Training, Showing, and Sales

Bill's Success 


Bill is a 9 time World Champion Western Pleasure Trainer. Along with Bill's many world titles he also has many major futurity championships under his belt. These futurities include shows such as Tom Powers Futurity, NSBA Breeders Championship Futurity, Iowa Futurity, Corporate Challenge, and Reichert Celebration.

Our Story

How We Got Started

          Since childhood I've been fascinated with training horses. My mother was a breeding manager for some of the largest ranches in the country, including Par Three & Matlock Roses Ranch in Gainesville Texas. 


           At the age of 12, I began training pleasure horses in Iowa for open horse show competitions. Two weeks after graduating from high school, I moved to Texas from Iowa and started training cutting and reining horses as an apprentice for Hall Of Fame Trainer Joe Heim. A couple of years later I moved on to work for Teddy Johnson. I've also worked under the guidence of Randy Horn and Brent Loseke training cutting and reining horses. 


           During this time I was building my future world class training foundation. These trainers were very influential in setting up my training program. I have been able to take this knowledge and build my program. Working cutting and reining horses with these men taught me how the individual parts of a horse move.


          While I loved cutting and reining horses I missed my passion of pleasure horses. I was able to start back in the pleasure industry when early one morning Mike Moser pulled into our small ranch in Gainesville, Texas with an opportunity to work with him and Will Knabenshue. I took this chance to get back into the field of pleasure horses. 


          A few years later I moved back North where I began a position as head trainer at Doug Jacobs Quarter Horses in Monticello, Iowa. We were fortunate to have tremendous success with my training and Doug's amazing bloodlines of Promote This Chip and Hocus Pocus Hotrod. We are thankful for the opportunity to work with Doug and Mark Jacobs and continue to enjoy their friendship and support. 


          In 2005, we moved to Missouri where I opened Hatten Pleasure Horses. After a few years, we moved back to Iowa to be close to family and continued building our dream in Winterset. 


          Over these years, my family has been an important part of the success of Hatten Pleasure Horses. Jill has been the foundation and greatest influence in me and my success. She has always kept me grounded when needed and has been there to pick me up when I've fallen. We have involved our children in the business and they continue to be the reason for our passion and instill the morals and values in the decisions we make. Our oldest child, Dillon, is my right hand man. He earned his way to two world titles by cleaning stalls, starting colts, and doing all around chores. While Bryce's passion isn't in the horse industry he has reached tremendous success in his athletic goals. He has been state runner up in Iowa wrestling and was fifth in the Corncob Nationals. He is also a talented football and baseball player. Our youngest, Jaycee, is daddy's little princess and has also been bitten by the horse bug. At the age of 9 she won a world title in walk trot. This was an amazing feat as it was her first time entering a show pen. 


          We hand nothing to our children but we give them the opportunities they need to be successful, if they choose to work for it. 


         My devotion in  training allows me to take your horse and mold it to its' ultimate potential. As a client of Hatten Pleasure Horses you aren't just a business partner, you become a member of our extended family. We try to bring clients into the barn that truly want to cheer for each other and are encouraging each other's success.