Hi everyone,
Still high from this weekend's Road to the Horse colt-starting competition in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The fans were just incredible. Returning champ, Chris Cox, went up against Ken McNabb, Tommy Garland, and the "mystery clinician," Mike Kevil. When all was said and done, Chris won it again. But don't think it was easy. I'll leave all the details for press releases and magazine articles that are surely being written even as I type this. There were some major turnarounds in both good and not-so-good ways, and that made for lots of excitement. Each of the guys did an outstanding job. Each of them got a standing ovation at one time or another. And of course, I learned something from each of them.
On a different note, we sold lots of copies of my new book and some people read it immediately. I got lots of positive feedback. Ken McNabb even told the whole audience that I'd kept him up half the night. That was a big endorsement.
I'm off to the airport. More later.
Rick
4 comments:
Great job at the event Rick! Really enjoyed the show. All the clinicians were great. I really thought Tommy Garland should have won but I can see where the argument for Chris could be made. I'd like to see the score cards and see where the judges seperated the two. Can't wait til next year.
Thanks, James! I knew what Chris was capable of, so he didn't surprise me. Tommy blew me away. I think he made his horse seem easier than it was. Ken and Mike both got lots of points in my book for hanging in there when things got tough. Mike's performance, especially with his demo horse, RD, knocked me out, and I'm planning on doing some serious riding with him soon.
R
Great job at the Road to the Horse. This was my family's first time to attend and we all loved it. We all learned so much. We have quarter horses and Icelandic horses, and have been using natural horsemanship in training them for the last 9 months. We felt any one of the clinicians could win, and were amazed at their work with their horse. Our question concerns the comment on the Road to the Horse media release that said Cox was the under dog going into day 2. It seemed to us that he was ahead of the others, or tied with Garland. What did we miss, and what was the basis for the comment. We'd appreciate your help.
PS. My husband loves your book! He doesn't feel so alone in his horse journey now!
Marty, glad you enjoyed the event.
I didn't see the media release but I think it was referring to Chris's "time out" at the beginning of day two. The rules require that each round pen session have a total of 10 minutes where the trainer leaves the pen and allows the horse to rest. Chris had taken less than 5 minutes when time started running out on him on day one. He had the choice of stopping his training at a bad place or continuing to the buzzer and taking a penalty. He took the penalty. The judges ruled that he had to give 10 minutes (double his shortfall) back to his horse at the beginning of day two. I thought that was reasonable. Bear in mind that the judges may have marked him up or down on that training decision in their scoring. Incidentally, neither I nor the judges are privvy to any details on the scoring. We only know what the public knows: who came out on top.
Tell your husband thanks for the kind words on my new book. I told Diana and she teared up. It's so nice to make a difference.
BTW, Diana has an Icelandic mare and is completely crazy about her!
Best,
R
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