New expansion brings Black cowboy culture to Gilbert
Tomari “TJ” Stevenson, AKA Cowboy TJ, is moving his Copperstate Riding Club to Gilbert. His announcement comes during Black Business Month.
Tomari “TJ” Stevenson founded Phoenix’s The Copperstate Riding Club in 2020. The local horseman, who’s commonly known as Cowboy TJ, said during an interview with ABC 15 Arizona that he’s now expanding to a bigger property in Gilbert. The two-acre ranch “will allow for expanded services and community outreach,” both of which are deeply important to Stevenson.
Speaking with the publication, he emphasized that he wants to use this opportunity to give back to his community and help those in need in the process. “I figured a lot of my friends, we all have troubled pasts, right? What it’s done for them and myself, we could do for other people,” Stevenson said.
Cowboy TJ’s announcement comes during Black Business Month
The expansion of The Copperstate Riding Club was announced during Black Business Month, which is celebrated every August. The CEO of the Black Business Alliance in Peoria, Illinois, Denise Moore, said that “Black Business Month is exciting because it gives us an opportunity to focus on a community that is far too often underrepresented when it comes to access to capital and opportunities to build wealth.” Approximately 10% of current American businesses are Black-owned, and as of 2024, about 1,200 Black-owned businesses were operating in Arizona.
Stevenson is working alongside the Black Chamber of Arizona to help make the move to Gilbert possible, with the goal of highlighting and strengthening diversity within the equestrian community. He’s hopeful that this will allow an underrepresented cross-section of business and recreation to become more inclusive, while creating a safe space for minorities.
What you can do at The Copperstate Riding Club
The new Copperstate Riding Club ranch in Gilbert will run youth outreach programs, as well as offer riding lessons and “other activities designed to make Western culture accessible to everyone.” This includes discussing the history of Black cowboys and how they influenced and contributed to the expansion into the American West.
Cowboy TJ ran specific programs, like group therapy sessions and sober living group riding sessions, at the club’s former location. As of writing, it’s unclear whether these will continue as an official announcement has not yet been made. However, online bookings for these lessons are still live on the club’s website.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
