Makes the Connection

The California Reined Cow Horse Association is steadily building its membership, show entries and cash payouts year after year. And that hasn’t happened by accident. Intentional, thoughtful planning by the organization’s board has brought to fruition many benefits to its members, leading to increased participation.

Founded by Kathy Gould, a past National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity® Non Pro Champion, the CRCHA began in 1998 under the name Valley Cow Horse Club. The name was changed to its current iteration in 2019 to recognize its longstanding affiliation with the NRCHA, Murray Thompson, California RCHA president, said. The name was also changed to reflect the club’s mission to “preserve the Vaquero tradition of training and exhibiting reined cow horses in California,” he continued.

Beginning in 2017, the organization initiated a strategic plan to improve its operations and offer value to its members and sponsors. This plan is reviewed annually by the directors in an all-day planning meeting, as well as benchmarks such as show dates, class lists, added money, entry fees, show awards, sponsor engagement and much more.

Thompson has been a member of the association for 15 years and has served on the board for seven years. He’s most proud of the way the club analyzes and improves each year based on its strategic plan and data.

“Since I’ve been on the board, we’ve had a very clear plan of what we’re trying to do to build the association,” Thompson said. “Every year we evaluate our calendar to make it the best that it could be. We adapt to changes, try to find ways to make it a better product or experience for our members and sponsors, and just keep building on what we’re doing.”

The club’s nine annual horse shows are held at two event centers: the Paso Robles Event Center in Paso Robles, California, and the International Agri-Center in Tulare, California.

The CRCHA club has forward-thinking board members, as well as dedicated staff, to make shows run smoothly.

Big cash payouts have become a hallmark of this club’s events. The inaugural Spring Classic Derby in 2021 had $72,000 added money and paid out $161,500 and prizes to 93 entries. In 2022 the event had $100,000 added money, paying out $187,380 to 89 entries. This year’s third edition again had $100,000 added money in the derby and paid out $196,750 to 103 entries and had $16,500 added money in the new-for-this-year spectaculars and paid out $41,850 to 81 entries.

“That’s been really exciting for us,” Thompson said. “And this year we’ve secured sponsorship to put on the Futurity and Derby at Tulare in November giving us premier limited age events at both of our host facilities. We’re very excited about that.”

Laura Norman, of Oakhurst, California, has been a member of the club off and on for 20 years, and has been the show secretary for the last seven years.

“I loved going to the shows, and all of the recognizable cover guys were just so down to earth, nice, and completely approachable,” Norman said. “Coming from the jumpers, where it was the opposite. So, I decided that these were the people I wanted to be with.”

Norman showed her horse in boxing for a couple of years and decided that she didn’t really need to be showing, so she’s been serving as the show secretary.

Norman says the CRCHA’s greatest strength is the board’s passion to improve the club.

“They’re willing to entertain whatever they need to do to make it better, and they’re really good at fostering relationships, such as with the facilities where we host the shows, which I think is critical in this industry,” Norman said. “The facilities are always wanting to improve and provide better and better ground, fencing and stalls—all of that is so critical to us putting on a really good show.”

CRCHA transitioned show labor positions from volunteers to paid professionals over the past seven years and hired a social media marketing agency in 2023 to improve engagement with members and followers and to better promote sponsors. Careful financial planning and management have returned value to members, while safeguarding against challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thompson says developing a sponsorship program and sponsor base has been the association’s most difficult challenge.

“We’ve spent a lot of time reaching out to potential sponsors and putting together a sponsorship program that returns value to the sponsor in terms of exposure and advertising,” Thompson said.

Another challenge has been forging long-term relationships with horse show facilities—something the association has finally secured the last few years with multi-year contracts at the Paso Robles Event Center and International Agri-Center.

Thompson says the success of the association’s inaugural Paso Robles Spring Classic has been a highlight for the club—and with strategic tweaks it has shown continued growth.

“We focus on scheduling events on dates that fit well into the overall show calendar, so that they are supportive of members who are showing at the major [NRCHA] events,” Thompson said. “We have put a lot of emphasis on having first-quality facilities with good ground, indoor arenas and good stalling, making sure that we’re offering an attractive class list, and trying to provide the most value that we can in terms of payouts, versus the cost of coming to our shows. And we try to make sure that we’re taking care of all the different demographics of our membership: high end Open riders, and Non Pros that just come to our weekend horse shows.”

Top left: Longtime CRCHA member Jake Gorrell, center, says the association is run like a national organization. Above: Good ground at the facilities has helped make the shows popular with competitors.