Unconventional cowboy

Published online on Friday, Aug. 07, 2009

Ja Allen is a cowboy. His identity radiates from the tip of his straw hat to the spurs that dangle from his boots to the fact that he breaks horses for a living.

"Every horse on this property was considered crazy or unridable," said Allen, surveying his seven-acre ranch at the foot of Burrough Mountain.

"It seems like the crazier the horse, the better I get along with them."

Some might consider Allen a little crazy, too. Actually, a whole lot of people. But the 32-year-old maverick made believers out of many during last month's Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race.

Riding quarter horses in a field dominated by Arabians, Allen finished seventh overall in the 515-mile endurance race that followed the historical trade route from Santa Fe, N.M., to Independence, Mo.

Participants rode 50 or 55 miles per day for 10 days over a 13-day period. Only half the original field of 60 riders finished the race. Most dropped out because of dehydration or injuries, including a car accident near Canton, Kan., that resulted in the deaths of two horses.

Allen was one of the lucky ones. Well, if you consider getting struck by lightning and breaking a wrist lucky. (More on that later.) But in the end, he brought two sound horses to a race and left it with two sound horses.

He also left quite an impression. And not just for his sunglasses, pony tail and the memorial tattoos that cover his neck and arms.

"Ja definitely stood out in that crowd," said Jim Conover, a retired policeman from Pekin, Ill., who befriended Allen during the race.

"He dressed like a cowboy. Most everyone else dressed like they were in a bicycle race with their helmets and leotards on."

Hard to imagine a cowboy getting the cold shoulder at a horse race. But observers say that's exactly what happened -- that is until Ja ("It's actually Jason, but I hate that name.") won them over.

"We were told cowboys weren't welcome in the endurance world," said Tina Jordan, a friend and business partner of Allen's who served on his pit crew. "He would ask a question, and people would turn their noses at him."

Allen and his two horses, Boots and Reyna, almost didn't make the starting line.

Two days before the race, Ja and wife Jessie got a major scare when the tree they were parked under during a rainstorm got struck by lightning.

"It felt like I got smacked upside the head with a baseball bat," Allen said.

Conover, who was 30 feet away when the strike occurred, said the couple was lucky to escape serious injury.

"The lightning hit that tree and just shook 'em," he recalled. "Jessie had difficulty breathing, and Ja said he couldn't see for a few minutes and lost his hearing in one ear for a couple days.

"Still, it didn't stop him from racing."

Neither did a broken wrist. Three days into the race, Allen was standing on Boots' saddle, showing off to a another rider, when he slipped and smacked the ground.

Not to worry, though. He's already had three major surgeries on that wrist.

"I just broke some of the metal screws in there," said Allen, who had a veterinarian check out his wrist but didn't go the hospital after getting hit by lightning.

"Guess I'll have to see the doctor again."

It didn't take long before Allen's cowboy's exploits -- and penchant for accidents -- became the talk of the race. He also became a small-town media sensation with stories and photos on the front pages of the McPherson (Kan.) Sentinel and Atchison (Kan.) Daily Globe.

Allen started slowly, finishing outside the top 30 in the initial stages, but got stronger as the race progressed. He planned to ride Boots the entire 515 miles but switched over to Reyna after a few days, a decision he now regrets.

"I didn't have enough faith in my horse," he lamented.

Only two riders finished the race without changing horses.

According to Conover, Allen could've placed higher than seventh had that been his priority.

"Instead of trying to win, Ja stayed in back and made sure everyone made it back OK," Conover said. "He sure made a lot of friends out there."

The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race was only Allen's second endurance event. Next year, he plans to enter the Tevis Cup, a 100-mile, 24-hour race that runs from Truckee to Auburn.

Until then, he'll be busy training and breaking horses in the foothills east of Fresno.

A cowboy to the very core.

"I did this race to prove that all horses will do what you train them to do," Allen said. "I had lots of people come up to me and tell me I had no business there and no chance to finish the race.

"Well, I guess I proved a lot of people wrong."