An Indian Outlaw Steals the Show at Dixie Nationals
Image courtesy of Cody Parmenter Photography.
By: Brittany Bevis
All-around trainer, Angie Proctor-Reichert, has spent many years instructing her clients in the finer points of Halter, Showmanship, Western Pleasure, Horsemanship, Trail, Ranch Riding, Hunter Under Saddle, Equitation, and Hunter Hack. However, the desire to compete in Reining has always been a personal goal, one that she was able to fulfill at the recent Dixie Nationals Quarter Horse Show in Jackson, Mississippi.
“Showing in Reining has always been a dream of mine,” she says. “I’ve only been showing in Reining for a little over a year now. It was a huge change for me from the all-around events and coming from mostly a Western Pleasure background. I was used to going slow! The biggest challenge was to learn how to run fast and sit the slide; that was a bit of a learning curve for me. Although, I’ve always had the ‘need for speed,’ so that helped me to be brave enough to go for it. I also judge shows, so knowing the penalties helps a lot when applying that to a new class for accuracy.”
Angie got the chance to realize her dream during the Open Freestyle Reining at the Dixie Nationals aboard a mare named Surely Cashin Chex, (Nu Chex To Cash), that’s owned by her client, Linda Williams of Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. “Barbie is an 8-year-old Palomino mare with a heart the size of Texas and a mane that goes to her knees,” she says. “She has so much try. She loves her job and wants to do it happily! She lives up to her name constantly.”
“I chose to ride to the Tim McGraw song Indian Outlaw. I picked out this song about 15 years ago- way before I had a Reining horse. I’d always said, ‘One day, I will ride in Freestyle Reining to the song Indian Outlaw!’ The tempo in this song gets the whole crowd going. I wanted to add some all-around maneuvers in the freestyle pattern, so I did tempe changes down the center line to resemble a Western Riding class. I wanted to add some Dressage moves too, so I leg yielded at the canter on the diagonal across the entire arena in both directions.”
Once she’d decided on a soundtrack and designed the perfect pattern that would highlight her horse’s talents, she sought out inspiration for a costume. She ultimately decided to emulate the character of Tonto from The Lone Ranger. Then, many of her friends and clients helped create the costume and props, design a makeup look, and did research to ensure historical accuracy.
“A client of mine, Deborah Edwards, was the costume maker,” she says. “She has an enormous talent at making items from scratch. She made my spear from scratch by ordering an Indian arrowhead online and building it from the ground up. It looked like an authentic spear when she completed it! The bridle had authentic Indian beading and fur. Lena Aviles did my amazing makeup. Ashley Doan and Lexy Peters did the Indian painting on the horse. We did some research for Indian drawings and determined what the meanings were for each, so as not to offend anyone with Indian ethnicity in the audience.”
“My assistant trainer, Devon Smith, spent many endless hours videoing me so I could watch and scrutinize myself for accuracy, tempo, speed, etc. There are so many more people who were there to support me that I need to thank: owners, Linda and Harvey Williams; my barn manager, Lisa Jackson, for keeping that mane beautiful; Maggie and Cynthia Bowers; Jordan and Mike Reichert; Hannah and Maria Patterson; Kim Padrow; Rachael Doan; Dara Stanfill; Anna Babbitt; my farrier Brian Raines, and many more. Last, but not least, I thank God for all the blessings!”
“It was an amazing night. I would also like to thank numerous people who came by with positive words of encouragement and support! This is just proof that dreams do come true!”
