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Sale makes horses prove their worth

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: November 1, 2001

Few people would buy a new car without kicking the tires and taking it for a test drive.

A Calgary show provides the same opportunity for those in the market for a reliable working horse.

“It’s really hard to find good ranch horses,” says Bob Kaufman, a rancher from Brooks, Alta. “I’ve looked from Grande Prairie to Milk River.”

Kaufman works alone on his ranch and needs a reliable, well-broke horse because he prefers to sort and round up cattle on horseback rather than bounce over rough pasture on a quad. He was in Calgary for the fourth annual Ranch Horse Show and Sale, where he competes and buys.

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This is a horse show of a different colour. Horses and riders must perform a series of tasks in eight minutes to show what the animal is capable of in a working situation.

There were 30 horses in this year’s competition, with ages ranging from four to 10 years.

Horses in this show demonstrate that they are easy to catch and that they have been trained for ranch work. They are often ridden by their owners, who must demonstrate the horses’ dexterity and behaviour in various situations.

Horses are loaded into a stock trailer because those that load easily will likely travel easily.

All four feet must be picked up to show the horse co-operates during shoeing.

The bridle is removed and put back on to show judges the horse is not head shy.

It must be able to stop and turn easily to the left and right, as well as pivot and back up.

A steer that is turned into the ring must be moved into a pen and lassoed to show the horse can control cattle.

The show is followed by a sale, which carries a four-day money-back guarantee. Buyers at the Oct. 20 event were looking for proven, well-trained pleasure, work and trail horses.

Ten of the horses at this year’s show originally came from pregnant mare’s urine farms.

The show was sponsored partly by the Kentucky-based North American Equine Ranching Information Council, which is a non-profit association representing 428 PMU farms in Canada and the United States.

The organization doubles the prize money if a NAERIC-registered horse places in the top three. First prize at Calgary was $5,000.

The top three horses were entered by Sid Cook of Nanton, Alta.; Dale and Cheryl Schell of Clearwater, B.C.; and Rory Patten of Buck Lake, Alta. None were NAERIC horses.

About the author

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth has covered many livestock shows and conferences across the continent since 1988. Duckworth had graduated from Lethbridge College’s journalism program in 1974, later earning a degree in communications from the University of Calgary. Duckworth won many awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Association, American Agricultural Editors Association, the North American Agricultural Journalists and the International Agriculture Journalists Association.

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