By Brent Wright

One way or another you made it through the NRHA Futurity. For better or worse, richer or poorer, the Futurity is a done deal.  With the New Year dawning, you're probably now steering your soon to be four year old towards the next major money event in his career.

For many people this means the NRHA Derby in May and possibly the NRBC in April if your horse is eligible. For 4,5, and 6 year old reining horses, these two events may not have as many competitors or a purse as big as the Futurity, but they are every bit as tough.

I personally think reining horses at that age are at the top of their game both physically and mentally. And because of that, the runs at those aged events are often the most physical of any we see in the reining industry.  So if you want to pull a check at the Derby or the NRBC, you will have to run harder and turn it up a notch after the futurity.

So just how do you make the most of those months between the futurity and the derbies? The key is to allow enough time for your three year old to recover from the futurity, while still increasing his level of performance.

A little R+R

No two ways about it, the three-year-old year is probably the toughest in every reining horse’s life. We expect a lot from those three year olds, and by the time the big futurity rolls around, it can be a tremendous amount of pressure for a young horse. Because of that, I always make a point of giving my futurity horses time off after the futurity.  After my last go at the futurity, I don’t saddle them again until they have had a chance to fully recover both mentally and physically.

The amount of time I give each horse off varies. If I thought a horse was pretty solid at the futurity, I might give them six weeks off.  Or if I felt like we have some major problems to deal with, I might start earlier. But it seems like a month is usually the standard. 

During that break, I make their mental and physical heath priority number one. These are always important elements of my training program, but during this time they become the only elements. Every horse is probably going to have some bumps and bruises and sore places after the futurity, and giving them that time off really lets them heal fully. I also pull their shoes and turn them out every day as well. I figure they have just been through a pretty hard year, and they need to blow off some steam and relax. They sill get handled everyday when blanket them and turn them out, but other than that they are left alone so they can just be a horse for a while.
   

Break's Over

When I first start working my four year olds after their lay-off, I mainly focus on getting them back in shape before I start asking them to do any maneuvers again. It takes a lot of strength to run, stop and spin and if a horse isn’t legged up enough to withstand that stress on their muscles and ligaments, you are just asking for trouble.  So those first couple weeks, I ease them back into the training routine by just loping and galloping them around.  Steering and lead changes are things I brush up on while the horse is getting back in shape. Then once they are back in shape, I start back on turnarounds and stops. In the turnarounds, I spend a lot of time at first just working at medium speed and making sure the mechanics are correct and that the horse is relaxed and soft in his face. 

My indoor arena isn’t really big enough to stop in, but by the time the horses are legged up enough to start doing the maneuvers, it is the end of February and we are back outside.  Stopping is a major part of every reining horse’s training program.  But even when I am at the peak of show season before the futurity, I don’t normally run and stop my horses hard every day. I like to keep my horses craving that stop, and I have found that if you go to running and stopping them hard every day, they get burned out and sore. When I am bringing a horse back after a layoff, I start back at a lower level.  I might lope fence to fence quietly and stop, concentrating on the fundamentals of running straight and staying soft in the face, and speed control. If I do stop away from the fence, it is at half speed or 2/3 speed.  Then when things are back in full swing, I use that same formula on off days that I don’t run and stop them at full throttle.

It's always amazing to me how after that long layoff, the horses don’t seem like they really lose anything as far as their training is concerned. You would think that things would decline quite a bit after such a long break. But in my experience, just the opposite happens because they really mature between the futurity and the spring of their four year old year. They mature both mentally and physically, and once they are legged up again in the spring everything always seems much easier for them. 

Back to School

Perhaps the most crucial element in making it to those derbies in good shape is undoing all the show pen problems that have been created at the Futurity. Because lets be honest, the Futurity comes around once in every reining horse’s career, and we all really want to make those finals. If you want to make those finals and earn a check, you have to lay down everything your horse has to offer. You also can’t be fixing things and trying to make everything perfect. Instead you have to put your hand down, and show. The result of all this is that those three year olds get shown hard several times, and they may start to learn that they can get away with little things that we have to ride through in order to get them shown.  They may start to get strong on their rundowns, cheat you through the middle or some other variation.  So I almost think of the Futurity as an end in itself. It isn’t really, but I do what I can to make it to the finals, and in the back of my mind I make a commitment to spend some time fixing things afterwards.

So how do you fix those show pen problems that were created at the Futurity? Schooling runs, plain and simple. You can fix on things all you want at home, but you really have to get those four year olds in a show atmosphere, test them, and fix any problems that come up.

I typically go to several schooling shows in the spring before the NRBC, because the last thing the four year olds remember if they were in the futurity is running hard every time they entered the pen. That is in the back of their mind and it stays there until they have another show pen experience to replace it. So the long and the short of it is that you have to go back in there and show them that they can go in the show pen and show quiet, and that it isn’t always a big deal. Those good-minded horses usually are pretty good about coming back. 

The main thing to remember about schooling is that you want to keep them quiet, but that you want them to think that they are really being shown. To do this, I try to build a little fire, and then let them relax. So if I am schooling and it is a walk in pattern, I will probably walk to the middle and sit there a little bit, and let them know that they need to wait for things. Then I might start my circles, put my hand down and give them the opportunity to run or see if they want to be a little rowdy. If they are, I will pull them around or check them and make them back off and go slow. 

I just take it part by part and fix any problems. If they want to burst down to their stops, I will pull them in the ground or at least pick my hand up and make them come back to me and stay soft in their face. In those rundowns and fast circles, I want them to be waiting on me so that I have to push them for that added speed. If there is any fidget in them in the middle of the pen from the futurity, I will do a lot of just sitting on them. I also will mix things up, like turning almost full speed and then loping off into a soft set of circles. In an overall sense, it is important that you don’t school so aggressively that you make even more problems than you started with. Put them on the edge, let them get in trouble, and then show them where they should be. That will make a truly confident and honest show horse.

If I am schooling at a quarter horse show, I might lope them through the pattern easy, while still trying to gets some points to qualify for the world show. Those real soft runs don’t hurt, and if anything they just add to the longevity of your horse. If my agenda is to school and get points, I will stay on pattern but still fix on them in a minor way if possible. For example, if I am circling and a horse drops a shoulder, I just pick them up in the bridle and fix them. You can handle them some in those runs and still win points.

It depends on how bad or good things are, but I will usually do several schooling runs. If I am going to school without trying for points, I try to be respectful of the judge and my fellow competitors. I might wave on the way in, and let the judge know that I am going to school.  I also try not to take more time that a normal pattern would. I think most judges, especially if they are trainers or competitors, are good about letting you school, because they know that you have to do it sometime if you are going to keep you horse maintained. 

Turn it up

 
Now that your four year old is legged up and has been tuned in the show pen, it is time to start stepping things up as the derbies approach. At this time, my goal becomes making my horses confident that I can ask for maneuvers harder and that they can do things more aggressively without it being a big ordeal.

They now need to make that transition to running, stopping and turning harder so they can be competitive with the older horses they are going to be showing against.  To do this, I start challenging them to a higher level. Not every day, but maybe once or twice a week I step it up and try to raise their tolerance level higher that it was before the futurity. To avoid burnout, I don’t ask them for their life every day. I just alternate back and forth between maintenance rides and test rides.  Now that those four year olds have the added maturity, it should be just like another day at the office. 

Up to the Test

 
By the time I lay my horses off after the Futurity and get them back in shape, it always seems like there is not much time to get them ready for Derby or especially the NRBC since it is earlier in April.  Yet I am always amazed at how much that added maturity helps out. If you did your homework and got your horse broke, and you keep things quiet and consistent, you should be able to get your horse to that next level of ability without a major setback. 

However, not every horse will make this transition in time.  For some horses, it is not in their best interest to show them at those major events their 4-year-old year.  Every horse is an individual, and some just aren’t ready for that next level.  As a three year old, a horse might be really broke and talented, but not very physical. As such, he still might make the Futurity finals and pull a check in large part because he is simply broker that the competition. But that same horse might get lost in the shuffle as a 4 year old, and have a lot of runs taken out of him before he is ready to be at that level.  But if you give that horse some time off and let him mature without taking any runs out of him, he might be a great 5 and 6 year old derby horse and earn a lot more money.

In my mind, if a horse can’t +1 every maneuver at home, they probably aren’t going to be able to do very well in the Open derbies. In the Non Pro, they need to +1/2 every maneuver. So on those four year olds that aren’t making the transition to the derby level very well, it might behoove the owner to wait and show the horse as a 5 year old, instead of using them up as a 4 year old while not pulling many checks.

It's a mental thing too. Horses have got to be sound enough mentally to take the added pressure, and some are aren’t able to do that until they are 5. For example, I have a mare that will be a 5 year old when I show her next. She was shown her three-year-old year, and was about as physically talented as any horse I have ever had. But she couldn’t quite handle the pressure mentally. So we gave her some time off, then rode her as a 4 year old, but never showed her that that year. Now that she is more mature and better equipped to handle the pressure, I wouldn’t be surprised if she went on to make a great show horse.

In the end, I think adding 6 year olds to the Derby and the NRBC will allow owners to pay attention to what is best for their horses and their show career. Our horses will last longer, and there also will be a better market for those 6 year olds.  I also think that adding the 6 year olds will serve to increase the purses and the numbers, but we won’t see a big change in the quality of runs because it is already so competitive.


About Brent Wright
With over $1,058,000 in NRHA earnings, Brent Wright's list of wins includes placing 3rd at the 1999 NRHA Open Futurity on Custom Red Berry, a mare he then rode to the 2001 NRHA Open Derby Championship. In 2001, Wright rode Custom Pistol to the Congress Open Futurity Co-Championship, and the NRHA Open Futurity Reserve Championship after tying to win. He also won the 2002 NRBC Open Reserve Championship and the 2002 NRHA Open Derby on Custom Pistol. That same year, Brent rode Custom Mahogany to the NRHA Open Futurity Reserve Championship. In 2007 Brent made the NRHA Open finals on all three of his mounts, and became one of NRHA’s few $1 Million dollar riders in 2008. Brent and his wife Jan live in Ottawa, Kansas, where they own and operate Brent Wright Reining Horses. You can learn more at: www.brentwrightreining.com.