Tom Bass (January 5, 1859 – November 4, 1934) was an American Saddlebred horse trainer. Bass was born into slavery, but became one of the most popular horse trainers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Bass trained the influential Saddlebred stallion Rex McDonald, as well as horses owned by Buffalo Bill Cody, Theodore Roosevelt, and Will Rogers. Life Bass was born into slavery on January 5, 1859, on the Hayden plantation in Boone County, Missouri. His mother, Cornelia Gray, was a slave, and his father, William Bass, was the son of the plantation owner, Eli Bass. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, Presley and Eliza Grey. Bass also had a brother, named Jesse. The Bass Plantation raised and trained horses prior to the Civil War and it is believed that Tom Bass had considerable exposure to horses as a boy. At age 20 he moved to Mexico, Missouri, where it is thought he learned the basics of the horse business from a horse buyer named Joseph A. Potts. Some time thereafter, he began a horse training operation. In 1882, Bass married a schoolteacher, Angie Jewell. In 1897 the couple had a son, Inman. Career Bass quickly developed a reputation for gentle training methods and drew a clientele came from a wide area. He was reputed to have said, "Horses are like humans." Bass trained the influential five-gaited Saddlebred stallion Rex McDonald. He trained horses for notable people including Anheuser-Busch executives Adolphus and August Busch, Buffalo Bill Cody, Will Rogers, and President Theodore Roosevelt. He also started the Tom Bass Riding Club. Celebrity guests to his farm included William Jennings Bryan, President William McKinley, and circus magnate P.T. Barnum In 1892, Bass and his wife moved to Kansas City, Missouri to open a livery stable and eventually helped start the American Royal Horse Show, one of the three jewels of the Saddlebred Triple Crown. He was the first African-American to exhibit a horse at the American Royal. In 1893, Bass showed horses at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and won respect for his riding ability, besides winning the World Championship on the Saddlebred mare Miss Rex. Bass later moved back to Mexico, Missouri, and continued training horses. In 1917, it was estimated that over one million people had seen him perform with his horses. He was credited with making Mexico, Missouri the "Saddle Horse Capital of the