Horsemen\’s Reunion Wraps Up

The first ever Horsemen’s Reunion hosted the world’s best western horse trainers for six days of colt starting performances, April 2-7 in Paso Robels, California. Canada’s Sid Cook, Mike Sears and Blake Schlosser were invited to partake in this unique event. Over the week, the horsemen were challenged to start a group of two and three year-old, fresh horses. This was not a judged training event, rather a method for spectators to learn and appreciate different forms of starting a young horse.

According these horsemen, it was interesting to see the different colt starting styles of each trainer. While watching standing ring-side was also quite the change for these exceptional cowboys.

“It was different watching the different ways different people handled the horses,” mentions Sid Cook of Nanton, Alberta. “Pretty interesting watching the three Australians and the Neubert guys (Bryan, Luke and Jim) from California were really quick, confident and fast.”

Mike Sears also says he enjoyed watching the Neubert brothers, “They have a tone of energy. Jimmy Nubert, really enjoyed watching them.” The young team of California cowboys were slick and proved to be a slight intimidation for the older generation of horsemen.

According to Cook, the audience was really happy and he saw it as, \”the best event among horsemen. It was very well organized and had something for everyone.” He also mentions there was a large trade show, along with a montage of other horse related events during the training challenge.

The show was produced by Marin Black, Chris Cox and Rawly and Cathie Twisselman. These horsemen say, it presented a great opportunity to be up close with every horseman who has a hand in the industry today.

“The guys that I enjoy watching were all there.” Sears says, “I learned there are a lot of guys out there with different styles and variations of colt starting. The Australian approach was a little bit slower, but the end result was the same. If you knew what you were looking for it would have been very interesting.”

Following the week of training, all the horses were presented for the horse sale April 7th. There were 39, two and three year-olds listed and two horses tied with the top winning bids. The top sellers were a bay gelding ridden by Joe Wolter and a buckskin mare started by Pat Parelli. The sale average was $2,500.

This trio of Canada’s horsemen, were thrilled to be a part of California gathering and mention they\’d be happy if phone rings again next year, inviting them all back.

Here is an great interview done by the Western Horseman Magazine, with Blake Schlosser…