Don “Little Brown Jug” Reynolds was billed as the “World’s Smallest Cowboy”. Don was in the saddle almost from the time he was out of diapers. He made his first public appearance in 1939 at age two at a rodeo in Eric, Oklahoma. He went on to travel the US/Canada rodeo circuit with his father, Fess Reynolds.
In 1943, Fess was competing at Madison Square Garden. Don “Jug” was unable to participate because of child labor laws but he was allowed to practice his act. He was practicing at the same time as Roy Rogers and Trigger, who were the starring act. Roy invited the Reynolds to come to California and he would get Don into the movies. At age 7, he made his first movie, with Roy in “Yellow Rose of Texas”. He made many movies with various stars and was the last actor to play “Little Beaver” in the final four Red Ryder/Little Beaver movies.
His father enrolled him in the Turtles organization at a young age and Don is the youngest of the remaining members of that organization which is the forerunner of today’s PRCA.
Don’s father taught him to train animals for rodeos, movies, and television. Over the years, he worked with all kinds of animals including horses, camels, and reindeer as well as six years working with elephants. His final training job before retirement was almost a year in New Zealand for the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. He trained the beautiful white horse of the good wizard, Gandalf, which had to be ridden without saddle or bridle.
Upon his retirement, Don moved to Bowie, Texas where he resides today. Don has two sons, Troyce and Sean, who live in California and three grandchildren, Troi Ann, Lukas, and Andrew.
