Meet Richard Beal – SFCHC Treasurer

Santa Fe County Horse Coalition proudly introduces our treasurer, Richard Beal. Richard started riding about 20 years ago and rapidly became fascinated by the horse world. He began his journey riding with cowboys skilled in Vaquero tradition for training, tack and cattle work, which inspire his horsemanship to this day. Richard has a passion for cattle work, has ridden on ten weeklong cattle drives, and competed in amateur cutting competitions for several years.  He has ridden with many of the big names in the horse world: Buck Brannaman, Martin Black, Jeff Griffith, Pat Parelli, Chris Cox, Leon Harrel, John and Cat Parks.   

The National Day of the Cowboy in New Mexico was started by Richard Beal in 2011 and he worked with the state legislature to pass a resolution making it official. When the Santa Fe Horse Coalition was formed, Richard was one of the founding members and has served as Treasurer since its inception.

Richard is a former president of a horse rescue organization in California, a Certified Horse Professional with the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association.  Currently, you can read his blog celebrating the cowboy lifestyle and shop for authentic treasures at Beal’s Cowboy Buckles.  

Besides being an accomplished horseman, he is a highly respected businessman who spent 35 years in executive management positions in Silicon Valley including Apple Computer, Stanford University and Netscape Communications. He also has worked for and with several non-profit organizations. He left that world in 2002 to become a fulltime cowboy working with horses and cattle. Richard and wife Kathy moved to Lamy in 2006.

In 2013 Richard started doing film background work and has been in 16 movies, 38 television episodes and was featured in a TV commercial.  He is also a Producer for the TV show Midnight Shanghai and is on the Board of Directors for the New Mexico Film Foundation.