I know that these terms don’t go together in most peoples minds and I was one of them. The facts are that when a horse has a high play drive and some athletic ability plus a solid foundation many things are possible. When I was first approached about training and showing a Foxtrotter in versatility events I had no idea where it was going to take me. It started out with me training and showing one horse, and my wife and stepdaughter showing a couple of horses who were loaned to us for that show.  That led to us taking seven horses to the spring show in Ava, MO this year. Anybody that knows me knows that I prefer running quarter horses crossed on foundation bred quarter horses. That seems to be a nice mix. Weird how things work out some time.

Little did I know that some of these fox trotters are pretty darn cowy. Some fox trotters can’t ever really figure out where all there feet are at one time, but some of them can. Many of them do have a high play drive and love to push cattle around. Right down to the ear pinning and getting low to the ground just like the cutting horses.

We started riding several of these when Waland and Lynne Burger who own Big Barn Ranch in Stockton MO, approached us about developing and showing some of their horses. After training two others and showing them in the Ranch Horse Versatility classes we thought it might actually be fun.  They had several horses and had no idea what they were suited for, so we just settled in and gave the horses a chance to tell us what they would like to do. Some of them had already been to other more traditional trainers so of course there was baggage to be dealt with. Horses just seem to bloom when a person uses the principles of natural horsemanship on a daily basis. These horses were no different. 

Three of the horses were four-year olds and had little or no show experience. These horses won or placed in all the cow classes so as you can guess, I was very proud of them. My wife, stepdaughter and daughter are always tough to beat so I don’t think there was a class that they didn’t do well in either.

I thought it might be kind of fun to write about some of the horses individually and put up some pictures and video clips, just so you know that I’m not pulling your leg.
 

Want to know more about our philosophy? Check us out at www.forthehorse.org or at www.vaughtsgeneralstore.net  

                                                              Keep it natural,

                                                                 Tony