Grateful for good lights in his arena, full-time student Mason Beal of Clovis, CA attends class during the day and rides before and after school. Studying Ag Business at Fresno State University, Beal is preparing his future to include becoming a cow horse trainer.
From a young age Beal showed horses, as his dad originally competed in pleasure horses.
“He thought that is how I should get into horses, I showed pleasure horses when I was 6, 7, 8 and then it got a little too slow for me after that” Beal said.
Showing in the Youth 13 and under boxing, his first event was the NRCHA Derby in Paso Robles, CA in 2015. As a Non-Pro he has found success on several horses but he remembers a 3-yr-old in particular that his parents bought for him for his thirteenth birthday.
“It wasn’t the best decision ever,” and “after a couple of years of tears we started getting it together, I think I won around $13,000, so we ended up figuring it out a little bit,” Beal said.
His parents are huge supporters and he is very
appreciative of all the miles his mom spent driving him around to shows, but he laughs as he remembers those years with that young horse.
“My parents were either trying to make sure I stuck with it or see if I really wanted to hate my life.”
Why Mason uses RCHTO:
“Both sites have been such a huge help to me. Just being able to see what the top guys do, I might not be able to take a lesson from Jesse Lennox, but I can see what he does to make those horses crawl around on the ground and see how his program kinda fits what I do. Seeing what they do and adding to my own tool box and making it my own is really helpful.”
With many memorable moments, he said one stands out as both his best and worst memories.
“Qualifying for the world show was a fun deal and I made the finals but went off pattern in the finals and it was a very long 24-hour drive home.”
Training his own horses is not easy and balancing school and training horses is tricky but he feels fortunate to have amazing trainers such as Randy Paul and Jake Gorrell to learn from. And of course he also watches and learns from RCHTO and CHTO.
“Oh my gosh, training your own, Justin Wright has saved my butt so many times and he doesn’t even have to yell at me!”