Dustin Davis

Dustin Davis is an American cowboy, instructor, clinician, and co-author of his debut book

Cowboys & Conductors: Conversations in Horsemanship-Humanship. Dustin was born and

raised in Colorado and now calls Southern California home with his wife, daughter, and a

hundred plus horses, cattle, and dogs.

Dustin currently operates a horsemanship barn and also travels the country offering

horsemanship clinics helping horses and their humans. Dustin grew up as a 4H kid training and

winning many top honors with his market hogs and showmanship. Through 4H Dustin also

gained a strong aptitude and keen eye for animal judging culminating with a collegiate

scholarship opportunity for judging. Upon graduating high school he ran a 38,000 acre cattle

ranch where he took care of the livestock, handled the daily tasks and took care of the ranch

for the corporation that owned it. He is a 3rd generation auctioneer and followed in his father

and grandfathers footsteps attending auctioneering college and selling everything from horse

to car sales. Dustin also operated a horse transport business that led to him exporting and

transporting thousands of horses, from miniature horses, to the first mammoth mule to go

overseas, to the International Federation for Equestrian Sports World Equestrian Games Gold

Medal winning Reining team, to the Big 12 conference collegiate equestrian teams, and many

more.

Dustin is a cowboy and embodies all that it entails including a lifestyle where the horse and

livestock come first. He is a student of the founders of Natural Horsemanship Ray Hunt and

Tom Dorrance and their successors. Dustin has a true gift understanding how horses think and

communicate and he utilizes that to work with them and their owners to build a confidant

relationship and deep bond.

Dustin’s training methods, coined Grey Leadership in this book, exemplify a servant-leadership

style versus a traditional leadership style in that the power is shared with the horse and that the

needs of the horse come first which helps them develop and perform as highly as possible. In

the words of Ray Hunt “I haven’t found a horse these methods don’t work for” and Dustin

agrees with this philosophy and is carrying on the legacy of these great horsemen. There is a

very logical and fundamental connection between these methods and “humanship” as

discussed in the book and how the methods Dustin uses for horses can be used for humans

and business relationships alike.