Kelly Woodworth was working for a ranch when he spied the NRCHA magazine they received. After seeing the pictures, it ignited his imagination. He saved his money and took a trip to California to take a job working for a cow horse trainer. The first trainer said he didn’t ride well enough. As he was driving into the next ranch he saw someone getting bucked off. They put him on the bucking horse, he stayed on and was hired.

He later went to work for Walter Wright, Justin Wright’s father, for three and a half years. Then he went out on his own and trained horses for three years. Due to family obligations he had to stop training horses for 20 years. He is now getting back into it.

His favorite memory is from when he competed at the Stallion Stakes. It was a highlight and a low point. In the herd work he lost a rein but he said he felt like he had been having the winning run.

One of the most important things he has learned is to be more patient and wait for the horse to figure it out. He feels like his horses are more solid than they used to be. He said the whole competition is evolving and the horses are getting better so the methods are changing. He said he was lucky to have worked for trainers who were ahead of the times.

He hopes to rebuild his clientele and get back in the show pen.

Kelly Uses RCHTO:

“To keep myself updated with what guys are doing now. And check myself out and the results I get. It’s fun to watch other guys and the results they get. My daughters are into showing so we talk a lot about training and training methods. One of the funniest ones when I first got the subscription, my daughter has a three year old and she was asking me about lead changes…I’ve always felt that I was strong in lead changes but we watched the Dell Hendricks videos and he does the same thing I do. I always thought it was my little secret.”