Northernhorse.com Blog

The Trainers Challenge at the Mane Event in Red Deer continued Saturday with the trainers each having two round pen sessions with their horses. At the end of the day they all declared satisfaction with the progress they had been able to make with the two-year-old fillies.

“The horse is pretty nice. She’s gentle, she’s willing,” said Steve Rother about Shay, noting that his biggest challenge was getting her to free off her left shoulder.

“What I’ve noticed in these kinds of pens and with the crowds, they will hold on to something real simple like that as kind of their protection. You won’t see them tear around and buck and flee but they will get real quiet and push one spot as their kind of vice,” said Rother. During the second session he brought in a large rubber ball and bounced it off her and played with her. “I just tried to help cool her mind out and get her really relaxed and soft.”

“I’ve never really pressured her but I have pushed her at times. She’s had to try hard sometimes and she’s come through,” Rother added, saying Sunday morning’s training session would be a review and a rehearsal for the afternoon Finals. “I’m hoping that her mind is sound enough that she can just be a champ out there.”

Jon Ensign said at the end of his two sessions that he felt he was a little behind on things with Jose. “But it’s really not about a competition for me. It’s about the horse, and she’s in about the best place I can get her in right now,” he said. He acknowledged that his horse was taking a little more time than the other two being trained, as she seemed to be a little more sensitive. “It’s a good thing. I don’t want to take that away from her at all, so I have to just try to get her to a spot where I can just deal with it, ” he said. “I’m just taking my time.”

In the first session of the day Ensign mounted his horse and moved her hind quarters left and right and got off her and took the saddle off. He saddled her again early in the second session and did some of the finals elements such as walking over a bridge and walk and trot, though she wasn’t ready to lope, he said. “Maybe tomorrow she’ll be a little better. She gave me all she could give me today, so I’m well pleased with her.” About working with her in the big arena in the Finals, he said, “It may help me. It may give me some more room to get her feet going.”

Ensign, making his first appearance at the Mane Event, remarked on how friendly everyone has been. “I’ve been having a great time. It will be sad when it’s over.”

By the end of his second session with Remedy, Craig Cameron had her loping in both directions and dragging a log, two of the required elements in the Finals. “I’m just going at the horse’s pace and presenting things in a way she can understand, and giving her the time she needs to understand,” he said.

“She’s coming across real nice.”

Although Remedy bucked when Cameron first placed a saddle on her, he told the crowd that he lets a horse buck to make them realize they don’t need to buck. “A lot of the time they aren’t quite sure what you want so that’s when a cowboy slows down, and if you’re effective in the way you present it, these ponies won’t let you down. She’s not letting me down now.”

As for his last session Sunday before the Finals, Cameron said, “I’m pretty well prepared at this point. I’ll re-establish my trust and my confidence and the respect that is going in both directions from her to me and from me to her”.

Besides learning from what they are seeing happening in the round pen spectators are treated to the unmistakable voice and insights of Hugh McLennan, the voice of the Spirit of the West radio program. His good-natured ribbing and banter with the trainers in the ring, as he monitors the time allotted for each session, keeps the audience entertained.

The trainers will have one more opportunity in the round pen Sunday morning to prepare their horses for the final test in the larger arena later in the day. The champion will receive a special edition bronze trophy designed for the Mane Event by Diane Anderson of Tymark Studios.