Carolina Sport Horses

She has been a Paramedic for 10 years and has been in EMS for 11 years. She has been riding and training her own horses for a better part of 15 years. She now only works on the ambulance about 6 days a month and rides anywhere from 8 to 15 horses a month. She also tries to do at least one to two horse camps/clinics a year, as well as giving private lessons. Horses are truly her life. Her goals are to be able to just ride horses, give lessons, and rodeo.

She started barrel racing at the age of 12 at local horse shows and her passion for the sport grew from there. She currently competes on 12 horses. Her main competition horse is 'This Cash Has Credit' aka 'RD', whom she bought this past September from Rebecca Bratcher on the recommendation of Byron Forehand. RD was one the many great horses that Byron has had his hand in training. He is a 10 year old son of 'Cash not Credit' out of a 'Nonstop Jet' daughter. Wendy plans to use the rest of this year to season him to rodeos, then really hit the rodeo road hard next year. She purchased RD to semi-retire her 24 yr old gelding 'Mr Sugar Bar Badger' aka 'Rolls', who at the age of 24 still is running strong and can out run RD on his good days.

Through the years Wendy's greatest accomplishment has been she has learned to ride and compete for many different styles of horses. RD's style is a really free running horse, where as Rolls is very setty. So learning to ride RD had been a challenge. However he made a great birthday for Wendy this year by putting them in a 1D paycheck at the Fortune 5 in Jacksonville, running against some of the toughest horses in the business. She still hadn't totally figured him out, but she had gotten some help from Byron. It seemed as if it just clicked, and on her birthday of all days. She has won several buckles, 4 saddles, and more. She thinks the greatest honor for her has been being voted 'Top Hand' by her local NBHA district for two years, and Rolls being voted 'Horse with the most heart'.

Wendy offers some training advice, she likes to start to pattern barrel horses in their 2 and 3 year old year. However, she only does so when they have a complete understanding of leads, leg aids, roll back, etc. She says, if you don't have them really broke, you don't have a good foundation, then you don't have anything. She will bring each horse along slowly, allowing them to progress at their own speed. Some horses can take a great deal of pressure, and some can't. Learning to take away pressure at the right time is to her the most crucial tool in a young horse's training process. She is the type of rider that can't over analyze her runs. Before each run she tries to remember the horse she is riding and tries to adjust her riding to fit it's needs. She will spend time by herself before her run preparing her and her horse mentally for the run. With RD she warms him up slowly and keeps him really settled. With Rolls she just long trots until it's time to run. She has ridden all styles of horses. Her very first barrel horse 'Sunshine', who is living out retirement on the farm, was a roll back style, Rolls is a push till ya can't push anymore, and RD is free running. She feels it is easier for her to change the way she rides than trying to change the way a horse likes to move his feet.

She does like for all of her horses to respect an inside rein and inside leg when approaching the turn and their shoulder to be up. Then to catch their pivot foot three quarters the way around the turn and leave straight. She doesn't over tune her finished horses, sometimes they never even see a barrel during the week. Her younger horses will see barrels a lot the first 30 to 90 days of training, and after that only once or twice a week and then only for a five to ten minute session. She likes to long trot her horses to keep them in tip top shape. She rides in a Caldwell saddle and mostly trains in an o-ring snaffle.

Wendy thinks the key to any good feeding program is quality hay. She feels people put too much hype on feeds. Horses are foragers! She feeds Perineal peanut hay, along with a high fat feed. She has their teeth done every six months by Rodney Rowles. Her horses feet are done every six weeks by Steve Davis. She uses Dr. David Harrington for all my maintence vet needs.

Her advice to any rider having a problem with their horse is first to make sure their is not something physically wrong. Also, to remember that the horse is a flight animal and it learns from the release of pressure. The most common mistake that she sees is people not educating themselves enough. Every new horse person should spend some time with knowledgeable horse people. She has learned a great deal from riding with dressage and reining trainers. When dealing with any barrel or alley problem always try to take some pressure away. She thinks that almost any problem can be dealt with if you make whatever they are doing fun and rewarding. One big tip for others is to just let your horse do his job, sometimes less is more. She believes most barrel horses aren't really mentally mature until they are around 10 years old. However, there are exceptions to every rule.

Wendy currently competes with NBHA, PCA, PRCA and super shows. She believes that we all create our own destiny. She has ridden with many great people, to mention a few: Dallas Dewees, Kim Landry , Rob Billings (dressage), Ginny Baker (hunter jumper), and Byron Forehand. She would love to just hit the road and rodeo a few years and really hit it big and go to NRF (DREAMING), she says! I think GO FOR IT, see it, will it, do it, just like Wendy said create your own destiny!

As far as bloodlines go she is not too picky, however she does like Frenchman Guy, Cash not Credit, and of course she would love to have a Dash Ta Fame. She feels the price of a horse is irrelavent if a person gets along with them they are worth whatever you pay. She feels when people are looking to purchase a horse, they should be mindful that it takes a good two to three years to get a good start on a horse. If you do the math that's a lot of someone's valuable time, therefore that why a good horse cost so much.

Wendy offers another piece of advice, treat your horse the way you would want to be treated! She believes in a parent child relationship not a master slave relationship. If you have a bad run learn from it, and don't let it comsume you. You will learn much more from the bad runs than you will the good runs any day, says Wendy.

Currently Wendy does train horses to sell, she also rides several horses for Bar R Ranch in Marianna, Florida. Bar D will be offering some own sons and own daughters of Dash for Perks, A Streak of Fling, and Frenchmans Guy to the public in the near future.

Thank you Wendy for your interview, I loved how simple you made your advice. My favorite was for any problem or in teaching when the pressure is REMOVED the horse learns! That was well said. Best of luck Wendy with your destiny!

by - Tina Spangler www.tlcbarrelhorsetraining.com