NATIONAL REINING HORSE ASSOCIATION CZECH, Z.S.

Czech Reining Reborn

During COVID, when everything came to a standstill, a group of reining enthusiasts came together to bring the Czech NRHA affiliate back to life. The affiliate had been founded in the early 2000s, but soon dispersed for various reasons and Czech reiners had to travel abroad to show in NRHAapproved events.

In 2020, when NRHA Czech was reborn, Czech reiners had the opportunity to show in their home country as the second generation of reining enthusiasts took over the reins.

Founded by a group of reining matadors – from quarter horse breeders, past reining champion owners, to NRHA Professionals – in 2020 NRHA Czech was established thanks to the supporters of the affiliate and its program. Amongst them was NRHA Professional Jonáš Bujnoch who currently serves as the Sports Manager of the affiliate.

“The idea to renew NRHA Czech came after several years of traveling to other countries such as Austria and Poland to qualify for the 2017 NRHA European Affiliate Championship (EAC) held at Roleski Ranch in Poland. We realized we had quite a few Czech riders competing outside the country so we started thinking about how we could proceed to create our own affiliate.” In the fall of 2019, at Roleski Ranch, Jonáš and a few other Czech trainers and horse owners sat down to put together a plan. “It took us a couple of months to do the paperwork and communicate with NRHA, but the following year, we had a running affiliate and two shows scheduled.”

The idea came just in time as in late 2019 the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) announced reining was no longer recognized as a non-Olympic discipline. Bujnoch explains: “Some of our clients showed in Czech Equestrian Federation (CJF) shows; since our NF was under FEI, this meant that we would have fewer reining shows in our country and reinforced the decision to create an affiliate in order to host NRHA sanctioned shows in our country providing more reining shows to attend.” The first season was during the toughest year for the equine industry. In the beginning, the plan was to have three shows, but due to COVID, the last one in the fall was canceled. “Of course, people were unsure of the situation, so we didn’t have very many members to start with as they didn’t want to pay the membership just for one show. No one knew if we would be able to put on another one that year so we started slowly; in spite of that, the first show in Kozlovice was a huge success and I think all competitors enjoyed it.”

After the first season, NRHA Czech recognized the top 10 riders in 10 classes with year-end awards in order to motivate riders to compete at more shows over the season, and to be eligible for the awards, riders have to take part in at least three shows. In 2021, NRHA CZECH members were close to 80, and the membership keeps growing.

“We now plan several Rookie Days during the year where non-members are able to participate and, at NRHA Czech shows, we offer classes that are not only for members such as Any Horse/Any Rider, Green Rider, etc. The goal is to attract more riders to show in these reining classes with their horses or with horses they do not own. We now host Czech shows in Slovakia and Poland to make it easier for people to show in their own region. We want to open the door to first-time reiners as well and show everyone what reining is about and why so many people around the world love it.”

Bujnoch has a clear vision for the future: “My wish is to bring our shows to a level where more international riders will participate. We would like to keep the four shows we have now and finish the season strong with a derby or maturity making the shows more attractive.”

Jonáš concludes by thanking all the supporters of NRHA Czech. “We are very fortunate to have many significant sponsors and supporters of our affiliate and its shows. Some are horse owners and breeders, some are not even from the industry, but they are big fans of the sport. We are very thankful for their contribution.”

By Marie Klimova