Trainer Robert Smith of RJS Quarter Horses, Palominos, and Paints located in Glendale, Arizona started showing horses when he was 15 years-old. His first show was the Men’s Western Pleasure at a local Georgia open show when he worked for the late Kiff Parrish. Smith has come a long way since then.
“I enjoy finding yearlings and starting prospects from scratch as two-year-olds,” Robert told the GoHorseShow.com. “I love horses, enjoy competing and developing friendships all over the country.”
A native of Georgia, at the age of ten, Robert started working for Kiff Parrish cleaning stalls and lunging horses everyday after school and on the weekends. After high school, Parrish decided that Robert had enough talent to be a horse trainer, and he spent 19 years working for Parrish. Robert said he enjoyed growing up and working with Brett and Brook Parrish and says he still feels like a brother to both siblings.
“Kiff was like a drill sergeant, but I learned a lot from him,” Robert recalls and laughs. “He was my role model, and I wanted to be just like him because everyone seemed to respect and look up to him.”
Smith rode and broke many outstanding horses over the years including: Reds Double Sunny, Panners Pride, Bears Raisin Cane–mother to Invitation Only, and Annie Two Bars to name a few.
At the age of 30, Smith went out on his own. “I remember Kiff telling me that I could always come back home if I didn’t make it on my own,” Robert fondly recalls. But, Smith never looked back. Smith moved to North Florida and started his own training operation that was a success before picking up his operation in 2006 and moving all the way to the West Coast. Smith now has a great group of clients in Arizona and California.
A client of Robert Smith, Anna Pederson, says she has been showing horses on and off for over thirty years. Pederson competes in the Novice Amateur Hunter Under Saddle and Western Pleasure on the paint circuit. “He is the kindest trainer I have ever met,” Pederson tells GoHorseShow. “He is also the most patient person with animals and clients. In a competitive show world, most forget that loving horses is what brought them into the industry. He would rather take his time and train properly than use cruel tactics to win for a client or himself.”
Before going to the Reichert Sale in 2010, he met Chris Coles, and he thought she’d make a great client. He introduced her and educated her about the horse show world and training young prospects. After arriving in Tulsa, Clarice Cooper approached Smith and told him she had a great yearling that would work for him. Smith purchased, Hes Berry Blazin (Troy) for Chris, a Palomino yearling stallion by Blazing Hot out of Miss Strawberry Walker, a multi-world champion producer, at the Reichert Sale.
“After watching him for about two minutes in the round pen, I knew I had to buy him,” Robert recalls. “I purchased him before he went through the sale to guarantee I would be bringing him home. Troy has a great mind and disposition, and he took right to his job.”
Horse breeder Clarice Cooper said she got to know Robert when he lived in Georgia and Florida. “He was great to work with,” she tells GoHorseShow. “He is a really nice guy and has a great eye for horses.”
At the Palomino World Championship Show last July, Robert and his gorgeous Palomino stallion, Hes Berry Blazin (Troy), was Reserve World Champions in the Two Year-Old Western Pleasure. Smith and Troy were also Reserve Intermediate Color Champions at the Reichert Celebration.
Smith recently moved into Coles’ new facility, Sundancer Stables, which is a multi-disciplinary barn that includes western pleasure, as well as dressage and jumping located in Glendale, Arizona.
Both Chris and Robert are currently busy working on several different projects–involving horses and building barns to name a few. Their current plans are to campaign, Hes Berry Blazin, this year and then breed him as a four year-old. Watch out for them at the PHBA World Show and Reichert this year. Also, stay tuned and look out for their new Lazy Loper, Lazy Butt Perfect, in the Two-Year-Old futurities this upcoming futurity season!
