Biography
Lanny Leach
Lanny Leach is a nationally known horseman and clinician starting off his horsemanship career at the age of 2 when he rode along on his father's cattle drives. At the age of 12 he started working for his first paying client who recognized his horse training abilities. As a young man he worked cattle on his own ranch or did custom cattle work from 1976 to 1992. Lanny worked or managed cattle on large spreads from 2,800 acres to 20,000 which included starting horses and training them for cattle work and hay wagon team work.
Lanny and his wife, Kathy, moved to Arizona in 2003 and in 2005 Lanny began using the Tanque Verde Stables as his training facility. From 2008 to 2011 Lanny competed in Extreme Mustang Makeover events sponsored by the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the Bureau of Land Management qualifying for the finals in these events seven times.
In 2011 Lanny competed in the Arizona Horsemanship Challenge colt starting competition in Cottonwood, Arizona, with five other Arizona horse trainers. Lanny was honored to receive the title of Champion receiving the first place buckle. Based on his Arizona Horsemanship Challenge achievements, Lanny was invited to compete in the Colt Starting Challenge USA at the 2015 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas where he finished second.
At the 2013 Mustang Million competition in Ft. Worth, Lanny was selected from hundreds of trainers as the winner of the George Gregory True Grit Award presented to the cowboy or cowgirl who shows the most fortitude, moral fiber and tenacity in horsemanship competition.
To prepare for the epic journey chronicled in the documentary "Unbranded," Lanny was honored to be asked by the film's creator, producer, and participant, Ben Masters, to select and train the horses for the 3,000 mile ride from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. A chapter in the book Unbranded was dedicated to Lanny's part in training the mustangs and the team of young men who went on this journey.
Since then, Lanny has continued his training horses and wild mustangs partnering with his son, Logan, over the years. As a result of his involvement in rehabilitative training programs for correctional facility inmates, Lanny established the Leach Colt Starting Academy in Willcox, Arizona.
In Willcox, Lanny has continued to train people in colt starting while also conducting clinics and offer private lessons and horse training throughout the United States.