Clay Damuth has a ranching background but he has always had an interest in cow horses. He was advised to go work for trainers to learn the trade. He first went to work for a cueing horse trainer at 20 years of age and then branched out to cow horse trainers with a foundation in cutting.

Some of his best memories in the sport are the time he loped a horse in the NCHA Futurity Finals for Steve Schlesinger and watching Phillip Ralls and Call Me Mitch make the Snaffle Bit Futurity Finals. Damuth went on to work for Phillip Ralls where he got to see what it takes to produce a great horse. Damuth’s favorite part about cow horses is the fence work.

“Going down the fence, there ain’t nothing better than that…I’ve done it plenty and [the feeling] never goes away. I’m an adrenaline junkie,” he said.

As a young trainer, Damuth’s goals are, “To become the best horseman I can be. Not only on a competitive level, but also on a moral level as a whole. Horsemanship seems to me like one of those things you can do your whole life, and yet, still have a lot of learning left to do. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.”

A training concept that resonates with Damuth on a daily basis is “show them how to do it and then get out of their way sooner.”

Why Clay Uses RCHTO:

“[It’s] Accountability. Sometimes you fill up your tool box with tools and you lose them anyway… It might be something new or it might be something you’ve been taught in the past that you just haven’t referenced in a while… It’s a good way to be held accountable; you can go back and reference those trainers you’ve worked for or guys you respect and they can enlighten you on something you might have been missing… It’s a phenomenal reference to make sure you’re on the right track.”