Andrea Fappani Interview

Q - You were favored to win the NRHA Futurity, because you had the best horses, and did win. How did you handle the pressure of meeting those high expectations? A - I was a favorite in the fact that I won at the pre-futurities. But The NRHA Futurity is a different game completely. So I have never looked at myself ever as being a favorite at the Futurity. Maybe if it was the Derby and I had a horse that was like ‘Out of this World’ like back in the days with Custom Legend and some of those horses. I knew that I had the horse to win it and I just needed to focus on myself. But with Futurity horses, having three of them and being at a show completely different than the pre-futurities really doesn’t set you up as a favorite. You know that you have the horsepower to do it, but I just concentrate on the process. For me, every year I just concentrate on getting the most out of each horse depending on what I have that week, to be honest. Going into this year all three of the horses I took had won pre-futurities at different times, so I knew that any one of them could probably step up and end up doing really well. But I never looked a them as how I am the favorite and I got to make it happen. I just looked at trying to get 100% of what I had worked for in that week. That’s a challenge in itself, in the fact that 3 year olds - the pre-futurities are one go-round and the Futurity is 2 go-rounds plus a finals. So trying to build up to that expectation on Saturday night is really what I concentrate on. I don’t put the pressure on myself as far as winning it, I put the pressure on myself to do the best job that I can for the particular horse. That is how I handle the pressure. Not so much about looking at winning the Futurity, but you have three great horses so lets just go ahead and get them shown.

Andrea competing at Reining by the Bay

Q - You have the reputation of being a very hard worker. What time do you get started on a work-day? A - I get up every morning at 4:30 am and I am here at the barn by 5. All my guys are here at the same time. We start early and it is an intense place to work at in the fact that we just work hard 6 days a week. But, it is very rewarding. I start my day at 5 and try to knock out as many horses as I can in the morning because those are the times I am able to concentrate on my horses. There are not many people coming into the ranch. So between 5 and 10 is where I get most of my job done. When it is Futurity time that is when I ride my 3 Futurity horses, and when it is closer to the Derbies that is when I ride my show horses. Then I have quite a few other horses to ride all day long. I ride about 15 to 18 - there is me and four other guys riding and we also have four guys in the barn keeping us going all day long. It’s a longer day, but I enjoy it. Anybody that works here has been here long enough to see we are very passionate about horsemanship and trying to get better. We try and learn from each other every day and try and learn from the horses. In my 20 plus year career, there is not one day that I am not learning something new about the horse. Thats what really keeps it interesting for me. It’s not the same repetition every day, sometimes I ride the 3 year olds, sometime I ride the Derby horses and what I really love is riding 2 year olds. Right now, for example, I have a new guy that just started. He is starting a few colts with me. Together, I can really show him what I am doing and those are the times I really enjoy because you get to work with a horse that hasn’t been trained by anybody else, and doesn’t have anything that you really are not sure if its the horse or the riding or somebody else’s training. For me what I really love is spending time with the young ones.

Andrea showing A Smalltown Trick

Q - It’s rare for a husband and wife to compete and win at the highest levels in the NRHA. How do you and Tish balance the needs of one another to make it happen? A - It’s been a process as far as learning how to work with each other and really compliment each other. When you are working with somebody all day and then you go home at night and you are with the same person you need to balance work and business with personal life. So for us I think we have gotten to a point where we know each others strengths and weaknesses both working, riding and on a personal note. We have really learned to understand each other. When she is here riding, I understand now that she can does not ride exactly the way I ride. Back in the days I used to try to force it on her to change quite a few things, and now I have learned that somethings work better for her done different . And she has learned from me that instead of me having to offer all the time when she needs help with the horses or anything else, she will come and ask. We have learned to balance it. The great thing about us is that she has put me in a position where I am only concentrating on riding. Tish Takes care of pretty mush everything else. That is pretty amazing for her as the wife. I know several other people, both in Reining and other parts of the horse world have that kind of wide behind them that supports a lot. That is the base of my success. She is the one keeping the personal relationships. They feel a lot more comfortable talking to her sometimes. Of course raising our two kids as well! She has a pretty big job.

Q - Your son, Luca, has quickly risen to be a Top- Twenty NRHA rider. He could have stayed a Non-Pro, but showed courage to up his game. How do you feel that has worked out for him? A - He did not start until later. With both of our sone we didn’t want them to feel that they had to ride horses just because the family and were born into it. I wanted them to find whatever it was they wanted to do. We obviously are always around horses, so they learned to ride at an early age, both of them did, and they both still do. Luca was always the popular kid at school, so he always wanted to do the popular games with the kids at school. So he tried the Baseball, he tried all the sports like soccer early on, and then kinda like me he figured he was more of the type of guy that like individual sports more than team sports. I could tell that early on, but I hoping to be honest he would go for Golfing or something completely different because to me that would have been fun doing something completely different which is what Jeremy has done. He decided to ride more and more and we supported both kids the same way. I figured learning to take care of the horse is what all parents want, a work ethic, respect for the animal. Just in this last 2 to 3 years he has really stepped it up. I am having a gut feeling that he is going to want to keep doing the horses later on. He has expressed that and I am starting to steer him away from it just because I know how hard of a lifestyle it is, but on the other hand I cannot steer him away too much because this lifestyle has given me so much. I love what we do and I am really proud of what he has done. To be honest I know a lot of people that think, well his Dad trains his horses and he jumps on and all of that. There is a lot more pressure to what Luca is doing. If anybody has watched him at the horse show they know he is doing most of riding on his horses. We bought a yearling, he bought it with his own money and he wants to learn the

process early. He also gets here before school at 5am and rides 1 or 2, then goes to school, then comes back and rides another 2 or 3 and then goes home and does homework. Even mentally I think being the son of a top professional rider with a mom that is a top Non-Pro puts a lot of pressure on him. For me, him being able to handle it the way he has, and being polite to people, not getting to far ahead of himself and really wanting to learn the process more than just going and showing, that show good maturity to me for someone that is 16 years old.

Q - NRHA needs to attract new members. What can NRHA do to attract more people into reining? A - The main thing that I see from the outside is for me looking at it there is a big gap between the top horse show people that go to the major events and the very regional people that stay at the regional shows. There has to be a way to bridge the two of them together where it is not such a big jump from a local show to a show in Oklahoma City. When I see, for example the Reining Futurity in the coliseum, what type of people and horse in that arena and then you go other barn area and watch the collegiate or the ancillary year end awards it’s just a different world. To me those people are very intimidated by the fact that it takes so much money, so much horsepower and everything else, plus commitment to go to the big shows. If we can as a group open up the road from the beginning to somewhat of an intermediate spot to bridge the two of them together, I think that will be the trick. I think that Reining itself is a sport that attracts a lot of new people, but we lose a lot at the same time. To be honest I do not have the answer. I think of a lot of ideas, but more than bringing in new people we need to take care of the people that are already here and attracted to the sport. See if we can cultivate it more. Some people will never step up to be at the National level, but they are still NRHA members and enjoying the sport. They will grow the sport. We cannot just take care of the top, we have to take care of the beginning all the way up to the top. I think there is a too big a gap between there. We advertise so much money earned, and the high dollar horses that people that own only a horse or two and they want their daughter or their son to go show they look at the Non-Pro finals and think they do not even have a chance to compete with those type people. NRHA job is to promote the grass roots and really how open it is to everybody. I don’t believe that at a lower level in the Non-Pro there should be that much money that needs to be won. Whenever you bring money in to be won, then people are willing to pay more money, then rich people will pay a lot more. There are people in the Level 2 Non-Pro that are going and dropping $150,000.00 on a Non-Pro futurity horse. How do you compete with that? I believe that as an Amateur at that level it should not be about the money. It should be about the sport and the passion for the sport. Then if you want to step up, maybe create another category that the top level 4 Non-Pros can compete for the money. We have to open it up the field so that they feel they do not have to make such a big commitment to compete, because a lot of them get intimidated. So they stay the the regional level or they get out of it. Opening it up and making it more about the sport will help a lot. Leave the professionals with all the pressure, rather than trying to find a client with all the money to buy the horses for Non-Pro. The Non-Pros should not be worried about that, they should be worried about having fun I think.

Andrea signing the Big Chex to Cash Breyer horses for fans

Andrea & Tish at the Yellowstone premier event