Let’s be honest: For most people who show horses, losses come more frequently than wins. And if the focus becomes those losses, the joy of competition begins to seep out like a balloon with a pinhole.
Continue reading …The Perfect Match: Courtney Stephens & Pistol Packin Mann
July 13, 2022 Comments Off on The Perfect Match: Courtney Stephens & Pistol Packin Mann
Courtney Stephens’s life is all about horses. The Alabama native discovered horses early in life and immediately knew she had found her lifelong love. Her family did not have a horse show background. However, her uncles owned horses. When she was young, she started learning to ride under the guidance of Martha Ann and Max Eisenberg of Triple E Farms.
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Ina Ginsberg was nine years old when she first sat in a saddle at a summer camp. Prior to that, the only animal experience she had growing up in Massachusetts was caring for the two goldfish she kept outside as pets. “I never did figure out what happened to them during the winter,” she jokes. The self-described tall, gangly kid had no luck with any of the other camp activities. “I found the only thing I could do was ride a horse!”
Continue reading …Around the Rings – Big A With G-Man
July 11, 2022 Comments Off on Around the Rings – Big A With G-Man
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A sponsorship is more than a donation of product or money. A sponsor, who gives something of themselves, is a partner. Within the horse show industry, we rely on these partnerships to maintain and grow our events. Sponsors are vital to event success for many reasons. They open location options that may have not previously been available. Sponsors add and provide value to exhibitor experiences. They generate bigger audiences and exhibitor bases for events. Sponsors can take an ordinary horse show and turn it into an extraordinary event!
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If you were to ask Bill Baskin what brought him and his wife Susan together, his answer might just be cows. The co-owners of Baskin Livestock, one of the largest agricultural businesses in Genesee County, New York, first met shortly after Susan Blackburn, a veterinarian, spent a large portion of her job traveling to farms to administer tuberculosis tests. The frequency of these tests brought her to visit Baskin’s farm several times a week. Inevitably, working so close together on numerous separate occasions developed a friendship between the two which eventually developed into something more. “We were friends way before we were married, and we still are; that’s the amazing part,” Blackburn notes.
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Sweating isn’t fun. It stinks. It stains clothing. It requires a bath after a hard workout. But, sweat is imperative to the health of you, your horse, and all animals that have sweat glands. For horses that cannot sweat, it can make life absolutely miserable, or worse.
Continue reading …A Sudden Impulse Futurity – A Deeper Look
July 8, 2022 Comments Off on A Sudden Impulse Futurity – A Deeper Look
For the last ten days in April, the bluest skies and brightest futures were seen by some of the industry’s finest hopefuls at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida, for the second annual A Sudden Impulse NSBA and AQHA Futurity. This event was managed by An Equine Production and sanctioned by the National Snaffle Bit Association with over $400,000 in total money and prizes with a show bill that consisted of 160 classes in 16 different divisions that also featured two American Quarter Horse Association World Qualifying Shows.
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In the weeks leading up to the AQHA Youth World Show, preparations are in full force as youth make the trek towards Oklahoma City. But first, most will make a stop at their trainer’s farm for boot camp. It’s not your typical boot camp, though. Outsiders might see it as a day of playing with horses all day.
Continue reading …The Finer Points of the Posting Trot
July 6, 2022 Comments Off on The Finer Points of the Posting Trot
The posting trot is an integral part of any English riding discipline from Hunter/Jumper to Equitation to Hunter Under Saddle. When it’s done well, the posting trot looks fluid and easy as the riders’ graceful movement complements the long, floating strides beneath them.
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