Lessons Learned in a Saddle

The story of a North Texas cowboy will play out Monday night in Fort Worth in a one-time showing of a new documentary.

The cowboy risked his life to live his dream and, along the way, made history.

“A horse has been my friend since I was old enough to walk,” said Ascencion Banuelos as NBC 5 caught up with him at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.

Banuelos, 60, is a world champion rider in the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame, the first Mexican-American inductee.

“It’s been a long road,” he says, “but a wonderful experience.”

An experience featured in the documentary from Rock Creek Productions simply called "Ascencion." It tells the story of a boy who left Mexico in 1969 at the age of 13 and risked his life crossing the river for a chance at a better life.

“I wanted to run away from home to come to the United States, like a lot of us have that dream,” said Banuelos. “I never quit thinking about it. And when I turned 13, I said, ’It’s time.’ And I did it.”

Banuelos admits there were times he regretted leaving because of how hard it was for him to start over in a new place and find his way.

“The first job I had was milking cows in a dairy, and it was the hardest work I’ve ever seen,” he said. “That’s the things it took for my dreams to come true.”

His natural way with horses, a talent handed down from his grandfather and nurtured growing up on a ranch in Mexico, opened doors for Banuelos. It put him in the right places and with the right people such as Helen Groves, great-granddaughter of the founder of the legendary King Ranch.

“Ascencion’s a real horseman,” she says in the documentary. “He gets into the mind of a horse.” 

Weatherford-based film producer Rusty Leaver, a horseman himself, said “people related to somebody that's struggling, an up and coming bootstrap story.” 

Leaver met Banuelos years ago through the cutting horse world, and it led to a friendship. “I noticed him because at that point there were really no Mexican-Americans who had climbed up the ranks of cutting and shown any degree of success. Not because they couldn’t have, they just didn’t.” 

Banuelos vaulted to success in the saddle, winning cutting horse championships and ultimately reaching the industry’s coveted National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame in 2000. He was the first Mexican-American inductee.

“It means so much because I felt like I’m accomplishing what I’m looking for in life,” he said. 

Another major milestone happened that same year. “In the year 2000, another big dream came true,” he said. “I became an American citizen.” 

“Ascencion has become one of the greatest horsemen of his time,” said Leaver who decided in 2015 to produce and fund the documentary to tell the story of Banuelos' perseverance on the road to making history in the cutting horse world. 

“You get a chance obviously to see him in the saddle, but I don't consider this as just a horse movie or an immigration movie. I think it's a good entire picture of a man's life and a man's journey and how it works,” he said.

“I was very lucky to run into the right people,” Banuelos said. “They appreciate my work, and they let me become like a family to them.” 

It was advice from his own family decades ago that ultimately put Banuelo’s life on the course it took. “My grandfather said, ‘You just gotta work hard, and you can make your dreams come true.” 

Banuelos passed those words onto his own children as they grew up, one of whom also earned spot in the NCHA Hall of Fame. It’s the advice his youngest child, a two-year-old boy, will also hear.

And, it’s the same guidance he gives young riders as they work and train on his ranch in Gainesville and the message he hopes comes through in the documentary.

“Don’t give up,” he says. “You don't need rich parents to do what you want to do. Just try yourself and make it happen.” 

Rock Creek Productions will present Ascencion in a one-time showing on Monday, December 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the Will Rogers Auditorium in Fort Worth. Tickets are available by calling 817-335-9000 or at the door beginning at 5:30 p.m. Reserved seats are $15. General admission is $10 for adults, and $7 for children 12 and under.