Welcome!
• Home • FAQs
• Site Map
Weather
• Contacts
Free Service Appreciation
Choose Pondside Web Productions for your hosting and web design needs!

Good genes, great horses: Daughter follows dad into cutting arena

July 14, 2010

Calgary, AB --- Now 14, Emma Reinhardt has learned to ride cutting horses from one of the best. Her father Doug Reinhardt, after apprenticing with regional guru Roger Heintz, has been a trainer for 20 years in Irricana, Alta., riding and showing at Canada’s most prestigious performance events.

So, Emma, let’s cut to the chase. Who’s the better teacher — your equine companions, or dear old dad?

“I’d say the horses,” grinned Emma, to the good-natured guffaws of Doug. “They’re old enough. They’ve done it forever, and they know what they’re doing. But Dad’s definitely second.”

After skipping last year’s show, Doug and Emma Reinhardt are back in the saddle at the Calgary Stampede’s 38th annual Cutting Horse Competition, which for the second straight year is a participating event on the Fort Worth, Texas-based National Cutting Horse Association’s Mercuria/NCHA World Series of Cutting. The marquee Stampede show, with a total prize purse of nearly $80,000, wraps up Thursday, July 15 with division finals under the Big Top, starting at 5 p.m. Both Doug and Emma have made the final cut– father in the Open division on Reyligious, owned by Calgary’s Bill Jani, and daughter in the Youth division aboard Kit Date, owned by Ken Christensen of Okotoks, Alta.

Wednesday at the Big Top, the 33 Open entries fought it out for the 11 spots in Thursday’s final, while the dozen Youth teams had their second go-round, with all 13 already assured a spot in the final. Emma is hunting for her second Bill Collins Youth Excellence Award as the Stampede’s Youth champion, after winning in 2008, and Doug – who’s scored 433 points on Reyligious over two performances this week –couldn’t be prouder.

“When kids get to ride such well-trained horses, they learn how to do things properly. From Day 1, there are no bad habits,” said Doug. “They come out of the herd real smooth; they’re not rough. They’re starting in the middle of the cow, and they know where they’re supposed to be to start a run. When you see some amateur riders just starting out, they’re off to one side, or they pick a used cow. Because of their steady progression, the kids give themselves a chance.”

The sport of cutting shines a spotlight on the pure athleticism, instinct, agility and intelligence of the cutting horse. With horse-and-rider teams attempting to cut at least three individual cows out of a herd within 150 seconds, cutting has evolved into one of the most exciting equine events in North America. The Stampede’s four-day cutting competition, which began Monday, July 12 at the Okotoks Agricultural Society, is the sixth event on this year’s Mercuria/NCHA World Series, which has expanded to eight stops from its original four-city tour in 2009. Because of the World Series’ involvement, the Stampede’s Cutting Horse Competition will feature $25,000 in added money in each of the Open and Non-Pro divisions.

Thursday’s finals get underway at 5 p.m., starting with the Open division, following with Youth, and concluding with Non-Pro.

The Open class features the top-notch riding talent of the trainers and professional cutters, while Non-Pro is reserved for riders who make no part of their income training cutting horses, and can only show horses owned by themselves or immediate family members.

Doug and Emma warmed up for the Stampede by participating in the Canadian Cutting Horse Association’s (CCHA) national finals in April at Olds, where Doug made the $3,000 Novice final with BSF Short Edition and Emma was third in Junior Youth on Kit Date. Doug Reinhardt, who trains cutting horses for anywhere between 12 and 15 clients at a time, was back-to-back Open Futurity champ at the 2007 and ’08 editions of the Calgary Stampede’s Cutting Horse Futurity, and won the Open Derby division at the ’09 Stampede futurity. But he’s not one to turn up with the same finished horse of a client at all the premier shows.

“In my program, I get to keep ‘em until they’re about four, and then, if they’re really good, their owners start riding them,” said Doug, who’s been a finalist at the Canadian Supreme in Red Deer and the NCHA’s Western National Championships ($10,000 Novice) in Ogden, Utah. “Baleena Cat (owned by Dean Ness of Lougheed, Alta.) is about the only horse I’ve had recently where I’ve kept riding her from the time she was four to seven. There’s always more horses coming up.”

Also qualifying for Thursday’s Open final, and its $37,408 prize purse, were: defending champions Les Timmons of Kamloops, B.C., and Smart Frele Cat, with a 448.5 score through two outings; Tom Lyons of Grandview, Texas, on Thomas E Hughes (442); Will Nuttall of Red Lodge, Mont., on CDs Secret (439.5); Kevin Baumann of Red Deer aboard No Guns in the Bar (436); Loren Christianson of Stony Plain, Alta., and Annies Cat (435); Brad Pedersen of Lacombe, Alta., and Hicks First Player (435); Dave Batty of Vernon, B.C., on CD Peptofilly (434.5); Guy Heintz of High River, Alta., aboard Dually Playboy Bunny (432.5); Dustin Gonnet of Cayley, Alta., and Christanis Blue (432); and Nuttall on Chipotle Cat (432).

Thursday’s 12 Non-Pro finalists were set Tuesday afternoon after the division’s second go-round. Competing for a purse of $42,296 will be: Baumann on No Guns in the Bar (440.5); Dan Hansen of Nampa, Ida., aboard Woody Be Lucky (440); Fallon Nuttall of Red Lodge, Mont., on Shortys Royal Blue (438); Calgary’s David Anderson aboard CD Peptofilly (436.5); Don Boone of West Columbia, Texas, on Copaspepto (434.5); Ken Zender of Spruce Grove, Alta., aboard Lectric Brakes (434); Jackie Kjos of Fort St. John, B.C., on Lena Docs Knight (433.5); Karen Hansen of Nampa, Ida., aboard Pepcorn (431); Brenda Batty of Vernon, B.C., on Cat Sousasan (429.5); Daniel Jaeggi, of Geneva, Switzerland, aboard Bobs Rocky Lady (429); Rob Leman of High River, Alta., on Lizzys Play Girl (429); and Valerie Martin of Kamloops, B.C., aboard High Heel Kitty (428).

To July 2010 News Articles Index | To British Columbia Equine ...On-Line Home