EC Amateur Profile – Dan Fox
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268 – March/April, 2023
By Sarah Welk Baynum
At the 2022 AQHA World Championship Show, a familiar name was called during the announcement of the Leading Owner Awards. That name, winning the title of Oklahoma City Leading Owner for the third year in a row, is Dan Fox.
That begs the question: what is the secret to Fox’s success and who is the enthusiastic man holding the lead rope to these champion halter horses?
“I’ve been doing this for 45 years, and Dan is one of the best owners I have worked with,” trainer Tim Finkenbinder says. “He not only buys good horses, but he finds a good match with his horses and trainers. Then he puts complete faith in his trainer. He loves his horses and he loves to show. His success and lasting relationships are a result of the good person he is.”
“Dan goes about showing the right way,” Luke Castle, another of Fox’s trainers, says about him. “The best thing about Dan is he always has a plan, sticks with it, and he is goal driven. Even though he has won a lot, he is always looking for ways to improve. He has the same great attitude whether he’s winning or losing and he always believes in his horses.”
“My dad has jumped into the halter horse industry with his whole heart,” Katie Fox says of her father. “I’m so proud of how much he has accomplished in a short period of time and how he is always striving to do better. It has been an amazing ride to tag along on his journey!”
It’s no surprise horses have been a part of Fox’s life from the time he was a child.
“I grew up riding trail horses with my dad,” Fox recalls. “I got my first horse when I was 7 years old. It was a black, three-year-old Shetland stud named Smoky that I bought for $29 at a local horse sale. I rode Smoky bareback for two years before I finally got a saddle for Christmas. We would ride in the mountains on the weekends and riverbeds during the week after school. For a short period of time, I competed in barrels and poles on my dad’s horse. We did a lot of hunting on horseback in the mountains. These were some of my favorite times, riding horses in the mountains with my dad.”
However, Fox didn’t actually start showing halter horses until 2009. Dan would take his daughter, Katie Fox, to horse shows when she was young and competing in all-around events.
Click here to read the complete article
268 – March/April, 2023
