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I will be participating in the THE CANADIAN HORSE TRAINING CHAMPIONSHIP at the Daines RANCH north of Innisfail. It is a colt starting challenge. It will be on August 27-30th, 2009. Check out the add on northernhorse.com about the 20 horses 20 trainers 4 days event ,listed on the left hand side of the screen on northernhorse.com , for more information or where to get tickets in advance. Hope to see you there.
UPDATE- Just got back from the Training Competition and had a great time. I had a lot of fun down there and met some great people/ and trainers. Their were a total of 16 trainers and we all got to work the first 2 days then 8 got eliminated, and 4 went on to the finals. I drew a horse but then she cut her front leg so I got another filly. She was about 14- 14.1 and was a beautiful blue roan. All the horses were two and weren't halter broke ( The horses were really good even though they were not halter broke).
The first day I worked her in the round pen and caught her. Did some ground work to soften her face up from side to side. I flagged her out as well. She was a timid filly yet she started to trust me pretty quick. I had about 15 minutes left and decided she was ready for me to ride. I got up and down in the stirrups on both sides. She was not really bothered by that. I got on and just softened her from each side a bit and started to walk forward when she blew up and shot up. She bucked a few jumps and then quit. Was pretty glad to have that night latch on my saddle. After that I walked her around a bit and then quit for the day.
On the second day I did all the same things as the first day. I lunged her more before I got on and she bucked some more during the lunging. She was starting to soften up more by the second day. I walked, trotted, and loped her that day as well and she didn't seem scared but was still timid. The judges talked and 8 people were eliminated. I was NOT one of them. So I made it to the final eight on Saturday.
The third day I caught her up in the round pen and got her ready to ride. By the third day she was lunging and changing directions really smooth both ways. Got on and walked/ trotted around. Then I asked her to lope and I had to spank her with my hand to motivate her to speed up. She sped up alright and dropped her head crow hopping around the pen. I just gave her head to her and she bucked a round the round pen a bit but it did not seem to hard ( For me anyway). She settled down and I got my dad to get my rope for me. I swung the rope off her and she was not really bothered that much by it. That was on the 3rd ride!! I could not believe how she was handling it. I also caught her one hind leg but I did not pull the rope tight but it was all the way up to where her leg meets her belly. That was unbelievable. So after my ride I thought maybe I had a chance but new that I had accomplished my goal of making it to the second round (Top 8 of the 16 trainers). After everyone was done that day the judges talked again and I didn't make it to the final round. But one person that made it too the finals was a guy that I liked how he worked with his horse and he won. His horse just flowed with him and was really soft on the halter.
Some of the competitors were some top guys. Guys like Doug Mills from BC with his 2 kids who also competed. It was a lot of fun and I am entering again for next year. Made a lot of great friends. It was a lot of fun!! GOT some very good exposure down at the competition.
- Stephen Braun
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