When Taylor Lightle Gann was in third grade she was one of five students who was selected to write about their hero.
Taylor and Beno
“It’s a job I really like. All horses are different and I learn from each horse.” – Allen "Beno" Fleming
70 Your Hometown Magazine
[a rider] starts getting a little cocky or starts going too fast, he’s going to get hurt,” Beno states with assurance. And anger should never go hand in hand when riding. “If a horse makes you mad, put it in the stall and cool off. After all,” Beno laughs, pointing at a horse grazing nearby, “look at their size – they’re gonna do what they want!” Despite the hard work, the hot summers and the cold winters, the father of five loves his job and finds it “kinda relaxing.” But in 1971, Fleming decided to move to Flint, Michigan where his Dad was living and try his hand at working in an auto plant. Certainly the salary was good, but it didn’t take long for Beno to realize how much he missed the slower lifestyle, the safe neighborhoods and the sweet smell of hay back in Arkansas. Put simply: “I missed working outside.” It took only a few month inside a factory to convince Beno that the little boy who used to ride his bike to a farm to watch the horses had it figured out right from the beginning. Beno likes to say that each horse has its own personality. So, what do names tell us about a horse or a person? Some can argue that racehorses always seem a little uppity with their fancy names that read more like a paragraph than a moniker. Beno even remembers one Tennessee Walker known as “Up Jumped The Devil” that was aptly named. But, the trail horses Fleming trains are simply more down to earth than those more lofty-named counterparts. And if Charlie, Bug, C. W., Lawrence, Tony and Hawk could do more than whinny, they would tell you that Beno knows his stuff pretty well. And Beno’s “name” is just as down to earth as the horses he trains each day. Somehow it doesn’t sound right calling this modern day cowboy anything as formal as “Allen.” Sitting high atop his charges with his dusty boots and well-worn jeans, Beno seems anything but small as he takes the horses through their paces, and that earthy nickname seems to suit him just fine.