Biography
Ron Ralls of Gainesville, Texas, brought the WGH back after a hiatus, claiming the 2003 title aboard Cowgirls Are Smart in Amarillo, Texas. The Smart Chic Olena mare carried the bloodlines that would come to define the event's early era — Peppy San Badger on the bottom, Smart Chic Olena on top — a pedigree built for the demands of reined cow horse competition.
Ralls was already a respected figure in the reined cow horse world when he claimed his first WGH title. His ability to prepare horses for all four phases of the WGH — a competition that demands excellence in disciplines that can seem contradictory — reflected a deep, well-rounded horsemanship that goes beyond specialized training. The 2003 championship was the beginning of a Ralls legacy in this event that continues through his son Phillip, who claimed the 2023 title twenty years later.
The Smart Chic Olena bloodline that Ralls championed through Cowgirls Are Smart would go on to produce Olena Oak — Ron Emmons' back-to-back champion horse — cementing the lineage as one of the most significant in WGH history. Ralls saw the potential in that breeding before most, and his 2003 title validated the bloodline at the sport's highest level.