Three trainers from across the Prairies square off as they work in front of a crowd to train a horse in only four days
Dustin Sippola from Nanton, Alta., won the Trainer Challenge during the 10th annual Equine Expo held in Saskatoon Oct. 27-30.
“He was kind of the front-runner all the way through,” said Ron Hoffman, one of three judges.
“He was more experienced at these kind of competitions, knew what he had to do and executed very well,” said Hoffman.
“That’s that experience thing. You can train a horse at home and it takes as long as it takes. But in this scenario (trainer challenge) you’ve got four days to get a whole lot of things done so you can’t wait around. You have to go.”
Braden Bernier from Red Deer Hill, Sask., received a warm round of applause from the audience for his showmanship, although all three participants appealed to spectators.
Sippola also won the draw on the first day and had first pick of the three fillies. However, that did not impact the competition as much as other trainer challenges from past years, said Hoffman.
“They (fillies) were pretty close. They were maybe as evenly matched as any year that we’ve ever had,” he said.
According to the show program, Sippola grew up on the family ranch west of Nanton.
“His riding mentor, Sid Cook, gave him a solid foundation with horses and life. After high school, Dustin headed west to work on the Gang Ranch, where he worked his way up to being cow boss. Dustin loves watching and feeling the changes that take place within a horse as he works with it — fascinated with seeing just how little or how much it takes to make that change happen.”
As it has done each year for the past decade, Diamond K Ranch of Corning, Sask., provided three-year-old fillies that are only halter broke for the competition.
