Dale right is right and wrong is wrong and he doesn’t care who it is, he believes a true friend will tell you the truth and not what you want to hear. Dale is one of the most giving human beings I have ever known. He is the rock in our family. No matter what is going on he will keep us level through his faith, love and leadership,” adds his wife.

One of the funniest things about Dale is his vulnerability as a father, says Melinda. “Dale is black or white about almost everything, but with kids, ours or others, this is where you might find a gray area. To Dale, kids are like colts. Give them a good foundation and if they stray you have solid ground to come back to.” He believes it’s okay to make mistakes, just don’t keep making the same ones. Dale is strong, protective, and encouraging when it comes to kids. “I’ve been told ‘no’ by Dale, but let Bobbie, our daughter, ask the same question and the answer is suddenly ‘yes let’s do that’. He has a soft spot where kids are involved.”

Training horses is all Dale as ever wanted to do from a young age. “Dale’s mother saw to it that he could follow his dream and she helped open the avenues along his way.” Melinda believes there were times she questioned the sanity of this but if you know Dale, she says, when he believes in something, you can’t stop him.

“Dale loves seeing a good horse become great. He gets personal enjoyment from seeing this happen; and not just his own horse, but everyone else’s too. When other trainers come to visit it’s all-day, all-night clinics of them sharing ideas and experiences. I don’t think there is any area of the horse business Dale doesn’t like. Matching mares to studs to get the best cross, and pulling the best characteristics of both pedigrees to improve the next generation is a true passion for Dale.”

Doctors told Dale about five years ago to stop riding and training horses. Melinda thought it would break his heart. However he followed his own motto of, “Winners never quit and quitters never win and he started down another avenue of horse-related work as an equine mentor, advisor, consultant and manager. He mainly helps other trainers and works with the AQHA and the Professional Horseman’s Association to help their members achieve their goals. “So to sum it up, I describe Dale as a leader that wants everyone around him to win but he doesn’t care who gets the credit.”

Growing old in the horse business is not for sissies. You have to be rugged to last, and if you stay persistent, it’s a great life, says Dale Livingston. No one would call Dale or Mr. Dale as he is also known a sissy. “I get called a lot of things, but Mr. Dale is the only nickname I can think of. I don’t know exactly why or how that got started. I have always looked old. I was gray in my late teens and, since I never finished high school, I hung out with guys 10-20 years older than I was. I guess that’s why. The first 20 years of training horses I was pretty intense so maybe all those things made me appear more serious than I would have liked.”

When he’s not working, Dale can be found reading his favorite book, the Bible. No profile of Dale Livingston would be complete without touching on the importance his faith has to him. “In my opinion, faith is a gift. All people have at least a seed of faith in them, but many don’t water or cultivate their faith. Faith is what turns victims into victors; it takes the overwhelmed and turns them into over comers, and it takes our frustration, gives it direction and turns it into motivation. Faith takes our thoughts and turns them into action. If you simply have faith and combine it with action, your dreams can become a reality.”

We nurture faith in young people by telling them they can achieve their goals, says Livingston. Dale always had a strong sense of faith, not religious faith, but a faith that was nurtured in him by his mother as a young boy. She let him have his dreams, and never said they were impossible. “So I would say faith is nurtured in us by the one’s we trust and love. I had faith in myself and the horses I chose, which I feel was a gift. I had faith that, with enough effort, I would accomplish my goals.”

An almost perfect day for Livingston is not about him, but about the joy and happiness of those he loves. “A perfect day is all your horses riding great and all your clients appreciating how well they are doing, but since I am unable to ride anymore, I will settle for all the people I know being happy.” That’s a tall order, but when you’ve got faith like Dale, anything is possible.