About Us

JIM ARRIGON.  Coach of Ohio University equestrian team that finished 4th in the 2019 Tournament of Champions Series. He has coached 19 IHSA Regional Champion teams with 5 different colleges.  He is the only coach to have National Champion teams in NCAA, IHSA, and IEA, and is credited with over 30 Individual winners at IHSA and IEA Nationals over three decades coaching.  Began at Murray State in Kentucky, best known for Miami of Ohio team from late ‘80’s till 2005, had a National Champion at Ohio State, then coached Xavier riders to Nationals, before coaching a brand new Liberty University team to Regional Champion in Virginia and his third Holiday Tournament of Champions Championship. His Miami team finished Top 6 at IHSA Nationals 11 times in 15 years, won Tournament 3 times and Series Champ.  He served as IHSA’s National Secretary for 25 years.  IHSA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and actively judges IHSA and IEA shows.  Jim graduated from University of Kentucky where he rode in the IHSA, and he has a Masters Degree in Equine Nutrition.

GWEN ARRIGON. President of Beckett Run Inc. Chief Financial and Informational Officer, and the creative driver of Beckett Run Inc. Creator and President of Winning Colors Outfitters. Served nearly a decade on IEA National Board of Directors, and as IEA Zone 5 Director. “Momma Gwen” has assisted with all college teams and was the founder of the Beckett Run IEA team that won 2009 IEA National Championship. Originally from Texas, graduated high school in Chicago, and attended Miami University in Ohio.

MATT ARRIGON won individual and team ribbons at three IHSA Nationals as a Miami University business major, and later coached at IHSA Nationals for Randolph College and Lynchburg College (Virginia), and for Saint Andrews University from North Carolina. He coached four Regional Champion Teams, three Top Eight teams at Nationals, and three National Champion riders. Prior to that, he had coached the Beckett Run IEA team.

HALLIE ARRIGON was Team Captain for Vanderbilt University equestrian and is now a Family Nurse Practitioner in Cleveland, a roller derby queen, and amateur curler at the Cleveland Skating Club. At her alma mater, Culver Girls Academy in Indiana, Hallie was Captain of the Equestrian Team and The Equestriennes - a parade drill team that performed at the George W Bush Presidential Inaugural Parade.

It all started when…

During graduate school, Jim and Gwen bought a small boarding stable in Murray, Kentucky. While Jim managed the college equestrian center and coached the equestrian team for Murray State University, Gwen launched the business at home, with a toddler by her side and soon with a second child. In 1988, they bought into a business that operated the Miami University phys.ed. riding program, and began coaching the Miami University team, a gig that lasted nearly two decades. During that period, they bought a place in the country and built a horse farm that took the name “Beckett Run”, which was also the name of the creek that ran through the farm.

They launched the Tournament of Champions Series in the early 1990’s, and added the Equestrian Talent Search in 2005. They went on to coach, Ohio State, Xavier University, Liberty University, and Ohio University, in addition to the IEA National Champion team with their Beckett Run Farm IEA team.

Jim served over 30 years on the national Board of Directors for Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association - 25 years as the IHSA National Secretary, and Gwen served on the Board for Interscholastic Equestrian Association, and served as Zone 5 Director for a decade.