Master of many horses

Welcome to the second edition of The Arena Feed!

This week we get to hear from two trainers that seem to be the master of riding multiple horses for multiple people. We have an interview with Cassandra (KC) Peters and our trainer tip with Shelby Spielman!

Special reminder that today April 1st, is the first payment deadline with no late fees for the Yellow Rose Futurity and Derby

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In this issue:
➡From The Arena Floor: Cassandra “KC” Peters talks about her remuda of horses and plans for the season*
➡Training Tips with Shelby Spielman*
➡Upcoming Events & Deadlines
➡Featured horse
➡Road Apples - tidbits from around the web*
➡Featured Ranch
➡Mindset Minute with Michelle
➡Meme of the week
*if you are viewing on the web without subscribing, you won’t see the whole newsletter. You must subscribe and approve your email to view all content.

From The Arena Floor

I was able to catch up with KC (Cassandra) Peters on her way to Washington with a trailer load of horses. She has 6 horses in the trailer and is excited about how they are working and the fun to be had at the Sand Cup Futurity and VGBRA Barrel Days events over the next two weekends. In this audio interview she tells us about each horse, her background in barrel racing, the tack she likes and the strategy she uses running so many horses at each event.

If you are reading this on email (rather than in a browser), it will open the web view version to listen to the interview.

Training Tip with Shelby Spielman

Dear Shelby,

How do you adapt to jockeying such a variety of horses? And not just different horses, but horses trained by different people. Are you intentional about considering what they need before each run or are you adapting on the fly to them or are they adapting to you? You make it look easy, but I know it's not so inquiring minds want to know what's going on in your mind before your runs.

I’ve been lucky to get to jockey some really great horses. I feel like the more horses I get to feel/make runs on the more I improve as a rider. I think there is something to be learned from every trainer and horse.

I do try to be intentional. They are all individuals and I try to always treat them that way. It would be nice if one style fit them all but most of the time it doesn’t. It’s usually easier on both myself and the horse if I prepare us both to compete and win by keeping the things we’ve specifically worked on together in my mind.

I feel like I can learn a lot about how to adapt to certain horses by watching other people time only and train.

For instance, I’m lucky enough to get to ride with my sister in law Colby Bonnett quite often and I’ve learned a lot from simply watching how she works her horses… in return I feel like that helps me when I need to jockey her horses.

I’m not sure I make it look easy but I do think I’ve been very lucky to get to take rides on some great horse power and when a horse is already a winner, it usually can make anyone look good 😊

~ Shelby Spielman

Upcoming Events:

If you want YOUR event listed free, please reply to this email or use the “hot tips” form on the website. Everyone is welcome to help me out and submit events ;)

Horse Expo Canada - Red Deer, AB Features Barrel Racer Connie Combs. The event runs April 25-27th.

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Ride Like A Mother Barrel Series in Grunthal, MB have set their 2025 dates. You can find out more here (FB) The first one is July 10th.

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Randa Nugent and Family Benefit
𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟯𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗮 for a benefit race in support of Randa Nugent and her family. There will also be an online auction hosted on the linked page to raise funds to support the physical repair, vet expenses and emotional loss from the tragedy they experienced.

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Lipstick & Cowboy Boots has a list of barrel racings that are not sanctioned and located in BC, AB & SK on their website.

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The Rope & Race in Brandon, MB is scheduled for May 23-25. More on their FB page here. It is CBHI approved.

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The Prestige Barrel race is also noted as CBHI approved and scheduled for June 21-22 in Brandon, MB. There is a post running for those wanting to buy and sell slots. FB page here.

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Don’t Give A Buck Barrel Race and Roping is slated for May 17-19 in Virden, MB. The event kicks off with a wedding fundraiser jackpot for Janet and Ory, on the 18th, the 7th annual Don’t Give A Buck Barrel Racing $2500 WF approved JP in the 18th, concluding with a fundraiser team roping.

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Royal Crown Canada is back to Claresholm. Alberta 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟲-𝟭𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 With $𝟐𝟎𝟕,𝟓𝟎𝟎 added over the 6 days. Enter before April 18th to avoid late fees. They run an open race as well as the signature events for Royal Crown Stallion eligible offspring.

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The entry deadline for The Yellow Rose Futurity and Derby held May 2nd - 4th at Claresholm, AB is fast approaching. April 1st is the first payment deadline for Futurity and Derby entries. May 3rd Open jackpot entries are also open and close April 30th.

Presented by: Rodeoclassifieds.com

10 year old AQHA Stands 15hh . Runs 2D-3D dependent on rider. Can easily be 1D with more aggressive rider. Has dragged logs, ridden through snow banks, etc.
Runs barefoot, no maintenance required. Patterned on poles. Big people pleaser, he would excel working in pasture, feedlots, etc. 
Fancy broke Intermediate rider recommended as he has a big motor  Full ad here.

🍎Road Apples - tidbits from around the web

🍎 The Bob Feist Invitational shared a tribute to Mel Potter than celebrated his contributions to the horse world. Watch on FB here.

🍎 The AQHA as released a new pedigree resource. It draws on the database of all registered quarter horses. Put in your horses registered name and have it out put their pedigree (including sire and dam colors). (It’s like allbreedpedigree.com but draws from AQHA rather than created by users).

🍎Speaking of AQHA, they voted Monday to continue the rule where a young stallion’s frozen semen can only be used 2 years after his death. Trisha Aldridge, owner of Adios Pantalones, shared the letter she wrote to AQHA. No matter which way you think the rule should go, it’s a moving read abut the stallions story to becoming a legend of the future. Melanie Smith of Solo Select Horses shared the speech she wrote that was also very good. She reminded us that internet comments don’t count as votes and we need more people to speak up and come to the meeting next year to change the rule. Voting was very close.
 
🍎 An interesting video and dissection of the horse’s thoracic spine and it’s function.

🍎I missed sharing this gem of a post earlier. Nancy Leischner shared on FB how she times her Lasix at rodeos, but there are also many more great barrel racing tips and reminders in the comments of the post from her and others.

🍎And to add balance to that post, Shannon Kerr shares what she does to not have to give Lasix here on Tiktok. 

🍎 Energy Equine Shared their best practices for safely introducing horses to fresh spring grass HERE on FB.

Featured Ranch

Mindset Minute with Michelle Davey

It can be really hard to solve problems when we are in the middle of them. A powerful way to shift our perspective is to view the situation from the outside in. I call this the “Outside In Exercise”.
Here’s how to do it:
Imagine yourself and the situation/scenario you’re looking to overcome on a stage in front of you. If it’s something in the arena, you can imagine yourself sitting in the stands looking into the arena at the issue. You’re now looking from the outside in. You want to see the situation going down in front of you as if it’s someone else experiencing it. From your wise “outside in” perspective, you can look at all sides of the situation and offer a more objective analysis of what might be tried to solve the issue. What would you tell someone else in this same scenario? It is easier to see solutions once you remove yourself from the emotions that cloud your thought process to finding a solution. Even if you’re just pretending it’s not you, it is easier to find solutions from the outside in. It’s your opportunity to use your couch jockey wisdom on yourself!

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