The Almosta Cowboy

Al Dunning is one of the most decorated horsemen in the history of western performance competition. Born in Chicago in 1950, his family relocated to Arizona when he was eight years old. He began riding at Siminoff Stables, where he learned horsemanship and roping under mentors including Jim Paul, John Hoyt, and the legendary Don Dodge. By age 19, he won his first major reining class aboard Stormy Pink, a palomino mare by Sugar Bars.

After graduating from Phoenix College and attending Arizona State University, Dunning launched his professional training business in 1970 from the Almosta Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona — a facility he has owned and operated for over five decades. His career spans an extraordinary range of disciplines: reining, cutting, working cow horse, halter, western riding, and all-around. He and his students have collectively earned over 57 World and Reserve World Championship titles across AQHA, NCHA, NRCHA, and NRHA competition.

His most famous horse was Expensive Hobby, a 1971 buckskin gelding who won 29 of 32 hackamore classes and finished first in more than 100 reining and cow horse events. Expensive Hobby earned AQHA World Championships in working cow horse and senior reining and was inducted into both the AQHA Hall of Fame and the Arizona Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame. Dunning himself was inducted into the AZQHA Hall of Fame in 2016.

The honors are extensive: AQHA Professional Horseman of the Year (1996), NCHA Zane Schulte Trainer of the Year (2003), Monte Roberts Equitarian Award (2004), Western Horseman Magazine's Western Horseman Award (2017), and the PCCHA Smith Sportsmanship Award (2021). He is an EquiStat Elite Million Dollar Winner and an NCHA Million Dollar Rider. He has served as an AQHA Director at Large, chaired the AQHA Judges Committee and Show Committee, and judged the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity four times and the AQHA World Show three times.

An accomplished author, Dunning has written five books — Reining, The Art of Hackamore Training, The Ultimate Level of Horsemanship, and Down the Fence — all published through Western Horseman Magazine. He has taught clinics on five continents and mentored many of today's most successful professional trainers. His online mentoring program, Team AD, and his tack line, AD Tack, extend his teaching reach worldwide. Al and his wife Becky — a well-known horse show announcer and co-founder of America's Horse Cares — have been married since 1971.

The Almosta Cowboy podcast brings Al's half-century of horseman wisdom to a new format, featuring deep conversations with top industry professionals about training theory, practical technique, and the legends who built the western horse world.