The number of people who live in the equine-knitted community of Whitesboro, Texas, is a little above 4,000.
In National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) earnings, Whitesboro-based professional reining trainer Nathan Piper has earned 375 times the population of the town in which he hangs his hat.
Currently sitting at roughly $1.5 million in career earnings, Piper earned the NRHA Million Dollar Rider title in 2022, joining the million dollar club alongside several reining trainer legends.
Although now considered a legend himself, at one point in time, finding a million dollars on the side of the road seemed more likely to Piper than actually winning it.
Achieving a milestone of that nature is almost always a full-time gig, and although the passion for it was always there, Piper wasn’t sure growing up if he’d ever be able to professionally train horses as a day job since no one he knew personally did.
“My parents didn’t know anything about horses,” Piper said. “But my sister wanted a pony, and once she got a pony, I was hooked. I couldn’t think about anything else from that point on.”
Piper began showing in 4-H and the local county shows at age 12 before getting his first reining horse at age 15. From that moment on, Piper knew competing ran deeper than being just a hobby for him.
Raised in the Bryan-College Station area, Piper went to college nearby at Texas A&M University, but much preferred the feel of a pair of reins between his fingers than a pencil.
“I just kind of floated along, not knowing what to do in college,” Piper said. “But I always had a horse to ride. I was always training on one—always loved it—but I told myself I needed a real job.”
Although Piper never stopped competing locally from when he was a kid, something about college ignited the passion of training like never before.
“I couldn’t wait to go ride, I couldn’t wait to train, I couldn’t wait to learn more,” Piper said. “I had wanted to be a trainer, but everybody tells you it’s too hard and that you need to get a degree… I just needed that degree to get out so I could chase my passion.”
Most professional trainers are in the position to hit the ground running immediately after graduating high school, and although Piper was able to train some horses on the side while in college, it was still tough to feel “sidelined” in a sense from where his heart truly lied.
However, college is the place that led Piper to the path of his wife, and if that meant momentarily putting the professional pursuit of his dream on the shelf, then it was well worth it.
“I met my wife at A&M, and she’s the one that convinced me to be a reining trainer,” Piper said. “I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into after college, starting to train full-time. We had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of big mountains to climb.”
After graduating college and marrying his wife, Piper worked as an assistant trainer for Whitesboro resident Todd Sommers, a NRHA Million Dollar Rider and two-time NRHA Futurity Champion, before moving back in the direction of College Station to begin building Nathan Piper Reining Horses.
“That time was a lot of trying to figure out how to make your own business work, how to handle the customers, how to make a living, how to pay for the next month to keep going,” Piper said. “And that’s why a lot of people had warned me about being a horse trainer when I was young. They knew it wouldn’t be easy, but nothing that you want is easy.”
Navigating those early trials and errors of starting a horse training business are tricky, but they’re also vastly pivotal.
“That challenge in the beginning is that you’re just a blank canvas,” Piper said. “You’ve got to hustle to learn, and the quicker and the faster you learn, the farther you can go. If you learn from the mistakes, then it just makes you a brighter and better trainer and showman.”
That first decade of training wasn’t easy, and self-doubt was a challenge Piper often grappled with, despite the raw drive and ambition running through his veins.
“I’d get down and tell myself, ‘I need to go get a real job,’” Piper said. “But every time I would doubt myself, I would pray, and God would answer, ‘Keep going.’ He just kept pushing me towards training horses.”
Making a mark on that blank canvas those first 10 years was a rewarding process, but the following decade was the time Piper didn’t just leave a mark -- he left a legacy by becoming 2022 NRHA Million Dollar Rider and 2022 NRCHA Professional of the Year (a peer voted title).
2022 was also the year Piper and his wife gravitated back to the community of Whitesboro.
“It took 20 years to earn those titles,” Piper said. “Those first 10 years were long, just starting from the beginning and learning. The second 10 years the good Lord really blessed us. We just kept improving in the showing and training program.”
Soon after achieving that status, Piper won the 2022 Run For A Million Open Championship—considered the richest reining event in history—aboard a client-owned stallion named Patriot. Although Piper had qualified for the esteemed competition the year before, 2022 was his year to bring back the $500,000 check.
The opportunity to pilot Patriot, not just to that specific win but in general, didn’t just represent a breakthrough in career earnings for Piper, but also the leaps made in his training program.
“One of the biggest teachers is the horses,” Piper said. “You learn from other guys, but those horses teach you so much about what it’s supposed to feel like (to win). Those great horses just teach you what their minds are like, and Patriot was definitely one of my biggest teachers.”
These incredible horses Piper has been blessed to train not only serve as a driving force behind his career, but also as a vessel for what he holds in his highest regard – his faith.
“God is my everything,” Piper said. “After 20 years, you look back, and there were so many miracles that He has performed in my life. I just continually ask, ‘how do I glorify Him?’ The future is His, and it’s just amazing.”
In such a fierce industry, Piper’s continual faith acts as the anchor that keeps him grounded in and out of the arena.
“I enjoy the pressure. God calls us to be excellent in everything we do and content in every situation,” Piper said. “I need to glorify Him whether I’m in the stands watching the finals or if I’m in the winner’s circle. If you look at competition in a way that honors the Lord, that’s when you’re at your best.”
Looking at competition through that broader scope is where Piper views the most valuable type of success.
“The wins are great, but it’s just that every day of getting better, improving that growth, overcoming challenges – that’s how you win life,” Piper said. “To me, the greatest success is when I am obedient and allow God to work through me. He’s brought me so far because I let Him guide my steps.”
It’s clear to see that even when Piper’s career earnings surpass 500 times the population of Whitesboro and beyond, his walk in faith will always hold more merit than the cash prizes and championship titles awarded.
Within million-dollar trainer Nathan Piper’s boots, the steps led by God are the steps best traveled, no matter if they lead in the direction of another million-dollar milestone or not.