FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
Troup native's homegrown skills translate to far-reaching career
BY KELLY GRIFFITH Contributing reporter

Austin Anderson

Austin Anderson was raised in Troup, graduated with the class of 1986 and spends a lot of his time training horses on his family's ranch. The Anderson family has been in the Equine entertainment business for about 45 years. A passion that began with Anderson's grandfather has found its way through generations.

"I started when I was four or five," Anderson said. "I had a trick pony." The progression to trick riding was natural, said Anderson; as he grew up around it, he began doing it.

"In the past 10 years I've gone out on my own, booking my own shows," he said. "My parents have semi-retired from traveling."

Anderson's father still trains, and helps Anderson with specialty training where two are always better than one. Starting at such a young age Anderson has managed to compile a large resume.

Along with the horses he has trained, Anderson has worked on movies such as "Secondhand Lions," "The New Guy" and "Alamo" and a number of television shows. Anderson works with the horses to prepare them for the role and in many cases then doubles for the actor.

Anderson performs many of the stunts when the horses are required to run, fall or buck. The horses are always in a safe and controlled environment, to ensure that they are not injured.

"The American Humane Society is on set and dictates what the animal can do," Anderson said. The most recent work he has done for television has been preparing his horse, Charlie, for the role of a genie in a new Comcast cable commercial.

For the past six years Anderson has been involved with the Pawnee Bill Show at Fort Worth's Stock Yard Coliseum. Anderson is the host of the show as well as a performer alongside his fiancee, Pamala Roetschke, who trick rides.

Among Anderson's many talents are gun spinning, trick shooting, fancy whip cracking, roping, chariot racing, trick riding and roman riding.

Anderson's talents will be showcased in the 45th annual PRCA Tops in Texas Rodeo, July 11-12 at 8 p.m.

"The trend in rodeo is having big music stars," Anderson said. "But I think and hope it's going back to it's origin of specialty acts." The rodeo will also feature music stars Blake Shelton and the Randy Rodgers Band, but Anderson said this is the first time he can remember the rodeo hosting a specialty act as well.

Anderson's act takes him all over the world, coast to coast and west to south. He's performed in Canada as well as Hong Kong and Malasia. The Tops in Texas Rodeo is the first time in a while Anderson will perform so close to home.

Anderson plans his schedule around his show in Fort Worth though he also has a group called the Texas Trick Riders that he promotes around rodeos and other venues. With such a full schedule, it's a wonder he found time to compete in a trick riding competition this year, but he did and he was awarded second place.

"I just wanted to prove to myself at 38-years-old that I still had it, that I could still compete." Anderson said. He trained two and a half months strictly for the competition and in the end beat last year's champion to come in second behind a friend of his.

"My main passion is working with horses," Anderson said. " For every five, six or eight minutes in the arena, there is five, six or eight hours, weeks and months that goes into training the horse," he said of the behind-the-scenes aspect of the show that most people aren't aware of.

"When you take a horse and show it and it does well, that is your reward," Anderson said, "because you'll never be paid enough for all that goes into training that horse."