by Christine Sweet

After watching Gary Putman’s reining demonstration at The Mane Event in Red Deer April 27 to 29 and talking to him about the sport, I am hooked!

Gary Putman has done a lot for the reining world. He is a founding member and has served on the board of the National Reining Breeders Classic. He’s an accomplished trainer and competitor in reining, working cow horse, heading, heeling, and tie-down roping. He is also an accredited judge for the National Reining Horse Association and the National Reined Cow Horse Association.
continue reading "Gary Putman at The Mane Event"

Steve Rother of Oregon was presented with the Trainers’ Challenge trophy April 29 after showing he had produced a trained and willing horse at the Challenge Finals, a three-year-old mare he had met only two-and-a-half days earlier.

It is a unique format that has become the signature event of The Mane Event, which made its Alberta debut this year at Westerner Park April 27 to 29.

“I’m really happy that my horse did so well,” said Rother. “She worked things through and came out good.”
continue reading "Trainers’ Challenge Crowns a Champion"

The final leg of the 2006 Canadian Performance Futurity classes were run with dressage and hunter classes held during the International Horse Show at the Thunderbird Show Park in Langley, British Columbia.

The Thunderbird International Show is an Indoor show that features multiple disciplines such as hunter, dressage and show jumping. It is also host to several qualifiers and championships, and drew contestants from the lower mainland, Vancouver Island, and the British Columbia interior.
continue reading "Canadian Performance Futurity Wraps up First Year"

by Roxanne Sapergia

Every November 2006, Edmonton, AB, hosts one of Canada’s premier livestock events. Farmfair International is a showcase for livestock where buyers, sellers, exhibitors, and spectators are treated to a vast array of events, demonstrations, sales and entertainment.

For the past two years, Farmfair International has added a Heritage Ranch Rodeo and a Working Cow Horse Competition to its ever-increasing lineup of equine events. With an increase in interest and prize money, this year’s contests were both entertaining and exciting as riders fought their way to the top of the leader board.
continue reading "Farmfair International 2006: Working Cow Horse & Heritage Ranch Rodeo"

by Jan Mansfield

A capacity crowd was on hand recently for the exciting finish to the Trainers’ Challenge, just one of the events on the closing day of The Mane Event in Chilliwack, BC, that drew clinicians, exhibitors, and spectators from across North America.

All three trainers had their work cut out for them when they took on the challenge of working with three un-broke two-year-old colts. Introduced to their equine partners only two days earlier, their final session in the main arena came down to which horse would be able to cope with the surroundings the easiest.
continue reading "Trainers’ Challenge draws capacity crowd"

From its modest beginnings that, 25 years ago, attracted approximately 60 attendees to a breeder specific meeting prior to the University of Calgary’s two-day horse program, the Horse Breeders and Owners Conference (HBOC) has grown to a world-class event that attracts well over 700 equine enthusiasts each year.

“As I remember, the conference started because those in the breeding business wanted an education program that met their educational needs,” says Bob Coleman, associate professor and extension horse specialist at the University of Kentucky, and one of the original members of the organizing committee.
continue reading "Equine Conference Celebrates 25 years (2006)"