Rich Fellers has found himself at the top of show jumping leader boards many times over the past several decades, garnering a large following of loyal fans. Every time he enters the arena to attack a course, the stands erupt in applause. What is remarkable about this rider is not only the fact that he is successful—but that he was largely self-taught.

Rich Fellers: The Early Years 

Fellers was born and raised in Oregon. His father, Dick, remarried when Rich was 10. Dick’s new wife, Cheryl, had a horse she showed at Arabian horse shows. Rich thought it seemed like fun, especially the jumper classes.

“I thought it looked pretty cool,” he recalls.

Cheryl started giving Rich and his sisters riding lessons on her horse. She taught them English flat work, but he wanted to start jumping as soon as possible. When it got to be too much having so many people riding one horse, Rich received a 15.2 hand, bred to race, two-year-old appaloosa named Sure Chic for his 11th birthday.

Rich taught his horse to jump and began showing him. He eventually took Sure Chic to such prestigious shows as the L.A. National, World Cup qualifiers and Spruce Meadows.

“My success with that horse really influenced me to believe in smaller horses,” he says. “He was a fighter and a winner.”

Since then, Rich has ridden many horses that were smaller than the competition, including two of his current mounts, Flexible and McGuinness, owned by Harry and Mollie Chapman. Flexible, at only 16 hands, carried Rich to a second place finish at the 2008 World Cup Finals. For his part, McGuinness was the winningest five-year-old in Ireland before the Chapmans bought him, despite his size.

He points out that his clients have not always had the funds to buy the most expensive horses, and smaller ones are often more reasonably priced than their larger counterparts—yet, they often have just as much talent and heart.

Self Taught 

When Rich was learning to ride, Cheryl was only able to help him with the basics. As a result, he had to learn a lot on his own.

“I learned by the seat of my pants,” he recalls. “I was never with a trainer or in a stable.”

He also received coaching from Max Von Zimmerman (father of the announcer and judge by the same name) when at horse shows. Von Zimmerman had noticed Rich and thought he was talented, so Von Zimmerman offered to help the young rider.

A big part of Rich’s development as a rider began when he started taking clinics with the legendary George Morris at the age of 13. Rich still hosts a clinic with the master every year at his ranch.

As Rich says, “He’s had a huge effect on my riding and flat work.”

When he wasn’t being coached, Rich watched as much as he could of the winning riders at horse shows. However, he didn’t have an advisor to tell him who to watch or what to watch for.

“I picked up a lot of bad habits that way that I’ve been trying to erase,” he recalls. “But you develop a lot of feel learning on your own.”

Turning Pro 

In the early 80s, Rich moved to southern California to take a salaried riding position with a company called The French Connection. While there, he rode young Oldenburgs imported from Germany for resale. When that arrangement ended after a couple of years, Rich opened his own training business at Diamond Bar Equestrian Center.

It was there that Rich met his wife, Shelley. She was his working student, and they worked together to train and show jumpers, building up the business to 26 horses in training.

“My wife is the backbone of our business,” he says. “She’s my ground person, helps me every day—I wouldn’t have reached as far as I have without her.”

Eventually, Harry and Mollie Chapman called Rich and offered him a job training for them at their private ranch in Oregon. Rich and Shelley were married by that time and knew they didn’t want to raise a family in southern California. They agreed that the job offer seemed like the perfect opportunity to return to Oregon.

“I’ve known him for most of his life and I knew his family,” explains Harry. “He seemed like the best choice for us at the time, and we were right.”

He goes on to say, “I can’t say enough about Rich. He’s been riding for us for over 20 years, and it’s been a joy.”

Although Rich trained exclusively for the Chapmans for a time, he now operates his own training business out of their facility. He currently trains 14 horses with the aid of his wife. With two children, Rich prefers not to be away from home as much as many of the other riders. He shows only 15 to 18 weeks of the year, mostly at the major shows on the west coast and Spruce Meadows, where he competes against the best of the best in the Masters Tournament.

For the past four years, he has also made the trip to the World Cup Finals. In his third year, in Gotenburg, Sweden, Rich surprised himself and jumping fans when he finished an impressive second behind veteran Meredeth Michaels-Beerbaum.

Although he was not a favorite going into the competition, he proved himself to be a viable competitor from the very first round.

“Flexible jumped really well and we were fourth that night,” Rich says. “That was very exciting.” He goes on to explain, “The Friday jump-off class was big and difficult. It was the toughest course of the Finals. We jumped clean, and all of a sudden I realized we could be competitive in this thing. It changed my whole outlook. That’s when I knew Flexible had what it takes.”

Other highlights of Rich’s riding career include representing the United States in the Pan American Games in 1991 and piloting McGuinness to the title of U.S. Grand Prix Horse of the Year in 2005. More recently, he won the $75,000 Grand Prix at the 2009 Sacramento International Horse Show.

As for his next goal, he hopes to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland the third week of April. He is also travelling to Florida in February to participate in the World Equestrian Games Trials in hopes of making the team for the WEG to be held in Lexington, Kentucky in early October.