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ADMIRABLE ASSISTANTS: ALETHEA PREWETT This California horsewoman took the long road to becoming an assistant trainer, but her maturity, life experiences and reliability have made her an asset to trainer Nick Dowers. By Jennifer Denison
46 MAY/JUNE 2022 | REINED COW HORSE NEWS
NICOLE POYO
W
orking as a trainer’s assistant seems like a fun job. You ride horses all day and hang out with some of the top campaigners and horsemen in the cow horse industry. But then there’s feeding at 3 a.m., cleaning stalls, saddling and unsaddling horses for the trainer, barn and fence maintenance, and any other odd jobs that come up. Not to mention, staying up all night monitoring a colicking horse, and preparing for and setting up at shows. It involves lots of late nights, early mornings and few days off. But for those wanting to start their own training businesses someday, it’s the best way to get hands-on experience and learn the dedication it takes to reach a professional level. And, head trainers rely on their assistants to handle day-to-day activities, so they can focus on refining their show horses. It takes dedication and perseverance, two characteristics that Alethea Prewett has in spades. “If you want to be a trainer’s assistant, you have to realize the responsibility that comes with it,” said Prewett, assistant to National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity® and
A lifelong horsewoman, Alethea Prewett has gone from riding her family’s ranch horses to becoming Nick Dower’s assistant to starting her own futurity prospect.
World Champion trainer Nick Dowers. “You not only have a responsibility to the trainer you work for, but also to the clients. The horses belong to other people, and sometimes you’ve met them and sometimes you haven’t, but nevertheless they’ve invested a lot of money
into their animals. When you’re asking a horse to perform at a high level, the level of care must be top notch; it’s more than making sure they have feed and water. I’ve had to become so much more observant. If a horse isn’t feeling well, it’s not going to perform.”
