Post by Melody Garner-Skiba
Rocking Heart Ranch

Every day each of us gets a little older. It does not matter what industry you work in or what job you do, days go by so quickly and none of us get any younger. This is especially important to remember if you want to ensure your way of life, your business, and your passion will continue long after you are gone. The horse industry is not immune to this circle and unless we get our kids to exchange remotes for a set of reins, we could find ourselves in a bit of a conundrum down the road.

It is with this potential pitfall down the road, that our ranch started to work on a vision of getting Youth Back in the Saddle several years ago. Our mission is to encourage up and comers of all ages to get involved in the industry and contribute to ensuring this way of life that we all love will be around for future generations. One of the projects that our ranch is undertaking to meet this vision, is our 60-day Colt Starting Challenge. This challenge focuses on promoting up and coming trainers who are trying to ensure that people of all ages get back into the saddle and stay in the saddle!

This year the challenge is taking place on September 15th at Midnight Stadium in Fort Macleod. 10 up and coming trainers will showcase their work they have put on 10 of our three-year old American Quarter Horses for the last 60 days. At the end of it, we will crown one of them as Trainer of the Year.

However, that is just a small piece in this larger vision! What we really want to do, is to provide these trainers with enough referral business over the next few years to keep them training horses and engaged in the industry as we pass it on to the next generation. In turn, these great trainers will be able to provide people with well started and broke horses that will mean they can bring their kids, grandkids, and maybe even the neighbors kids outdoors or into the arena and get a pair of reins in their hands instead of a remote. Would it not be great if you had a horse that you could invite your friends kids out that live in the city for a day of riding, would that not be a step in the right direction of getting people involved in the industry…..

We believe that if we can continue to encourage and help these young guns, we can make a difference in encouraging people to exchange their remotes for reins. If we all worked together on this we could ensure that we have a horse industry around for many more years. That is something I would love to see. So, with this vision of getting youth back in the saddle, I invite you to the Rocking Heart Ranch Colt Starting Challenge on September 15 th at Midnight Stadium in Fort Macleod starting at 1pm, but doors
open at noon. Come on down and see the next generation of this industry and let us all help them encourage others to exchange remotes for reins!

With much hope for a great future,
Melody Garner-Skiba
Rocking Heart Ranch.