Buster Welch

Fay Owen "Buster" Welch (May 23, 1928 – June 12, 2022) was an American cutting horse trainer and inductee into the NCHA Members Hall of Fame, American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame, NCHA Rider Hall of Fame, and Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Buster Welch was born on May 23, 1928, near Sterling City, Texas.

Buster's ancestral heritage dates back to Tennessean roots and family settlements in Texas before the Civil War.

He was born and raised to early childhood near the divide of the Colorado and Concho Rivers, north of Sterling City, Texas.

His mother died shortly after his birth, leaving his grandparents to raise him for a time on their stock farm.

His father remarried, and moved the family to Midland, Texas, where he worked for Atlantic Richfield.

While still in grade school, Buster had run away from home several times, and would skip school to spend time at the stockyards where he learned to ride broncs.

At age 13, he left home permanently and landed a job breaking horses, working large herds of cattle, and tending to various other ranch chores for cattlemen Foy and Leonard Proctor in Midland, Texas.

It was there that Buster learned the basics of riding and working cattle that followed him into adulthood.

After leaving Proctor's, Buster worked for many prominent ranches such as the 6666 Ranch, Pitchfork Ranch, King Ranch, Long X, and a few other ranches where he developed his skills working with rough stock and cattle.

His goal was to one day have a ranch of his own.

When he was 18 years old, Welch took advantage of the new National Cutting Horse Association, and by the early 1950s had begun to establish himself as a horseman able to train a horse to "some degree of finish".

Also, cutting horses had begun to really make their mark as contest livestock.

Welch had always planned to establish himself in cattle ranching and was running 800 head on leased land when a drought "focused his options".

One of the locations where Welch worked for a ranch was for Homer Ingham in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Welch claims that Ingham, "gave me my first real opportunity in training horses".

Welch broke and trained horses for him and also for Warren Shoemaker, his neighbor.

On Shoemaker's urging, Welch decided to purchase a six-year-old unbroken stallion named Chickasha Mike for $125 from Ingham.

Chickasha Mike was by American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame sire Billy Clegg.

Welch broke Mike, used him in his ranch work, and for cutting.

Since the horse seemed to have an aptitude for cutting, Welch took him to some local contests.

In 1952, Mike won his first five events.

Awhile later Welch sold Mike to Bill Hale of Odessa, Texas, for $8,500, and Hale sold him to Leonard Proctor, Welch's previous employer.

Welch's first competition on a cutting horse was on Chickasha Mike.

By showing Chickasha Mike as a cutting horse, Welch established the horse, an American Quarter Horse, as a notable sire of cutting horse champions.

He won the NCHA World Championship on Marion's Girl in 1954 and 1956.

Due to Welch's training, Chickasha Mike became the 1956 NCHA Reserve World Champion.

Proctor owned the horse when he won the 1956 NCHA Reserve World Championship.

The most notable horses he trained include Marion's Girl, Chickasha Mike, Money's Glo who he trained and in 1962 won the first NCHA World Championship Futurity, in 1963 he won it on Chickasha Glo, in 1966 on Rey Jay's Pete, in 1971 on Dry Doc, and in 1977 on Peppy San Badger.

He trained Mr San Peppy and won the NCHA World Championship in 1974 and 1976.

In the early 1980s, Buster and his wife Sheila, lived and worked in Kingsville, Texas, on the King Ranch.

Sheila rode cutting horses and competed in cutting horse competition.

She won several championship titles, and earned over $1 million in NCHA earnings.

In the late 2000s, they sold their 25,000 acre Double Mountain River Ranch, and moved to the adjacent 18,000 acre Chriswell Ranch.

They eventually moved to Rotan, Texas, and raised cattle under the "B Lazy W" brand to supply the retail demand for naturally fed beef.

Buster continued to train cutting horses and managed to expand the ranch to include both leased and owned land comprising over 60,000 acres.

Buster was chosen as the recipient of the 2012 National Golden Spur Award for his "outstanding contributions to the ranching and livestock industry".

Buster won the NCHA World Championship four times, and the NCHA World Championship Futurity five times.

Sheila died on December 7, 2014, at age 76.

He died on June 12, 2022, at his home in Abilene, Texas at the age of 94.