It’s a new year, and it seems like everyone is planning on an even better year than 2021.
We spoke to several NRHA Members to find out what they’re changing and looking forward to in 2022.
Lane Colston
2021 NRHA Top 10 Non Pro
Do you have a New Year’s resolution or goal for the year?
I would have to say one of my new year’s resolutions is to be a little more open minded about things, sometimes when someone tries to help me with something a little bit out of my comfort zone I’m not always gung-ho for it.
Do you have any changes planned for your program?
Last year was a pretty great year so I hope to do the same, ride, and practice a lot. This year I will be graduating High School, so I get to figure out what I want to do after that. I like to ride with different trainers and learn different things. I think the more chances I get to ride with different people the better it is.
What show are you most looking forward to this year?
The NRBC, it’s my favorite place to show because of the atmosphere, I love the people and it is very competitive, and there are always fun activities going on. It also has a lot of outdoor arenas and I love to ride outdoors in the spring when the weather is usually a nice and sunny 70* so it makes for a good horse show.
Who is your favorite reining horse of all time?
I’ve had a few, but most recently I would have to say Cowboy, aka Lil Ruf Whiskey. He has been pretty exceptional for me.
Mirjam Stillo
NRHA Professional
Do you have a New Year’s resolution or goal for the year?
I think my biggest goal of this year is to try to be as competitive as possible in the age of events and learn from some mistakes or things that did not work out this past year and adjust and try to just move on from your mistakes and try to apply the good things you’ve learned and just try to be more competitive and that’s for the show part.
For our other training program part, I’d say that goal is to keep doing what we’re doing, developing the prospects as good as we can.
We have these great two-year-old’s coming up. Keeping up the good work and just try and do our best at creating these new prospects that will be coming three-year old’s in the coming year.
Do you have any changes planned for your program?
The only change that I’m not making but happened is I think I am going to show in level two, which I haven’t done in the last several years. So, I will have one more level to show in which is exciting because it’ll give us more opportunities to show more horses and to be competitive also in another level and win an extra check if we do good. So, I think that’s the exciting part. When you have one more level to show in and just have a bigger venue of horses to ride and show and so that’s what kind of is going to be the change for this year. Other than that, I think we’re pretty much doing what we’re doing and just trying to improve things we thought we could have done better last year or that did not work out and put them behind and move forward.
What show are you most looking forward to this year?
I mean, I always love the Futurity. So probably the early futurities and the Futurity are the shows I look forward to the most because I think they’re the most exciting but this year I have a really nice group of derby horses. And so those shows are definitely going to be some that I hope we’ll all enjoy . Those are the ones that I’m looking forward to the most.
Who is your favorite reining horse of all time?
Oh, wow. That’s a really hard one. I don’t know probably, I would say Wimpys Little Chic for the fact of not only what she was as a show horse, but the fact that she was a mare. She was beating everybody else and she’s a Wimpy and I’m a fan, in general, of Wimpys Little Step.
Fred Tremblay
Tremblay Performance Horses
Do you have a New Year’s resolution or goal for the year?
I want to talk less and listen more. I just want to do everything I can to help my brother do good at the Futurity. That is our ultimate goal: for my brother to win the Futurity.
Do you have any changes planned for your program?
We always try to do some new and better things. We have a couple of new team members, and I’m very excited about them. They want to learn.
What show are you most looking forward to this year?
There are many horse shows that we look forward to. The Run For A Million is something special and has been for a few years, but our ultimate goal is to win the Futurity.
Who is your favorite reining horse of all time?
Crush has been a part of my life. I mean, I found him as a yearling and my brother rode him as a two-year-old, and the run at The Million was epic with a 232.5, and he’s on his way to produce some special horses. He is for sure the complete package.
Faith Horner
NRHyA Historian
Do you have a New Year’s resolution or goal for the year?
I think my biggest news resolution would probably be just getting out to ride more because its a little drive to my horses, so I think just getting out to ride more would be a great thing for me.
Do you have any changes planned for your program?
I have a new horse that I am looking forward to showing and I recently this past year moved to Casey Deary’s training program so that move was really great for me and my horses.
What show are you most looking forward to this year?
I have to say I’m looking forward to the derby with my new horse Felix, because I feel like right around Derby time, we’ll probably have kind of a rhythm going and we’ll be in tune with each other more. So I think that is going to be a really fun show for us.
Who is your favorite reining horse of all time?
I would have to say Chick Dreamin, he’s a really cool horse. He is the brother of the horse that I showed last year. So, I guess I kind of have a little bit of a connection there but he’s just super, super cool.
Kaci O’Rourke
NRHA Professional
Do you have a New Year’s resolution or goal for the year?
I think to make the level 4 finals at all the major events and then try to grow and be better as a horseman and a trainer.
Do you have any changes planned for your program?
I think just to continue to try to take the best care of the horses that we can.
What show are you most looking forward to this year?
There are quite a few, I mean, we’ve got some nice Derby horses this year. So really looking forward to the four-year-old events and the NRBC. We’re really looking forward to the futurity and the invitational. We’ve got some nice futurity horses this year as well.
Who is your favorite reining horse of all time?
I would have to say Wimpys Little Chic, she was always the best one to watch, and she’s already producing great horses.
Parker Minchin
‘21 Prime Time Non Pro World Champion
Do you have a New Year’s resolution or goal for the year?
I would like to be in the top five for the Non Pro world title again this year. I would also like to get the Masters Non Pro added to the NAAC and ARC classes, so I want to work on that whether there has to be a rule proposal or whatever it is to get the Master’s division stronger.
Do you have any changes planned for your program?
I made it late last year and changed trainers.
What show are you most looking forward to this year?
The North Atlantic Reining at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala. I went and showed at that facility earlier this year, and they had a reining show at the same time as Congress and we went. It is the most incredible facility I’ve ever been to, and then the North American Reining Classic has always been a huge horse show in Virginia. It is kind of the biggest, you know, on the east coast. So, I’m just looking forward to seeing it be able to grow to however big it wants to be and have this phenomenal facility to show at. It’s like Disney World for horses there.
Who is your favorite reining horse of all time?
Hollywood Dun It would be my favorite because both horses I have shown successfully are out of horses by him. He has made probably the biggest impact on my reining, and I think in reining in general. Offspring by him have proven over and over and over to be successful both in the Open and the Non Pro.