Bob Knudson was born in Minnesota, and moved to Portland, Oregon in his early years. Always having a love for horses, Bob concentrated on doing whatever he could to raise enough money to realize his dreams. At 14, he was finally able to purchase an unbroke 3-year-old mare, and by himself, started learning his earliest horsemanship skills.
Bob rode his mare in Gymkhana events and became a better horseman, but just before his junior year in High School, he decided it was time for a change. Bob had seen Frank Rue riding stock horses at a competition in Portland, and fell in love with the sport. Sensing it would be his future, and knowing he needed a better horse, he began buying, training, and selling, to increase the quality of his mounts. Bob was establishing himself as a trainer, but knew he would need more schooling to get to where he wanted to be, so he headed to California.
A client of Bob’s saw a cutting demonstration put on by Buster Welch, and was so impressed she sent Bob to Texas to attend one of his clinics. That turned out to be a huge boost to the entire reined cow horse industry, because Bob brought something back to the West Coast that everyone now takes for granted, using leg cues with the cow horses.
The biggest event of the day was the Cow Palace Grand Nationals, and Bob won the prestigious Stock Horse class 3 years in a row… twice on Bold Rose and once on Cho Cho Plaudet. And on the fourth year, he took 2nd… 3rd… 4th… and 8th place. Immediately after his win aboard Cho Cho, they drove to the Los Angeles airport, where both of them boarded a plane and flew to the AQHA World Show and captured the Working Cow Horse World Championship. Bob won the Open year end saddle for the California Reined Cow Horse Association 4 years in a row… won the Green Stock Horse year end Championship twice, and was the first winner of the World Champion All Around Stock Horse Championship on Cho Cho Plaudet… returning the following year to take Reserve. Bob won every major stock horse class for the California Reined Cow Horse Association except for Salinas, and made the finals for the Grand National Stock Horse class an incredible 15 years in a row, along with winning the Snaffle Bit Classic.
Bob served on the NRCHA board of directors for about 14 years, and made the deal with John Asquaga to get the Snaffle Bit Futurity moved to Reno. He’s been a teacher and mentor to many people, including Paul Hansma, who has won over 4 million dollars in cutting competition
