About Tom
The suburbs of Los Angeles might be an unlikely place to foster a passion for western performance horses, but that is exactly where professional reining horse trainer Tom Foran developed his deep love of horses and the sport of reining. Tom’s love of all things equine came from his father, the late Dick Foran, who was a singing cowboy star in the 30s and 40s. The elder Foran was an Oscar-nominated actor who has three stars of the Hollywood Walk of Fame – one for television, one for recording and one for motion pictures.
Dick Foran
Despite losing his father at the tender age of 10, Tom, who loved his father’s stories about famous cowboys and their great horses, never forgot his dad’s passion for the western lifestyle and commitment to truly living by the cowboy code. |
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At age 10, Tom got his first horse. Granted, the little half Arab was very green and bucked him off daily, yet Tom still dreamed big, aspiring to show in California’s legendary stock horse competitions. Without any professional trainer to help him, the dream seemed unlikely. But Tom didn’t give up. While still a very young boy, he would go to shows and study the techniques of the trainers. By the age of 12, he had taught his little half-Arab mare to slide and spin, and he was showing whenever he could.
Tom continued to ride and show throughout high school. With his family’s finances limited, he seized any opportunity to swing a leg over a saddle. It happened that the owner of the ranch where he rode raised racehorses. So, for several years, Tom gained invaluable experience breaking racehorses and training those that didn’t “make time” to be some sort of show horse. This period of Tom’s life solidified his desire to train horses and taught him how to connect with a complicated horse.
After high school, Tom hung up his hat to pursue divergent interests at the University of Southern California, which he attended on a full debate scholarship. Tom was very active in his collegiate experience, representing USC as their top debater and playing baseball. The highlight of his college career came when USC topped England’s best team from Oxford University in a widely televised public debate, as well as qualifying for the National Debate Tournament as one of the region’s best teams. Tom rounded out his USC experience with an active role in the fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi.
Upon completion of his work at USC, Tom was hit by a family tragedy – his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. With no siblings, and having already lost his father, the impact was great. Tom reconsidered his priorities and decided to do what he had always loved – riding and training horses. He decided to pursue a career as a professional trainer in the sport that he was always most drawn to – reining.
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As he began his professional reining career, Tom apprenticed with three world-class reining horse trainers, each with a very different approach to teaching the reining horse. The first was Penni Gerardi who many had credited with being one of the first to bring NRHA reining to the West Coast. After several years in Gerardi’s barn, Tom went to work for Yvon Mathieu who originally hailed from Quebec, Canada.
It was while Tom was working for Yvon that he purchased a yearling stallion named Guinness. Since he couldn’t afford the entire purchase price of the horse, he worked off part of the payment in trade – a decision that he came to appreciate later in his career. |
To finish his “degree” in reining, Tom worked for Craig Schmersal for a year. After that, he decided it was time to hang up his own shingle.
More than any other factor, Guinness built Tom’s business into what it is today. In 1999, Guinness was a talented 3-year-old ready for the NRHA Futurity. At the time,Tom only had a few horses in training and was living out of a client’s garage.
“I couldn’t afford to go, so I asked Todd Crawford if he would catch ride him for me,” Tom explains. “Todd agreed and not only did they almost win the second go-round, but they made the Open finals.”
In April of 1999, Foran Performance Horses officially opened its doors for business. By 2000, Tom had at least fifteen horses in training and was winning everything he entered on Guinness. “Guinness built my business, no question about it,” Tom says.
“Here I was, a nobody that used to be somebody’s assistant, and all of a sudden I was beating all these big names guys who were training out here at that time. That horse really put me on the map.”
Tom & Guinness in one of his trademark stops
Since its humble beginnings, Foran Performance Horses has had much success in both open and non pro competition, and the barn is one of the most visible reining barns in the world. Not only do they show an aggressive AQHA circuit, but they can be found at all their regional NRHA shows as well as the major NRHA events, putting them on the road for nearly 24 shows per year. In Open competition, Foran’s name can generally be found in the top show results. Tom claimed the 2006 AQHA World Championship title with Hollywood Downtown. That same year he also rode Cattitude to the high point AQHA Open Reining Horse title. In 2007, Tom finished on the NRHA Top 20 list. Tom and his program have also been very successful in NRHA Affiliate competition. At the 2008 NRHA Futurity, he and his clients claimed six championships and five reserves at the North American Affiliate Championships and NRHA Futurity Horse Show. |
Tom has won the NAAC Novice Horse title in Oklahoma City four out of the five years that the event was held, and also claimed the reserve title in the Open division. Tom has won multiple futurity and derby titles at almost every major West Coast show, and he’s been a finalist at every major NRHA event. |
In the Amateur division, Foran has coached his team to many impressive wins. He has had multiple students place in the top ten at the AQHA Youth, Select, and Amateur World Shows, with one winning the 2008 Select Reining World Championship. He has coached NRHA Non Pro Futurity Finalists and multiple class winners at the Futurity Show.
Not only has Foran’s team excelled in AQHA and NRHA competition, but they have won many major unaffiliated events as well. In 2008, Kathy Copus and Gunball Machine won the Jack and Linda Baker Memorial Classic, a premier amateur event on the West Coast, and also won the AQHA Select World Championship on "Gunny." |
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In all levels of reining competition, the Tom Foran name is respected for both talent and a winning reputation.
In addition to success in the reining pen, Tom is active in several philanthropic causes as well. Tom has been a major contributor and supporter of the Rebecca Goss “Boo-Yaah” Foundation which provides assistance to families that have suffered the loss of a child. Rebecca was a beloved member of Foran’s barn at the time of her death in an auto accident, and the Tom strives to help honor her memory by assisting with this cause.
Tom is active on the NRHA Board of Directors, serving on the Professional and Marketing Committees, as well as functioning as a Southwest regional director. He is a past president of the California Reining Horse Association, and continues to act on that board. Tom trains from the beautiful Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, California, where he remains committed to helping the sport of reining grow in their region as well as across the globe. They love the sport, and while they work hard to ensure success in the show pen, their barn is one filled with enthusiasm, teamwork and most of all, fun. As his career continues on its upward trajectory of success, Tom knows if his dad were still around, he’d be proud. While Dick Foran made his living playing a cowboy on the big screen, his son Tom lives out the cowboy dream each and every day.
