Road to the Horse 2008

American Cowboy Magazine's Exclusive Online Coverage
by Lisa Rohner Schafer

March 2, 2008, 7 p.m. CST

Chris Cox Wins 2008 Road to the Horse

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After watching the RTTH for the past three years, I’ve always been pretty certain who the winner was going to be when the judges handed in their score sheet. This year I was totally stumped. In the end, Chris Cox successfully defended his title, besting three other performances by horsemen who can walk away with heads held high.

I could copy and paste my words from last year to describe Cox' performance this year. He was practical, “not fancy,” and stuck to the basics. So maybe I should tell you what was different this year. Whereas last year he took more total break time than was required, this year he chose to accept a penalty rather than rounding out his full ten minutes of break time on day-one of the round penning. His penalty? He had to start ten minutes after the other three clinicians on day two.

SARA BEWLEY PHOTO

He chose a colt that was much more approachable much more quickly than last year’s pick, but wound up being a more challenging horse. He added some music to his freestyle performance, but stuck to rollbacks, stopping, backing and threw in some lovely flying lead changes. Mind you, this horse had only three hours of training under some pretty stressful circumstances. And there was a moment when he was bridling his horse and the colt got away from him. It raced off down to the gate of the arena. Cox turned him against the wall a couple of times using only his body placement and posture for pressure. In less than a minute, he had the colt following him away from the gate to be haltered.

“I didn’t know who won until just now,” Cox said when the announcement was made — a testament to how truly close this year’s event turned out to be. “I am honored to have been in the same ring with these guys.”

As well he should be. Take Mike Kevil. If you would have asked me should he climb on that horse in an open arena after the rodeo-quality bucking he displayed in the round pen with only a saddle on, I’d have said, “No way.” Because that colt could buck. All four feet off the ground, and not just one or two jumps. But Mike not only mounts up, he completes the obstacle course and as best as I could tell, the only thing he didn’t do was pick up all four feet.

Ken McNabb had a similar turn-around with his colt. Up until a good half-hour or more into the second session, his colt was still as touchy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I looked away, watching the other pens for awhile, and the next time I looked in on him he’s got his saddle on and is putting weight in a stirrup. He made tremendous progress in what was left of his round pen time. He also did great in the obstacle course, completing each structure and successfully lifting all four of his colt’s feet.

Tommy Garland, who was neck-and-neck with Cox as far as the pacing of his progress with his colt goes, put in a performance that garnered the crowd favorite in the applause-meter contest. He took a page out of Stacy Westfall’s playbook and decided to buy the colt he was training, naming him “Smarty Pants.” He completed the obstacle course without trouble, although his colt wasn’t inclined to stand still as he mounted or lifted his feet. For his freestyle he had his colt pushing a large ball around, he stood in the saddle and wound up stepping from side to side under his horse’s belly. I think the crowd really appreciated seeing some of the different techniques he used, such as a snap in snaffle, ground-driving reins and something other than a rope halter.

In the end, the audience and the horses were the big winners. Each of those colts got great starts and people once again saw that it’s not only possible, but preferable to start a colt with these gentle, effective techniques.

PREVIOUS ARTICLES:

March 1, 2008, 11:30 p.m. CST
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February 27, 2008, 4:00 p.m. - What to Expect

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