NRCHA President’s Letter

CREATING CONFIDENCE

We are in that time of year where doubt creeps in to how we ride and train our horses. The National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity® looms. It’s easy to lose confidence in yourself and your horse now that we are starting to show in pre-works and pre-futurity events. I’m here to tell you, don’t lose focus!

Going into the Futurity season, it can be hard to stay the course. Working a Futurity horse brings out a lot of emotion and self-doubt. Have I done enough? What do I need to do better? But we always need to keep our horses in mind. Up until now, we’ve all stuck to a program to prepare these young horses for a very, very tough event. It’s stressful, and we ask a lot of them physically.

Watching other horses and riders when we’re at pre-futurity events can shake the confidence we have, and sometimes we allow that to shift our focus. Stick with your horse and the learning curve you have been on with it. Switching directions isn’t always the answer, but our nerves can have us thinking that doing exactly what someone else does is the answer to any little problem we may have.

If you watch another rider and think they’re doing something better, see how you can incorporate that idea into what you’ve already taught the horse or what you’re still working on. Remember that just like us, every horse is different. We need to tailor our programs and how we ride to fit our equine partners.

Just like learning cow horse and moving from the boxing to going down the fence, it is all about building confidence in our horses as they learn the events. It’s not fair to our horses to keep changing things up on the learning curve. We want our horses to be confident. Yes, we want them to be trained; yes, we are always working on them. But, if you take the confidence away, you’ll lose your horse.

We strive to train horses that can do every maneuver. Keep in mind all of the different things we ask these young horses to do—rein, cut and go down the fence. It takes an athletic and confident horse to achieve all these things and do it at a young age.

It rings true for horses of all ages that when you have confidence in that horse, it also feels more confident. No matter if you’re a Non Pro Limited rider or a Youth going down the fence, consistency and confidence create a stronger partnership with your horse. No matter what, remember that horses are why we show and how we show. We train and work toward a goal, but in the end our horses come first.

This is looking like our largest field of Snaffle Bit Futurity entries yet, and that’s exciting! Have faith that the horse you’ve prepped will put its best effort forward in the show pen because you’ve built a confident athlete.

See you in Fort Worth!

Confidence in your horse can carry you through Futurity season. Corey Cushing, NRCHA president