Bill and Linda Black are both from Arizona. Linda was raised in an old ranching family. Her father and grandfather were both well respected horsemen of great reputation in Cochise County, Arizona. She attended high school and college in Tucson. In 1976 she became the Official Outrider for the State of New Mexico on the National Bicentennial Wagon Train, riding her horse across the United States. Upon reaching their destiniation, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, she was selected to represent the Wagon Train by telling its story and taking tourists for rides in the big Conestoga wagons pulled by her horse and a fellow teamster's horse.

Linda has been riding all her life and has been successful in team roping and barrel racing. She also rides cutting, reining and pleasure horses with great success. Her horsemanship skills have come from a foundation of working with some of the old master horsemen on several large Arizona and Texas ranches. Linda's horsemanship skills have resulted in her being written up in the Indianapolis Woman magazine. She has demonstrated her skills to the public at both the Summer and Winter Roundups, the Hoosier Horse Fair as a Clinician and her popular Softer Side of Horsemanship clinics have earned her the respect of horsewomen who have attended as students. She continually studies and rides under the direction of the old masters and strives to stay fresh and current in her skills as an instructor.

Bill started riding at a tender young age. following high school and a four year tour of duty with the United States Marine Corps, he attended Northern Arizona University. Bill has worked on some of the largest, best known cattle ranches in the United States. Bill started training horses professionally in 1978. He has produced champions and money earners in cutting, working cow horse, reining, roping, western pleasure, western riding, trail, and halter. Bill has trained NCHA limited aged event finalists. He has also done Reining and Advancing the Colt demonstrations for Texas A&M University as well as Therapeutic Riding of Tucson, Hoosier Horse Fair, Equine Affair, and Summer and Winter Roundups. Bill was featured in the book The Cowboys by Robert Reynolds, as well as being written up in the Tucson Guide. Because of his horsemanship skills, Bill has done several major TV commercials. Bill has been a lifelong student of the horse and continues to grow as a horseman by depending on and consulting with the horse on a daily basis in his work on his ranch ranging from simply fixing fence to sorting cattle to ranch roping.

Bill and Linda own and operate the Cross Nine Ranch in Spiceland, Indiana, where they raise and train quality Quarter and Paint Horses with an emphasis on performance. They teach horsemanship both privately on their ranch as well as giving clinics and helping students all over the United States.