Van Hargis started riding horses when he was four years old and launched his career as a trainer at age twelve when the wife of world-renowned saddlemaker Billy Cook hired him to train her horse. Hargis and the horses he’s trained have excelled in show and rodeo events like ranch horse versatility (his specialty), Western pleasure, trail classes, calf roping, team roping, and steer wrestling. He moves easily between the Western and English riding worlds, and has worked successfully with horses from many additional disciplines, including working ranch, hunter-jumper, and dressage. His wide-ranging experiences have taught him valuable lessons about horses in particular and life in general, and he began sharing his stories through unique horsemanship seminars in 1991. Hargis currently resides just outside Victoria, Texas, where he specializes in colt-starting and ranch horse versatility. From his Texas home base, he travels extensively as a highly requested clinician at equestrian facilities and events across the country (vanhargis.com).