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
Total Earnings: $268,631 Ben Baldus has always wanted to be a cowboy for as long as he can remember. At 17 he went to Pennsylvania and worked for Christian Evangelist, Lew Sterrett, who used horses to preach. Sterrett gave Baldus a foundation. Then, at 20 years old, Baldus moved to Texas to work for
NRCHA Executive Director, Anna Morrison When Anna Morrison stepped into the position of executive director of the National Reined Cow Horse Association in December last year, she felt she was taking a leap of faith in the middle of COVID-19 uncertainty. But Morrison soon discovered the NRCHA had done an incredible job
Sandy and MH Boon In My BloodPhoto by Fletch Sandy Jirkovsky has spent most of her training career working mainly with Appaloosas but has had Paints and Quarter Horses come through her barn. Her husband started showing in the cow horse world in the Appaloosa circuit and she thought it looked like
Total Earnings: $56,064 After 25 years of training reining horses and earning $1.7 million showing reiners, Dell Hendricks made a big change. After winning almost everything there is to win the reining world, his client base started to shift and he wasn’t as well mounted as he had been in the early years. Now
Veltri assessing a horse’s range of motion. Stretching before a big show or a hard training session is very important to keep muscles flexible, strong and healthy. Many horse owners already stretch their horse’s neck side to side with treats before a ride, but did you know there are more stretches you
Clark and Lillys Vaquero From showing paint horses as a kid in Kansas to starting colts and fixing rope horses in Colorado, Clark Weaver has been a life long student of the horse. He graduated from Colorado State University with an equine science degree. Weaver then moved to Amarillo, TX selling ads
Total Earnings: $758,980 Shawn Hays worked for JD Yates, a team roper, where he met his wife Tammy. She was interested in reined cow horses and introduced Hays to the sport. Everyone started sending him cow horses after Tammy was doing so well in the non-pro. Hays then got more involved in the cow
Shane Steffen working buffalo out of a herd Is the expense and difficulty of sourcing cattle getting to be too much for you? Some reined cow horse trainers are branching out and working buffalo instead. Shane Steffen, 2021 World’s Greatest Horseman Champion based in Powell Butte, Oregon, started using buffalo out of
Amy and ASmidgeMoreDiamond Photo Credit: Stacy Judd Amy Ost rode jumping horses for years and was introduced to reined cow horses when she was in college. The people, culture and the event in general inspired her to make the switch. Although her jumper background has been helpful as
Total Earnings: $870,811 Ranching has been a way of life for Clayton Edsall and it is something he infuses into his performance horse program. He grew up in Montana and was interested in starting colts and ranch roping. He was around legendary horsemen like Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, Joe Walter,
Legacy of Ranching Teaching Day While the pandemic saw schools shut down the world over, the challenge for educators who teach an equine curriculum with a largely hands-on practical- based component has been particularly tricky. But instead of going the usual route of books and zoom classes, some
