More Than the Score

This year’s The Run For A Million gave Western performance horse fans plenty to talk about—and gave a national audience a look at our sport at its very best.

If you watched the event on CBS, or were lucky enough to witness it in person, you saw what those of us who follow Western performance horses already know: This sport is exciting. It’s athletic. And the level of horsemanship required to compete at the highest level deserves a much bigger audience.

Seeing The Run For A Million reach a national television audience felt like an important moment for our industry. Events like this have helped put reining—and Western performance sports as a whole—in front of people who may have never watched a sliding stop or spin before. And this year, they couldn’t have picked a better one to watch.

Raising the Bar at The Run For A Million

Kole Price and Golden Coins won the million-dollar event, setting a new record for the highest score ever seen in reining history. The previous mark had stood since 2007, when Andrea Fappani scored a 236.5 aboard Custom Legend at the NRBC Open Derby.

Their jaw-dropping performance earned a 237.5, shattering the longtime record and raising the bar for reining once again. For a horse-and-rider team that has been so consistently competitive these last few years—and for Price, who has now won The Run For A Million twice—it was an incredible moment to witness.

But the numbers only tell part of the story.

Behind those scores are exceptional equine athletes and horsemen and -women who have spent years learning how to get the best from them. Watching so many great runs this year reminded me that the highest levels of competition are ultimately built on something much more fundamental: knowing your horse.

Know Your Horse

That same idea runs throughout this issue.

Sometimes knowing your horse means paying attention to something as ordinary as his manure and recognizing when it changes. It means taking an honest look at his body condition before winter arrives. And sometimes it means rethinking what we call “respect” and taking the time to understand how your horse thinks.

But good horsemanship also requires understanding ourselves.

In “Back in the Saddle” we talked with three riders who have faced major injuries and horse-related accidents about what it takes to return physically and mentally. Healing your body is one thing. Rebuilding the confidence to swing a leg back over a horse when your brain remembers exactly what happened is another.

Whether you’re chasing a record-breaking score, rebuilding your confidence after an accident, trying to better understand the horse in front of you, or simply making sure your senior is prepared for winter, good horsemanship starts in much the same place: paying attention.

Beyond the Bright Lights

And while the CBS broadcast gave viewers a chance to experience some of the biggest moments from The Run For A Million, there are many more stories behind those runs. At Performance Report (page 4), you can meet the winners, revisit the history-making performances, and read the stories of the horses and riders who made this year’s event one to remember.

You can reach Nichole Chirico at nchirico@equinenetwork.com.