Erin Taormino Makes History as the First Woman to Win the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s World’s Greatest Horseman® Competition in Addition to Balancing Being a Mom and Running a Business with Her Husband

One rider with one special horse in a single bridle compete in four events including cutting, reining, steer stopping and cow work — that’s the challenge of the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s World’s Greatest Horseman®. The WGH is a competition like no other, challenging for even the most elite riders and their extraordinary equine partners. Competitors and their mounts must be physically and mentally prepared for a grueling week inside the arena. First up is the preliminary rounds where over 80 participants make qualifying runs in each event over a week’s time. Just the top 15 aggregate scores advance for one final round in each event, all in one intense day of competition. With world champions, million- dollar riders and reigning World’s Greatest Horsemen all saddling up, this is one of the most prestigious cow horse events there is.

In steps Erin Taormino, who joined the ranks of NRCHA’s Million Dollar Riders in 2024. She is the wife to Anthony, mom to 7-year-old Westley and co-owner of Taormino Performance Horses in Dennis, Texas, 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth, where the couple specializes in training reined cow horses. Anthony provides a strong foundation for the young colts, while Erin hones their skills for the show pen.

Over the past 25 years, this cowgirl has put her head down and worked hard as a trainer and intense competitor, gaining confidence in her skills as well as trusting her horses to do their job. On March 1, 2025, everything came together at the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, where Taormino became the first woman to win the coveted WGH championship title aboard her longtime partner Hazardouz Material, owned by Linda Mars. Their history-making run achieved a final score of 884.5 (Herd: 219; Rein: 221.5; Steer Stopping: 223.5; Cow Work: 220.5), finishing 4.5 points ahead of Reserve Champion Todd Crawford and One Time Legend, the legendary duo who were ranked No. 1 coming out of the preliminaries.

“It’s a dream come true,” Taormino says of the victory — a validation of her talent as a trainer and rider. “It’s something that you think about and dream about, and it’s on your list of goals. But, until it happens, it seems so surreal and almost out of reach. It’s just this overwhelming feeling of gratitude.”

A Little Luck and a Lot of Determination

Erin Taormino started roping to do World’s Greatest Horseman® competition and her best friend, Jackie Hobbs-Crawford — a 23-time Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Champion roper, helped as her coach.
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Erin Taormino started roping to do World’s Greatest Horseman® competition and her best friend, Jackie Hobbs-Crawford — a 23-time Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Champion roper, helped as her coach.
COURTESY PHOTO

While Taormino has been competing for most of her adult life in three events that make up the WGH competition, she didn’t pick up a rope until 2020. “I started roping to do World’s Greatest,” she says. Luckily, Taormino’s best friend is also a 23-time Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Champion roper, making her the perfect coach. “Jackie Hobbs-Crawford and I have been best friends since I was pregnant. Billie Bray introduced us at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, and we’ve literally been inseparable ever since,” she explains of Bray, the co-owner of Equibrand, the well-known, Texas-based company specializing in horse products. “The first time I ever ran live steers was on one of Jackie’s practice horses in 2020,” she adds.

From there, Taormino became a mainstay at the Crawfords’ ranch learning to rope. “I lived at their house. They didn’t have lights when I first started, so I would work my horses as fast as I could, then haul over to Jackie and Charly’s. At one point, they even put a headlamp on me as a joke because we were running steers in the dark,” she says. While most WGH competitors see steer stopping as the easiest event, roping is not Taormino’s strong suit despite her best efforts to practice. This year in particular, she split her time between the Crawfords’ and roping with Tate Kirchenschlager, a Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier in team roping and American Rope Horse Futurity champion. “When I roped in the prelims, Tate and Jackie were both there,” she says. “Thank goodness because Tate was like my horse show dad, checking my rope and the start. I was so thankful because I was so nervous since it’s an event that I’m not used to. I’m pretty lucky to have two amazing people help me.”

Taormino knew going into the WGH that Hazardouz Material had the talent to win. The 9-year-old, 14.2 hh, red roan stallion, nicknamed Skeeter, is her most seasoned bridle horse, and she felt he deserved this chance to shine on the big stage. “I knew I had a horse that was very capable. He’s just amazing and talented, plus he’s proven himself time and time again that he wants to be a winner,” Taormino says. The challenge was to keep her head on straight for the steer stopping. “I had this monkey on my back because I missed my steer in the finals last year,” she says. “I told myself I just wanted to be clean through four events to give my horse every opportunity to do his job to the best of his ability, stay out of his way and stay focused, not get ahead of myself.” That was the game plan — subject to change when the nation’s top 15 riders battle it out in all four events in one pressure-packed final day. “I’ve watched amazing horsemen and women with the best horses have a stumble or have something go wrong and not think anything of it. You know they can win; it just wasn’t their night,” she explains. But, the pair experienced the exact opposite under the lights. “I knew going in that anything could happen, but shoot, it just seemed like everything fell into place and, honestly, after the steer stopping, I was just ready to go horse show!” she recalls. And horse show she did, topping the leaderboard to win the title of NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman® and its $150,000 purse.

The Canadian

While Taormino resides with her family in North Central Texas, she was raised on a grain farm in southern Saskatchewan. She hails from Grenfell, Canada, a city of about 1,000 people located nearly 200 miles north of the international border with North Dakota. “It was a smaller grain farm for up there, but a grain farm nonetheless,” she recalls. Throughout her childhood, she played sports and rode horses through the fields for fun. She doesn’t recall a time when she didn’t have horses. “I started out just riding around at home, then I did 4-H, which opened the door for me,” she explains. It was at these smaller 4-H shows that she started making connections and aspiring to do more. She soon progressed into showing at the American Quarter Horse Association shows, which were considerably more competitive and took her to a whole new level of horsemanship.

One gelding in particular, she had growing up, helped mold her into the trainer she is today. Red was a homely little yearling she bought. “I don’t know how he didn’t kill me,” she laughs. “I started him and did everything on him myself. He was probably one of the most influential horses in my horse-training career, and I didn’t even know it until now. He instilled in me what I wanted to do.” She kept Red in the family his entire life. After she had outgrown him, she gave him to her brother who let his kids ride him, and that’s where he lived out the rest of his life.

Taormino landed in the states by way of the All-American Quarter Horse Congress — the world’s largest horse show attracting half a million people and featuring over 20,000 horse show entries — in Columbus, Ohio. She traveled there her last year as a youth competitor and ended up selling her horse at the show. The 18-year-old, still undecided of what she wanted to do with her life, wasn’t ready to go home, however. She remained in the U.S. and bounced around to a few places in Texas loping horses and trying to find her groove.

That’s where she met Ron Ralls, renowned horse trainer, NRCHA Million Dollar Rider, World’s Greatest Horseman ® and member of the association’s Hall of Fame. “I literally fell into the cow horse world,” she jokes. “Ronnie was amazing, obviously, and we worked at the same ranch, so he would help me with the string of horses I had. Not necessarily doing anything cow horse related but just bettering my horsemanship.” Ralls made such an impression on the young trainer that when he decided to go out on his own, she went to work for him and stayed for over four years. “I’m forever grateful that he took this horse crazy, young girl that knew nothing about cow horses and had more patience than I could ever dream of a human having to teach me so much,” she says. It was also working for Ralls that Taormino met her husband Anthony, who was starting colts for the NRCHA legend. They married in 2006.

After leaving Ralls’ ranch, the couple started working for Todd Bergen, another prestigious National Reining Horse Association and NRCHA Million Dollar Rider (with over $2.7 million in lifetime earnings) known for his versatility in multiple disciplines. It was her time with Bergen that really gave shape to her career path. “We were at Todd’s for five years, and that’s where I started advancing my skills and really fell in love with the reined cow horses,” she says. To this day, Bergen remains a huge part of her training program as he’s been there for her through every aspect of her career.

A Family Business

Erin Taormino, with her husband, Anthony, and their 7-year-old son, Westley.
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Erin Taormino, with her husband, Anthony, and their 7-year-old son, Westley.
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The Taorminos have proven that they make a great team at home and in the arena. The couple have endured so much together, working from the ground up to build their business and make a name for themselves. In the beginning, they moved about working for different trainers and programs, including a stint with Gardiner Quarter Horses in Kansas. Aboard the ranch’s homebred horse, Plain Wright (Hes Wright On x Isabellena), Taormino won the 2015 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Reserve Open championship, the first big accomplishment (with her jaw-dropping 228 down the fence) that would help kick-start her career, including being one of the featured trainers in the 2017 documentary “Down the Fence.” From there, they returned to Texas and started Taormino Performance Horses, where they reside today.

While Erin gets most of the attention showing their horses at high-profile events, Anthony’s efforts to give the colts a critical foundation helps make Taormino Performance Horses successful. “He starts all the 2-year-olds and rides them for a while, then I take them over,” she says. Anthony is also able to help Erin prepare behind the scenes. “He doesn’t show, so that makes it a little easier,” she says. “For instance, this week, he’s driving the horses out to Las Vegas, flying home, then he will come back and drive the horses home, so I can fly back and take care of Westley.” It’s this team approach that has helped the pair grow their business and their beautiful family.

Even though Taormino knows her husband always has things covered, she puts a lot of pressure on herself to be there for everything. “The mom guilt is real,” she admits. “I love what I do so much, and you have to peel me away from the barn, but I also have all the guilt of not being there for everything Westley does.” Since their son, like his parents, enjoys being active and playing every kind of sport there is including baseball, football and basketball, it can be a struggle to be there for everything. “The only thing that eases my mind is that his dad can be there for him when I’m not in,” she says. “We just divide and conquer.”

The Horse That Keeps On Giving

“(Hazardouz Material is) a special horse. He’s one of fthose once-in-a-lifetime horses. He never disappoints,” says Erin Taormino of her steady mount.

“(Hazardouz Material is) a special horse. He’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime horses. He never disappoints,” says Erin Taormino of her steady mount.

Hazardouz Material has been in Taormino’s program since she picked him out for Mars as a long 2-year-old. “I just loved his feel from the very start,” she recalls. “The thing that sold me on him was his stop. It didn’t matter what you did, that horse was sliding, and I just knew I needed to have him.” With his stop still one of his largest assets, Skeeter has developed into one of the most accomplished horses in Taormino’s string. The young stallion by the legendary Metallic Cat and out of a Dual Smart Rey mare has over $410,000 in lifetime earnings and has won many titles including the NRCHA Stallion Stakes Open Champion, NRCHA Open Hackamore Champion, both in 2021, the 2024 Run for the Million Reserve Champion and, now, the World’s Greatest Horseman®. “He’s a special horse,” she says. “He’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime horses. He never disappoints, and, honestly, I feel like he gets better with age.”

His sheer athleticism along with his cool demeanor make him a standout competitor and breeding stallion. Taormino explains: “The horse is so physically talented. He’s quick, strong and smart, but one of his best qualities is his willingness to adapt.” Whether he’s in the show pen or walking down the barn aisle, he’s easy to be around and has a heart of gold. “For a stud that is getting collected, he’s so good minded. My son can lead him around. He just has a really kind soul,” she says. After competing together for close to seven years, the duo shares a special bond that proved to be unbreakable during the WGH. “When I’m as green as I am in the steer stopping, and that horse just did his job no matter what, that says a lot about him,” she adds. “I’m so thankful for how that horse has made my job and learning that event so easy.” Even after they finished the four WGH events where each had been pushed to the limits physically and mentally, Taormino felt Skeeter was just getting started. “I felt like I could have run another event on him after the fence work. I know he was tired, but he didn’t feel tired. He was ready,” she concludes.

“I truly feel like Platinum Performance® GI helps my horses across the board, physically and internally in their joints, their stomachs, all the things,” Erin Taormino says. “I really appreciate all the different avenues that Platinum helps horses with. Be it muscle recovery or digestion, it covers all the bases that you need.”

“I truly feel like Platinum Performance® GI helps my horses across the board, physically and internally in their joints, their stomachs, all the things,” Erin Taormino says. “I really appreciate all the different avenues that Platinum helps horses with. Be it muscle recovery or digestion, it covers all the bases that you need.”

The Nutrition to Back a Champion

Taormino was first introduced to Platinum Performance® while working with Bergen, a Platinum client since 2007. “When I had my own personal horses at Todd’s, I started using Platinum on them, and I just fell in love with the product and the company,” she says. As a solid foundation, Taormino uses Platinum Performance® GI to support overall health and provide advanced digestive support. “I truly feel like Platinum Performance® GI helps my horses across the board, physically and internally in their joints, their stomachs, all the things,” she says. “I really appreciate all the different avenues that Platinum helps horses with. Be it muscle recovery or digestion, it covers all the bases that you need.” Taormino also adds Platinum Longevity® for her horses in heavy work and competition to support healthy levels of inflammation and muscle recovery. She offers: “It is my responsibility to provide my horses with what they need to look their best and perform at the highest level, and Platinum Performance® is vital to my program.”

What’s Next for the World’s Greatest?

Taormino is at a point in her career where she finally has the confidence to trust the process of her own program and let her horses go on and do great things. She and Anthony have put such a solid foundation on their horses that they are ready to shine. “A long time ago, I had someone ask me in an interview if I could win the Snaffle Bit Futurity or the World’s Greatest Horseman®, which one would I pick?” she says. This was before she had learned to rope, but she answered with confidence that she’d want to win the WGH championship. With that goal behind her, it only seems natural to wonder what’s next. “I would love to win the Snaffle Bit Futurity,” she says. “I was reserve champion one year, and I’ve made the finals. But I would really love to win that.” With her dedication, drive and family support, we are confident there’s more glory ahead for Westley’s mom. For now, she is still reveling in the fact that she is indeed the World’s Greatest Horseman®.