It may not be rocket science, but the fine art of preparing show horses for their biggest competition of the year must be a well-rehearsed process if the rider is planning to show up to win. With the official start of the American Quarter Horse Congress just four weeks away, thousands of riders around the country are checking their calendars and tweaking their training programs.
The goal? To have the best horse on the day when it really counts.
Perfect Products, LLC caught up with two of their Featured Riders, and asked them how they’re preparing for Congress. Each are at the top of their respective disciplines, and each gave very different answers. Read on:
All Around Master
Bruce Vickery’s biggest goal in the weeks before Congress is to follow the plan he made months back. The world champion All Around and Pleasure trainer picks shows before mid-October to use as a lead up, and keeps his horses on track until they arrive in Ohio. “As far as training, my biggest goal going into the Congress is just planning, as far as making sure that the horses peak at the right time,” Bruce explains. “I stick to my everyday normal regimen, but I add a little more pressure as I get closer to make sure everyone is tuned up right. But nothing too special.”
It’s a modest answer for a rider who has a talent for bringing his horses along to peak at all the right moments. Highlights of his summer show season included six World Championships at NSBA World. Known for his mastery in Trail, Bruce also won the Senior Trail with RL Sudden Image.
Bruce took just one client to the Select World in Amarillo, TX in late August, and made the trip count. Teresa Kohman was named Select World Reserve Champion in Trail with Kat Man Shine. Bruce heads to Congress with a strong group of All Around, Trail, and Pleasure horses, looking to add to the trophy case waiting for him at home in Sanger, TX.
The Hunter Queen
Hunter rider Lainie DeBoer takes a different pre-Congress approach with her stable of decorated AQHA hunters. With at least 10 horses showing at Congress, Lainie uses a handy connection to craft the perfect pre-Congress strategy. She deliberately uses the month before Congress to bring the barn home for four weeks of regrouping. Her home base in Minnesota is a 14-hour drive from Congress, but she is able to avoid shipping straight through and showing the next day via a layover barn that allows the horses to relax and tune up away from the horse show hustle and bustle.
“I’m lucky enough that I have a client who lives 15 minutes from Congress, and we ship in there, turn them out, school them and flat them,” she explains. “We have at least four days there before we move into the show on Friday and get going. We can go in ahead of the horses and set the stalls up, which is nice. Doing a lot of preparation off property gives us enough days to figure out who traveled well and who didn’t, and we can start therapies really early.”
Using cold water and massage therapies before the horses see a show ring helps to keep them in top form, and once she’s at Congress, Lainie and her barn manager double up on the helpful therapies.
“We are feeling pretty good this year about Congress, we have a really, really nice group,” adds Lainie. “The only thing we don’t have this year are green or progressives, but that’s kind of the cycle of it. Next year I’ll have a full boat. I do have a few Congress first-timers, including a wonderful student of mine who just started jumping a few years ago. His name is Jay Cain, he’s 60 years old and it’s been his life’s dream to show at the Congress. So that will be exciting.”
One Thing in Common
Lainie and Bruce are on two different ends of Congress competition, but they have one important element of their preparation program in common. Perfect Products’ equine management formulas are crucial to both riders’ as they bring their horses to the show ring for a big competition. Perfegesic enhances equine comfort without the harmful side effects that bute can have on a sensitive stomach. Because it’s chemical-free and uses only ethical ingredients, Perfegesic can be safely administered all the way through a long show. And by assisting optimum muscle health, Lactalex assists with critical muscle recovery time after a tough class. Lainie in particular notes that Lactalex is a huge asset in preventing sore backs and in helping horses that get muscle-tense to relax and perform with ease.
Best of luck to Bruce, Lainie, and all riders as they perfect their own fine art of preparation when it really counts – at the All American Quarter Horse Congress!
CLICK HERE to find out more about Perfect Products’ elite competition preparation formulas. Preparation is everything, and if done right, the results are limitless.
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