Appalachian Trainer Face Off: The Horses and Trainers

We are pleased to announce the full line up for the Appalachian Trainer Face Off!

The Selected Trainers:

Chloe Adkins

Judges are:

Michael Lyons

Tim Clyne

Susan Sunday

And most importantly, the horses lucky enough to have ended up in a rescue willing to go the extra mile to facilitate the best start possible for them, as well as work to make the equine industry and public aware that rescue horses are awesome are. . .

Luna is a 14 year old mare of about 14.1hh. She has had rough previous handling with humans, serious trust issues and will need a smaller trainer, as she has a small frame. She is halter broke, difficult to catch and very reactive to sounds and movements. She can be somewhat difficult to load. She currently must be sedated to be trimmed. She accepts tack, but she gives no indication she has had any training beyond that. She has a great deal of mishandling in her past. She may be a Rocky Mtn Horse.

Soleil is a 6 to 7 year old TWH mare. She has never been started, nor has she worn tack. She may be 15hh, and she has a relatively large build. She has a no particular history of abuse. She came to us as an extreme neglect case. She does load okay in a trailer. She is halter broke.

Satine is an Arab x QH cross mare of about 7. She is 14.2 or 14.3hh. She has a medium build. She has no history of abuse by humans. She was a neglect case. She has never been started undersaddle. She does load okay in a trailer. She is halter broke.

Zoey is a 6 year old Spotted Saddle Horse cross. She has never been abused, but she was neglected. She has never been started and hasn’t worn tack, and she has only been trimmed by a farrier once in her life. She is halter broke. She loads in a trailer with little effort.

Dempsey is a 5-6 year old gelding. He is pony sized at barely 14hh. He has a friendly personality. He is a neglect case, and he gives no indication he has been abused. He loads well. He is okay for the farrier. He has no been started undersaddle, and he has never worn tack.

Rory is a large built QH cross type mare of about 15.1hh. She is very fearful. She is difficult to catch in a field or stall. She seems halter broke once caught. She has not had her feet trimmed in a very long time, as she is a brand new arrival to HOP and no one handled her prior much, we are told. She has never been ridden. She is 9 or so years old.

Serena is a possible Kentucky Mountain mare of 7. She is 14.3 to 15hh tall. She accepts tack, but she clearly has no time undersaddle or knowledge. She is rather stoic about people, but she is not aggressive. She probably has been mistreated in her past. She loads well. She is reasonable for the farrier, though needs work.

Vato’s breed is anyone’s guess. He is a recently gelded 4 year old. He is very slight of build and maybe 14hh. He is truly feral, and he has had only a few halter lessons. He is curious and smart. He is not aggressive. He is basically a blank slate.

Paladin came to HOP not even halter trained, as a totally unhandled stallion. He is about 8 years old. He is 15hh. We suspect he is a Morgan. He is a friendly guy now and is halter trained. He still requires sedation for the farrier. He has worn tack once and had a ride on him for a few minutes in October of last year, but he is truly unstarted.

Youth Candidate Horse: 12.2hh Pony of 3 years of age. Halter trained, but this gal doesn’t know much else and is full of sass.

Dune is about 4 years old and 14.2 or a hair over. He’s been handled minimally but yesterday he did lead into a stall and let me pick up his front feet and touch them with a rasp, he also let me throw a rope over him and an English pad. Unabused.

Horses will be selected by drawing on May 15th in Lesage, WV. Trainers will draw numbers and will select based on the lowest number drawn with respect to selecting horses that are a suitable size for the trainer, as a few of these horses are quite small.

The following dates are firmly set. The general format is, as well, but a few elements are subject to change.

May 15, 2017 at 1pm:

First Number Draw Date for trainers to select their rescue horses at Mulligan Farms, Lesage, WV (10 minutes from Huntington, WV). This is the newest location of Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue.

June 1st, June 15th, July 1st, July 15th, August 1st, August 15th and August 20th:

2 videos with updates are due by trainers twice a month during the 90-100 day Face Off Training portion of the event. We recommend trainers create their own Facebook training page, if they do not have one already, as Heart of Phoenix will build interest in YOUR horse for the competition through these updates and videos. You are welcome to submit more often, and they will be widely sponsored and circulated by the rescue to our many thousands of followers on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and beyond. This is your chance to market yourself as the BEST of Appalachia before the weekend competition even arrives. Use it wisely!

August 25th and 26th:

At the Winfield Show Grounds and Riding Arena

5449 WV-34, Winfield, WV 25213

This will be a Friday and Saturday event. The top half of competing trainers will move on to the Obstacle Course and Freestyle Performance portion Saturday. The event closes with an awards ceremony, prizes and “Auction.” Learn more about the Auction portion and how this is a portion of the event that will allow the trainers to “earn” more than prizes and bragging rights for their participation.

In an effort to provide a fuller selection for trainers, we may bring in a few additional horses by May 15th. As the rescue is constantly helping other horses, should a trainer’s horse come up lame or ill, we will have replacement options for the trainers.

In order to level the playing field at the start of this competition, because the age, breed, history and training varies on our horses, we have assigned scores that the horses will carry into the competition, if applicable, based on our knowledge and overall impression after working with each horse. This will make the playing field fair and even.

Vato carries 15pts going into the competition
Rory carries 15pts going into the competition
Luna carries 15pts going into the competition
Paladin carries 5pts going into the competition
Zoey carries 5pts going into the competition
Dempsey carries 5 pts going into the competition
Zoey carries 5 pts going into the competition
Satine carries 5 pts going into the competition
Serena carries 0 pts going into the competition

Trainers and Judges are asked to join this group for easy communication, sharing of videos, photos and so forth, as the competition progresses.

Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue, as well as the Appalachian Trainer Face Off page, will share any and all updates, linked to the trainer’s page, to encourage wide engagement of our audience and potential adopters and future clients of the trainers.

Points will be assigned based on:

Unable to complete task, Able to complete, Able to complete well or Able to excel

Events scored will include:

Day One, August 25th, Winfield Riding Arena, WV

Beginning at Noon

Moving the horse

Ability to get forward motion

Control of walk, trot, and lope

Difficulty of Horse

Desensitizing / Ground work of the horse

Ability of trainer to settle the horse

Tarps, flag and/or ropes, ground poles

Horses’s acceptance of the saddle & pad

Riding Portion

How prepared is the horse to be mounted

Horse’s willingness to stand

How horse turns and stops

Ridden both directions at the walk, trot and canter

Ability to load into and back out of a trailer

Ability to stand tied

Following the end of the 1st days event, the highest scoring 8 competitors will continue on to Day 2 of the competition.

Scoring from Day 1 will combine with Day 2 Scoring

DAY TWO on August 26th in Winfield Riding Arena

Beginning at 9am

OBSTACLE Course and Freestyle Performance

While navigating the course:

Ability to control spookiness

Walk, trot and canter around arena both directions while on the correct lead and against the rail

Ability to get forward motion

Stop their horse

Get the horse to back up 3 steps

Get off and pick up all 4 feet

Weave through all poles

Walk through zig zag poles

Cross tarp

Cross ground poles

Rope the barrel (they then drop the rope)

Drag the log (take rope from top of barrel)

Freestyle competitions are entirely the Trainer’s choice for 5 minutes following the end of the obstacle course portion.

TRAINERS, please join the group page on Facebook, and I will be posting the DETAILS on scoring soon!

If you, for some reason, cannot attend to draw and pick up your horse on May 15th, PLEASE let me know right away. Horses must be picked up no later than the 18th. We will draw for you and select for you if you’re not present at 1pm on May 15th.

3 thoughts on “Appalachian Trainer Face Off: The Horses and Trainers”

Pingback: The Official Site of the Appalachian Face Off
Teresa j Zachariah says:

May 11, 2017 at 5:06 pm

where is the tenth horse

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1. T. Creamer says:
  
  May 11, 2017 at 5:21 pm
  
  For some reason, her information isn’t showing up. It must be a glitch in the system.
  
  Loading...

Appalachian Trainer Face Off: The Horses and Trainers

We are pleased to announce the full line up for the Appalachian Trainer Face Off!

The Selected Trainers:

Judges are:

Like this:

3 thoughts on “Appalachian Trainer Face Off: The Horses and Trainers”

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We are pleased to announce the full line up for the Appalachian Trainer Face Off!

The Selected Trainers:

Judges are:

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Like this:

3 thoughts on “Appalachian Trainer Face Off: The Horses and Trainers”

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