Steve Wrubel
Jo Ellard will soon be as recognizable as a boutique hotel developer as she is on the back of a horse.
The day decades ago when Jo Ellard hopped on a cutting horse in Winona, Mississippi, was a lightbulb moment for her.
She wanted some horses for a cattle farm she and her husband had recently purchased there, but she didn’t know which flavor.
“I had friends in that town who had cutting horses, and they said ‘We're gonna go show you cutting horses,’” she recalls for me in a recent Zoom meeting. “I had never heard the term cutting horses. I did not have an idea about what they did as a sport. They took me to a ranch and let me ride my first cutting horses. And I said, ‘Yep, that's it. That's what I'll do.’”
Love at first sight.
“Love at first sight,” she repeats after me. “It’s the most thrilling thing you’ll ever do. It’s just amazing to ride those athletes.”
They are indeed majestic beasts of flesh and bone cloaked in rich colors, these cutting horses, all of them with minds and, ahem, mystery all their own.
Her deeply imprinted, giant footprint is a testament to the Ellard’s presence in the industry.
To wit, Ellard, a Dallasite, is a National Cutting Horse Non-Pro Hall of Fame Rider with earnings of more than $700,000. Her success on the circuit included its rookie of the year award in 1991. Her work in cultivating the National Youth Cutting Horse Association earned her a coveted place in the NCHA Member Hall of Fame, the youngest member ever inducted.
She recalls fondly during a self-deprecating moment her first time in a cutting competition.
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“I had my hat on backward, and my trainers thought it was so funny. They didn't tell me my hat was on backward, and I rode around for two hours, my hat on backward. I was pretty green at this, and my friend fortunately came up and she said, ‘Jo, your hat’s on backward.’”
She has gone from that experience to building a little cutting empire. Her tentacles of leadership extend to service on the NCHA Board of Directors and the NCHA Executive Committee.
Her EE Ranches in Whitesboro, the breeding facility she founded with her late husband, Bill, is a leader in the industry. Cat Ichi and Laker Doc are both sons of superstar broodmare Laney Doc, who has sired multiple champions in the NCHA and American Quarter Horse Association.
Cat Ichi’s progeny has earnings of more than $7 million, according The Team Roping Journal’s 2023 Breeder’s Guide. Cat Ichi is the son of Highbrow Cat, the sire of acclaimed stallion Metallic Cat.
“We did everything in the horse business that you can do,” she says of EE Ranches. “We had a breeding program. We had a training program. We had huge competition program. If it could be done, we did it.”
EE Ranches is part of Ellard family-owned businesses. Ellard sold the company that Bill founded in 1973, National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Co., for a reported $400 million in 2018.
In addition to cutting horses, the Ellards developed nationally acclaimed registered Hereford cattle. The Ellards are givers. Bill’s obituary tells the story of the family’s philanthropy. In addition to what they gave to youth Hereford and cutting horse programs, the Ellards’ passions were in giving to underprivileged children, including providing gifts at Christmastime to area orphanages.
Bill was one of those guys you wished you had met. A seemingly positive, can-do guy. His obituary included: “Ask Bill Ellard, ‘How are you today?’ and chances are his response would be, ‘I feel healthy! I feel happy! I feel terrific!’”
Bill was a rodeo guy growing up, a bull and bronc rider. After he was honorably discharged, his obituary reads, he returned to Arkansas and rodeo. That is, until a bull riding accident left him with broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and, worst of all, a large hospital bill.
“His mother told him, ‘You have to get a job!’”
“You don't have enough paper in your magazine to write what an incredible individual and businessman he was,” she says. “Bill was not a highly educated man, but he had the most incredible business instincts. He could literally shoot from the hip and make the right decision.
“But the one thing that Bill really did is, and he was very fortunate in this, he found people to help him, people that knew what he didn't know. And he surrounded himself with those people and he took their advice and fortunately he chose the right people and they're still with us today.”
Suffice it to say, it’s because of horses and her love the West that Ellard spends a lot of time in Fort Worth, though her spirit is always here. She said in an interview more than 20 years ago that she was somewhat out of place in her North Dallas neighborhood, particularly if she’s on the way to the ranch.
“When they see me dressed this way in Dallas, they want to know what kind of [Western-themed] party I’m going to.”
It’s also why she has called Fort Worth her heart, even though she lives in Dallas.
Fort Worth is host to the NCHA Triple Crown each year with the Super Stakes in March, the Summer Spectacular, and the World Championship Futurity in November and December.
It’s the Super Bowl, the trinity of cutting horses.
All of them are at Will Rogers Coliseum, “Amon’s barn,” as Franklin Roosevelt called it. We call it the grand dame of horse arenas.
And it’s here, not far from the Will Rogers Memorial Center, that she is making her commercial development debut, which, it appears, she has hit out of the park.
Ellard has done something a little different “off the clock.”
She is behind the Bowie House luxury boutique, Western-themed hotel, which is opening its doors to guests in early December, one of two highly anticipated hotel openings within a half-mile of one another. The Crescent Fort Worth hosted its first sleepover this month.
The Bowie House sits in the Cultural District on the bricks at 3700 Camp Bowie Blvd. On the site once sat a church and then more secular establishments, including Rick’s on the Bricks and, more recently, the Ginger Man, a beer bar, which closed in 2018. A bulldozer wrote the final chapter on the structure.
The interior of the hotel features elements reminiscent of the West. No surprise considering who built it and where it stands. This is a place where, well, Jim Bowie might want to stay.
“The character of the hotel meets my vision,” Ellard says. “I want people that come here from all over the world, or even the locals, when they walk in here, they realize that they are in Fort Worth, Texas, and that it has a unique culture. I want it to have a Western influence and an equestrian influence. But I want those influences to be subtle and very sophisticated in their presentation. We have achieved that.
“I want it to be very warm, very inviting, but yet strong in character, beautifully anointed, but not overdone. I want the cowboys to come in and sit down on the furniture and not feel like they're gonna mess something up. It doesn't feel like a hotel. I am really, really pleased that the feeling I get when I walk the halls and walk in those rooms is that it just feels like a big grand Texas home.”
The hotel is comprised of four stories and 106 rooms over three buildings, starting at $609 a night. The Goodnight Suite, which features a 10-person dining room, three bedrooms, and a breathtaking view of downtown, goes for several thousand a night.
The hotel will be managed by Auberge Resorts Collection, which operates 26 luxury resorts and 89 restaurants across the U.S., Europe, and Central America.
“Fort Worth is a culturally rich gem with some of the best parks, gardens, museums, restaurants, and entertainment in Texas, and we are excited to help open up this city to global travelers while providing a new and exciting home base for our beloved community,” says Gaylord Lamy, the hotel’s general manager.
Eleven unique townhomes separated by a central courtyard sit in the back. A 225-stall parking garage sits underneath the hotel.
The restaurant, Bricks and Horses, will be a “contemporary chophouse specializing in dry-aged local beef that will soon be the social hub of Fort Worth,” the hotel says. Laney’s Room, named for Ellard’s prized broodmare, is a private space in the restaurant.
Another on-site restaurant, Whinny's, will include a light-bites menu of frozen drinks, salads. and ice cream sandwiches.
The Mulberry Room is a library “venue for discovery, sipping bourbon as you read or engaging in deep conversation over drinks and snacks." (A really cool spot for a smaller meet-up, by the way.)
The Bar at Bowie House features a 150-year-old bar, which “fell into my lap.” It had been passed through a few antique dealers, landing finally with a gentleman in Waco. It’s been restored, “every inch of it.”
“We’re telling everybody that John Wayne drank whiskey at this bar,” she says with a wink.
The Duke certainly would have had a drink at the bar even if he didn’t, but he’d likely have left his timeworn callouses for some other kind of treatment different from the Ash, the hotel’s spa. However, for those more-than-willing 21st century clients, the Ash will have a steam room and sauna, nail studio, fitness center, boutique, relaxation lounge, and five treatment rooms. Services available include apothecary, water dancing, infrared therapy, synergistic skin treatments, massages, and fitness classes.
With more than 10,000 square feet of outdoor and indoor event space, Bowie House can host up to 400 guests at a time for weddings and corporate retreats, and such.
“It wasn't something that I've always wanted to do,” Ellard says of her role of hotel developer. “I think I’m like many people who embark on these adventures sometimes with not a great deal of planning. And it's like buying a ranch. You know, it becomes an idea, and you start talking to people and friends. And those conversations lead to more conversations. Then you start seeking advice, and then you start realizing, ‘Hey, this, this might be an idea. This might be something we really want to do.’”
“It was a fairly spontaneous decision and, and the path just kept getting wider and leading us to more people and more information, and four years later here we are.”
Fort Worth-based firm BOKA Powell was the architect of record. Dunaway provided structural engineering, civil engineering, and landscape architecture services. Austin Commercial was the general contractor.
“They've been great, great to work with,” Ellard says. “They have a tremendous reputation and have built amazing projects here in Fort Worth. They were really the right choice for this project.”
Of those she met during the initial phases was a gentleman named Michael Crosby, whom Ellard called “an incredible talent.” Ellard was introduced to him by Tom Stone, a Dallas developer.
“I’ll give you an example about Michael, and it’ll help you understand how he helped this project,” she says. “Michael has a photographic memory, and he can translate what you’re saying and what he’s visualizing on paper as fast as you can speak.”
Crosby has designed some of the most sophisticated, award-winning luxury retreats in the world, including The Palazzo at the Venetian in Las Vegas.
“Tom had worked with Michael on several of his projects, and he said you've got to meet him,” Ellard says. “And, so, that's where we started and we just kept throwing out ideas, and Michael, as fast as I could talk, was drawing these beautiful rooms and these concepts. That's where it started. From there, we started choosing our team.”
Choosing a management company was the one decision Ellard says she “agonized the most over.” Ellard’s “homework” included vetting and interviewing half a dozen companies, with field trips to different properties all over the country.
“That’s where you don’t want to make a mistake,” she says. “You can build the grandest hotel in the world, and unless you've got the right people running it, it will never achieve your vision.
“Auberge was always at the top of the list. They never lost the No. 1 spot. There was a close second. They deal with the client on an unbelievably professional but personal level. They hire the most amazing people. They want to bring your vision to life. They are an amazing team, and it's fun to watch. It’s more than fun to watch. It's amazing to watch.”
I ask her finally what, if anything, in her journey in developing the Bowie was like cutting horses. Did she ever have a moment when her hat was on backward?
“Building hotels is a business for a lot of people, but this was project of passion. And just like horses or yachting or ranching or all of those things that people get into, it's a passion. It takes a tremendous amount of teamwork with all the different teams, the ability to get along and compromise and encourage people to be the best they can be … to step up and take that extra step to be successful. And all of those things are the same regardless of what you get into.
“I have to say, I have no regrets,” she says of the process of building the hotel. “I told someone the other day I have no regrets and everything lined up the way it was supposed to and the team came together. It's just been a beautiful partnership.”
