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A few
words about the background of Darrell Bereuter, the
Missouri Horse Trainer and his partner Donna Grace.
It’s not often that a man gets a career that spans his
lifetime, but for Darrell Bereuter, that’s been the
fact. He says he’d be hard put to remember a time when
he couldn’t ride a horse. Darrell was born in St. Louis
and grew up at the Bar X ranch on Lindbergh Blvd. before
the migration from the city overran that once,
semi-rural area. As a youth he competed in ranch type
events, claiming the AQHA Missouri State Roping
Championship when he was eighteen. That year also
afforded him the opportunity to compete in the Missouri
State Rodeo and take home the Championships in the Calf
Roping and Cutting Horse classes.
Life took Darrell
South, to Texas, where he showed some great Paint
horses, winning Championships and Reserves in Western
Pleasure, Western Riding, Roping and Halter. AQHA horses
took him to Top Ten World Show finishes in Calf Roping
and Heading
and Heeling in ‘81 and ‘82. Along with competition,
Darrell found time to manage a Quarter Horse/Paint
breeding operation, consisting of a broodmare band of one
hundred, plus six stallions. His breeding program became
an early adopter of AI breeding techniques.
During this time frame he rode the winning horse in the
Wisconsin Super
Horse Contest, besting other contestants in a
combination of events consisting of Barrels, Breakaway
Roping, Heading, and Heeling. Took home a nice trophy
saddle from that deal.
In 1986, Darrell rode the National Champion Appaloosa
Cutting Horse, in Indianapolis, IN. and through the
years he has had the pleasure of winning numerous
saddles in team roping competitions.
In conjunction with these activities, he has always seen
himself primarily as a trainer, training his own
stock and training winning horses, professionally, for
others. It amounts to forty years of effort, experience
and gratifying success. Now, Darrell is staying closer
to home and taking in a limited number of outside horses
for training at the Rope 'n Tie Ranch in Cedar Hill, MO. He’d be
glad to talk to you about your goals for your
performance horse whether pleasure, speed events,
roping, you choose.
Donna was one of those horse crazy girls in a
'non-horsey' family. She took riding lessons at eleven
years of age and was guiding trail rides at Valley Mount
Ranch at the age of twelve. Though her family thought
her horse obsession would fade, it didn't. Her first
horse came at the age of fifteen. At seventeen, Donna
received a weanling colt which she named Bandit. It was
a lifelong partnership, with Donna and Bandit competing
locally in western pleasure, English pleasure and
trail classes and finding time to participate in parades
in St. Louis and Farmington.
Having enjoyed the experience of the show ring, the duo
switched focus to trail riding across the region,
sometimes for a week at a time in the Ozark Hills. But
the lure of competition is strong, and in her thirties,
Donna returned to the arena, competing in barrel racing,
roping and goat tying. A trophy saddle and numerous
buckles, including an "All Around" are testament to her
success.
Bandit's influence was profound. She credits him with
helping her not only to win in competition, but with
helping her to learn how to train horses and give
lessons to kids and adults. When he died, at age thirty
three, he was buried in the front yard of the ranch.
Her work with Darrell Bereuter has lent the polish of
advanced horsemanship to her resume. With his guidance
she has learned to fine tune and finish a horse.
If you ask Donna how she feels about her life with
horses she'll tell you "I truly believe this is not a
hobby, but a life-style. A life style I chose and I love
it". |
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