Page 136 - Speedhorse November, 2018

Artist Jim Stuckenberg works at his drawing board in the stable area at Los Alamitos in 1972.
Stuckenberg’s Silent World
Jim Stuckenberg lives in a soundless world, but he doesn’t miss much. Deaf since birth, this young man has accomplished as much in his 33 years as some who can hear do in twice that. Perhaps more.
Jim is a college graduate, a bulldogger, a bronc buster, a race horse trainer, and an artist. He started to learn lip reading and speech at the age of three and a half and says cheerfully that he’s never had any problems because of his lack of hearing.
“Oh, a horse might walk up from behind and surprise me sometimes,” he smiled one evening between races at Los Alamitos, where he’s training and racing Quarter Horses. “When one of my horses has a cough, someone tells me about it so I get along fine. I’ve always had a lot of help.”
Stuckenberg’s horses at the Orange County track are not exactly front-line performers and he’s the first to admit it.
“Mr. Mars Bars is probably the best I’ve got right now,” he explains. “I don’t have any big horses.”
Far from being discouraged, however, Jim seems to have the enthusiasm and success of a leading trainer about him. “When we first
moved to California in 1960, I read about Los Alamitos and kept pestering my Dad to bring me to the races,” he grinned. “And we lived a long way away, Santa Barbara, but
I kept after him until he brought me a few times. I remember seeing Tonto Bars Hank and Jet Deck race here and I was hooked. No more show horses for me, I wanted to be around race horses.”
Of course, being around horses has been pretty much a way of life for Stuckenberg
as far back as he can remember. He grew up around them in St. Louis, took one with him to California State University at Fresno where he obtained a degree in animal husbandry and won college rodeo contests in nearly every category. Then, it was on to the California fair circuit where he trained and raced both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, and finally, a year ago, to Los Alamitos.
Along the way, Stuckenberg started dabbling in art – water colors, oil
painting, sketches and sculpture. In the art department, he takes a back seat to none. What he doesn’t have in big horses, he more than makes up for on canvas. He finds the winner’s circle every time he sets out with
his brush. He has paintings hanging in the California Governor’s office and in museums all over the United States and Canada, and his work is much in demand both in the art world and around the race track.
“I carry my supplies with me and paint something all the time,” he explained. “When I’m home, I work on my art a lot more. Sometimes, I’ll stay up all night. It depends on
134 SPEEDHORSE, November 2018
Then California Governor Ronald Reagan receives a painting from Jim Stuckenberg in 1969.
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM JULY 1977 ISSUE