Cesar de la Cruz roped at nine-straight National Finals Rodeos from 2006-2014—the first three with Colter Todd, then five with Derrick Begay and the last one with Tom Richards. His parade of partners is extra fun as we look at this year’s world standings, and how the team of Begay and Todd’s been doing with an NFR switch-ender on the back side. Cesar liked to name some of his four-legged partners after old West outlaws. His all-time favorite horse was a gritty bay he called Johnny Ringo, who recently headed to horse Heaven.
The human this horse was named after was an absolute renegade known to run wild in de la Cruz’s native Arizona in the 1800s.
“I named him Johnny Ringo, because he was tough and cool, and he had the swagger,” smiled Cesar, who’s 42 now and lives in Casa Grande, Arizona with his wife, Arena, and their sons, Camilo, 15; Gio, 13; and Zorro, who’ll be 10 on August 10.
“I liked the old Westerns, and ‘Tombstone’ was probably my favorite movie growing up. I thought of the name Johnny Ringo, because this horse was a little bit of an outlaw when I first got him. He’d rear over the heeling box is why I got him so cheap. I had another horse I called Doc Holliday, and he was another outlaw in ‘Tombstone.’”
He didn’t have any white on him, but solid-bay Johnny Ringo was registered with the American Paint Horse Association as King Peppy Lena. That fact kept him from being eligible for American Quarter Horse Association Horse of the Year voting. Johnny was born on May 2, 1997, and was put down at 28 when the cool old campaigner’s knees and hips told Cesar it was time, and the kindest thing to do for his old friend.
“Johnny Ringo’s had the run of our place, and used to run around our yard,” Cesar said. “He ran the place the last couple years of his life. I felt like he was a huge contributor to us having this place, so this is his permanent home now.”
Johnny Ringo was an unlikely professional rodeo success story in the early going.
“Uncle George (Aros, an NFR header) started him, then Cruz de la Cruz (another uncle) bought Johnny from Uncle George when he was a 4-year-old,” Cesar said. “Cruz went to roping and jackpotting on him right away, and got him a little hot in the box. About that time, Uncle George told me after the College Finals that the horse I grew up on, Peppy, didn’t have enough speed, and I needed a little more heel horse.
“George said, ‘I’ve got a guy looking for a heel horse. You’re going to sell him Peppy for $5,000, then you’re going to buy Johnny Ringo for $5,000. I told Uncle George, ‘I watched that horse rear over the box at the jackpot last week.’ George said, ‘Trust me, this horse is a good horse.’ When I got him, he was cool looking, and I told him, ‘You’re going to be my Johnny Ringo.’”
Uncle George’s hunch about this horse was right on the rope-horse money.
“For the first week, George and I roped slow steers and scored a lot of steers on him to chill him out,” Cesar remembers. “That’s all it took. I never had any more issues with Johnny Ringo in the box. And when I say it was lights out for me after that, I mean every steer I had turned was easy to heel. A good horse makes it easy to catch, and Johnny Ringo made it really, really easy.”
Cesar bought Johnny Ringo in 2003, during his second year of college. This horse was such a turn of events that he quit school, and took his roping show on the pro rodeo road. Cesar’s “there’s your sign” moment was winning the big amateur rodeo in Sonoita, Arizona with Uncle George a couple weeks into owning Johnny.
“My grandpa (Vic Aros) taught me a lot about roping and riding,” Cesar said. “Uncle George (who’s Vic’s son and Cesar’s mom Zenaida’s brother; George’s brother, Victor, was Begay’s first NFR heeler in 2008) is the one who told me what it takes to make it. He’s been a mentor and a father figure. When I got in trouble in school, I had to answer to Uncle George.”
What made Johnny Ringo stand out as special?
“His ability to read the cow,” Cesar said. “Johnny had great timing. He knew when to enter the corner. He was just scared enough of the cow that he didn’t want to get too close, and liked to chase the tail. He was the easiest horse you could ever heel on. You could put your hand down, and kick him to the steer.
“When I was ready to throw, I’d just quit kicking, and he’d slide to a stop. I didn’t teach him that, it was natural to him. And when I’d pull my slack and dally, it’d all come together really easy and pretty. I rode Johnny Ringo at at least five of my NFRs, and the fastest run I ever made was being 3.6 with Begay on the walker at the Finals in 2009. He rode Paint, and I rode Johnny.”
Winning Cheyenne and Pendleton are a two of Cesar’s most prized career highlights.
“Those are two of the wildest cowboy rodeos in the country, and I got the Ws at both of them twice,” he grinned. “Winning Cheyenne with Colter in 2006 was our ticket to finally get over the hump and into our first NFR. It was the first time being that deep in the Top 15, and I was riding Johnny Ringo.
“Back then, a lot of guys only had one horse. For years, Johnny got ridden at every single rodeo. Horsepower is everything in this game, and Johnny Ringo was everything to me. Talent can only take you so far without the right horse that fits your style and personality. With Colter on his buckskin Frisco and me on Johnny, we won the US(TRC) Finals in 2006, too. Talk about a team of horses.”
For years, Johnny was Cesar’s one and only. He retired him after the 2012 NFR, because “his knees and hips had had enough,” and he refused to see his best boy lose a step of speed.
“Johnny Ringo was my only horse for five or six years, so he took all the runs,” Cesar remembers. “In all conditions—behind the barrier at Salinas or on the grass at Pendleton—he would slide all the way around the corner. It felt like we were sliding forever, then he was so aggressive to the saddle horn. The only horse I can compare him to was Jackyl. They had that same fire, personality and energy.
“Johnny Ringo was almost human, and I’m probably too critical of other horses because they aren’t all like him. The more noise and pressure, the more amped up I got and the harder he tried. At the NFR, I was wound up, and he was pumped with me. Johnny truly loved the NFR grand entry and those victory laps. You’ve never seen a horse love the crowd more than him. He was just so cool, and he even showed off the way he walked out of the arena after a run.”
The way Cesar puts it, “People didn’t ask me to rope until I got Johnny.” But perhaps his greatest gift was the family man Johnny became after his professional rodeo retirement.
“Johnny Ringo was the best horse I ever rode,” Cesar said. “But watching him teach my boys to ride and rope was the greatest. Zorro won an all-around saddle on Johnny when he was 7 years old, and Johnny Ringo did it all—barrel racing, goat tying, flag racing, breakaway roping, team roping, and whatever else you wanted to do. Johnny Ringo was willing to do it all, and he always helped you win. That horse loved my kids, and there’s nothing more important to me than that.”
—TRJ—
