Pat North Ommert
In Burbank, California, in the shade of the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, Pat North Ommert’s home reflects the adventures of her past. Though she rode trick horses, performed stunts in motion pictures and had teams of Roman-riding horses, that part of her life pales in comparison to her accomplishments in keeping contiguous trails available to riders in California. As the land developed around her, Ommert spoke out for the necessity of riding trails in developments not only near Temecula, where she lived for nearly 40 years, but throughout California. Now in her 80s, Ommert still rides the trails in the second-largest metropolis in the country.
I’ve never been without a horse. My first recollection of riding, I was behind my sister and I was about 3 years old. Two little girls riding bareback for miles and miles. I truly wasn’t a ranch girl, but I grew up with horses.
Photography by Darrell Dodds
I grew up in a changing time. During the Great Depression it wasn’t expensive to have a horse. Beautiful hay in the field was $8 a ton. Now, that area is covered with houses. There used to be lots of open space.
Los Angeles county was really an agriculture county. It had 150,000 milking cows in the 1950s and ’60s. I call myself a “tennis-shoe” cowgirl. I had a big agriculture background, but now I live in the heart of millions of people.
My mom rode in circus events and worked horses in the motion picture industry with trick horses. I grew up around rodeos and circuses. It was natural for me. I just picked up the scent of the hunt and went on.
Juan Fuentez taught me more about reining than anybody. If I hadn’t wanted to ride racehorses so bad, I would have ridden reiners. He was about 4-foot-9 and had been a jockey. He died in 1942, but I got to ride with him. Juan taught me to figure-eight and slide a horse, and that is how I won the Ladies Stock Horse class at the Horse Palace [in Los Angeles].
My dad loved racehorses and we had a couple during World War II. I rode in the Powder Puff races at Caliente in Tijuana [Mexico]. They were all-girl races for six furlongs. I never won a race in New York, but I won the Cowgirl Special at Rockingham Park during the Boston Garden Rodeo in 1953.
My husband, Will Ommert, loved what I did, and so, when I met him, I just continued riding. We met when he went to work for our veterinarian after he graduated from Texas A&M University. I met him the day I graduated from high school.
I quit roman riding in 1960. Will and I moved to Temecula in 1968, and I lived there for almost 40 years. The veterinary hospital was built in ’69. I personally never had a lot of horses, but I raised a few Thoroughbreds. I managed our Los Caballos Farm, which we started in 1980. “Let us pamper your resting and growing horses” was our slogan, and I loved that.
I was back east for two months in 1953, when I performed at the rodeo championships. By the time I went to New York, I had been married for six years and had a 3-year-old daughter. We had lots of rodeos in California, so you didn’t have to go and travel far. But, Madison Square Garden was special.
I got my screen actors guild card through Monte Montana. My first movie job — A Star is Born — he was doing a big stage act at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. He did a six-horse catch on the stage. There was nothing wrong with the picture business; it paid more than trick riding. It was fun for awhile, and I loved it. But I had a husband and two daughters, and that was more important.
There is something about riding — I used to go miles. I could ride 12 to 15 miles a day because I had the space. But, I’m 82 this year, and I’ve had both hips replaced, so I can’t ride quite as far.
“I’ve found the best way to get acquainted with horses is to groom them. You get their attitude.”
We need trails to ride horses on because everybody can’t have a show horse. If you don’t have places to take these horses, what are you going to do with them? The bridle trails are very important. Here in Griffith Park, we share these trails with hikers and joggers. You look all over the United States — there are trails and people are working hard to keep them.
I feel so lucky that I was able to stay with horses. I see so many girls who are horse crazy, but they have to go on and make a living. It means everything to stay connected. Living here, I can look out at the bridle path and I can go ride.
Horses have given me a career, a family. I can still ride, not run or jump, but still go out. I’ve been so lucky to have continued with what I love the best — the horse world.
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