In 2013 our
family was thrilled with the turnout and response that we received from people
that attended our Colt Starting Challenge and Sale. For that reason we have decided to make it an
annual event.
This year’s
goals for the challenge are similar to last year and include:
1.
Get
the attention of our youth by getting them excited about agriculture and horses
in Canada. We call it getting our youth “Back
in the Saddle”.
2.
Showcase
and promote the elite horse training talent in our country by allowing “up and
coming” trainers a venue to showcase their skills and promote themselves.
3.
Educate
people from all walks of life on the importance of ingraining training
fundamentals on young horses.
Although I
have been saying it for years, that Canada has the world’s best horse trainers;
my opinion was endorsed when wild card participant Jim Anderson from the great
province of Alberta won “The Road to the Horse”. This event is the most internationally
recognized horse trainer’s challenge in the world. Trainers have three days to prepare their
horse from being untouched to navigating several obstacles in the final round. Jim received a standing ovation from a
capacity crowd as he completed his victory lap followed by the Canada
flag. It was a very proud moment for all
Canadians.
Our event is
focused on the untapped talent of ‘back-yard’, non-promoted, but elite class of
horse trainers in Canada. Rather than
focusing on results over 3 days, which is clearly possible and exciting to
watch but not necessarily, desirable, our trainers are given a random two year
old colt for 80 days allowing approximately 60 training sessions. It is this approach that allows the 10
trainers to take training to a much higher level as seen by the large crowd
that attended the event in 2013.
Although it is and always will have a focus on fundamentals, this year
the showmanship portion will be factored in on the overall results towards
determining a winner. In 2013 trainers
were laying their horses down, cracking a bull whip off of the back of their
horse while standing on a bridge several feet off of the ground, bowing their
horse for the crowd and more. What is
best about this approach is that not unlike people this training is retained
for a much longer time.
The event in
2014 will feature 10 more of Canada’s unknown talented trainers, 50 4-H youth
who will mock judge the event, free admission to the public, a draw for a 2014
weanling colt for 4-H participants, a Western style trade show, and a sale of
all of the event horses to follow. If
last year’s success is any indicator of the value of this event, this year
should be even better.
Mark Your
Calendars for August 16th 9:00 AM Taber Agri-plex, Taber, Alberta
Canada.
Marc Garner
Rocking
Heart Ranch Ltd.
