EDITOR’S NOTE: Longtime Norco resident Audrey Pavia, an award-winning author and avid horsewoman, shares a slice of life in her beloved community by taking us on one of her favorite routes.

The sun is hanging low in the sky, and the gentle afternoon breeze has arrived. It’s time to saddle up my Spanish Mustang, Milagro, and go for a ride through Norco.

I step outside my back door and Milagro whinnies to me. He knows the drill. I saddle him up and lead him to the front yard. We pick up the trail right across the street from my house. That’s how easy it is to go riding in Norco.

We head south on the Hillside Avenue trail, passing an assortment of paddocks and driveways. Milagro takes a good look at a peacock perched on a fence in a nearby yard. He’s familiar with the flock of feral peacocks that live on this part of Hillside. He then glances up at a yard across the street, where a few alpacas, a miniature horse and two Haflingers are sharing their dinner. There’s always something interesting to see in Norco.

The trail curves and we are on Third Street, headed toward Norco High School. We cross third and walk along the narrow dirt shoulder skirting the high school football field. The field is quiet today, and we pass without incident, turning right on Second Street. This is the way we need to go if we want to pass our first landmark for the ride: Disney’s Circle D Ranch.

LAS VEGAS, Nev.—If what goes over well in ‘Vegas, stays in `Vegas, than the National Stock Horse Association’s Snaffle Bit Futurity, Derby and World’s Richest Bridle competition has found a new home.

In the Protect The Harvest-sponsored Open Futurity, Justin Wright shined, finishing with four horses in the money and racking up about $42,500. He claimed $27,055 for his championship finish on Eric Frietas’s Scooter Kat, a son of National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Open World Champion Kit Kat Sugar out of Scooters Daisy Dukes, a mare by Dual Smart Rey that earned $93,217 in the cutting pen. Reserve Champions Phillip Ralls on Lil Time Reymanising (One Time Pepto x Reymanising) were 5.5 points back in the composite score and earned $16,378 for owner Holy Cow Performance Horses.

Wright also earned Open Futurity money on Dan Heath’s Smokum Every Time (third place tie; $9,827), Mark and Kim Rauch’s One Sparkling Time (10th place tie; $4,397) and Bill Stevenson’s Metallic Flame (16th place; $1,213).

RENO, Nev.—The tradition of the reined cow horse sport on the West Coast continued with the Second Annual Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity, presented by Lucas Oil and Protect The Harvest, held Sept. 10-16 at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center.

Highlights of the futurity included the crowning of Metallic Flame and Justin Wright as the Open Futurity champions, Got Kisses and Laurie Richards taking home the Non Pro Futurity championship titl, the continued tradition of Reno Snaffle Bit Sales held in conjunction with the futurity, the new addition of the Wild Spayed Filly Futurity competition (which Lance Johnston and Three Fingers Holly dominated), and plenty of shopping with the western vendors located along the concourse.

“Our entries were up from 2017 in the futurity divisions and horse show classes, and we are amazed at the remarkable support we’ve received from the reined cow horse world,” said John Ward of Tulare, and one of the founders of the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity.

California Western Dressage Association will present a Western Dressage and Ranch Riding Clinic with Lynn Palm Oct. 20-21 at the George Ingall’s Equestrian Event Center in Norco. Palm is a world-renowned trainer, clinician, author and judge with a long list of accomplishments including 34 AQHA World and Reserve World Championships, seven Western Dressage Association of America™ World Championships and four “Superhorse” Championships. The four-time AQHA World CHampionship Show judge has performed over 50 bridleless exhibitions with the legendary Rugged Lark, and she also performed western dressage freestyle exhibitions at the 2017 FEI World Cup Finals Dressage Showcase. Don’t’ miss this opportunity to learn from a world class professional. Sharpen your ranch riding skills and learn how you can use western dressage to improve what you do with your equine partner in the “dressage court”, as well as in other disciplines—or out on the trail. Award-winning equestrian journalist Jennifer Forsberg Meyers quotes Lynn Palm as on western dressage, “You’ll love the control you gain…adding that it’s all without a bigger bit, without sharper spurs.”

For most people, we are rounding the last corner and headed to the finish line for show season. Many equine athletes have been going hard all spring and summer. Keeping our horses sound and performing at their peaks takes some extra efforts on our part. I will try to touch on some key points that can be beneficial to keeping our horses happy and performing.

First off is nutrition. When traveling, I would recommend keeping your horses diet as close to normal as possible. Take at least the supplements and concentrate feeds that you feed at home. If you can, take the same hay also. Changing diets on the road can lead to colic and lost competition days. While we are on nutrition, I feel it is really important to keep a performance horse on a good quality joint supplement and vitamin mineral supplement. You want their joints as comfortable as possible. You also want their metabolism working at its peak to give them the energy they need.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO—As the 2018 outdoor season comes to a close, Blenheim EquiSports welcomed the horses and riders who have prepared for the Young Jumper Championships throughout the year. About 50 young horses from ages four to seven competed on the grass of The Oaks International Grand Prix Field Sept. 23 in this year’s YJC Western Regional Finals, presented by Electronic Vet, during the International Jumping Festival.

Many of the future equine stars qualified through competing in young jumper classes for free at Blenheim EquiSports. A group of six wide-eyed and wonderful 4-year-olds competed on The Oaks International Grand Prix Field in their division of the Futurity Regionals. With a flat phase and jumping course on Wednesday, and a full course over slightly larger obstacles on Thursday, the youngsters were judged on rideability, jumping scope, technique, and movement. Two experienced horsemen, Will Simpson and Jason McArdle, adjudicated. U.S. bred C Everest (Cancara Z x Diamond Dancer by Blue Diamond), with rider and owner Kristina Cain, remained consistent over the two days to take home a well-deserved victory.

Children display individual temperaments and learning capabilities, and so do colts.

One sibling may be super chill, as nothing rattles his easygoing demeanor, while the next kid may be super sensitive, and if someone would raise their voice one octave higher, it might reduce him to tears. An older sister may be an achiever, wanting to please while respectively honoring your requests, while the younger brother may have some funk in the trunk—a “make me” attitude, annoyed at having to perform any task.

Again, it is the same with colts. I understand that I may be stating the obvious, but I meet numerous owners who become frustrated trying to use the same training approach on a different-minded colt.

At this stage in the game you want to spend a lot of time teaching your horse to align properly in a circle. It’s great to start at a jog and work on circles approximately 30 feet in diameter. What you’re looking for is for your horse to keep his spine aligned with the circumference of the circle. What you need to watch out for is him starting to lean against your inside rein and leg as he tries to stick his nose to the outside of the circle and lean into the circle with his shoulder, a movement referred to as “dropping a shoulder.” If you can instill a good “shoulders up” posture here, you won’t be haunted by dropped shoulders later on.

The sense of community and the freedom to ride my horse out my gate to miles of riding trails on all the different terrain, mountains, street or river—we have it all. I call it “Equine Therapy”!
–Michele Steeber

My favorite part of life in Horsetown USA is the designated horse trail on every street in the city. As a horselover from as far back as I can remember, I feel at home here in Norco, where everything is about the horse. We have horse shows, equestrians groups, learning opportunities, a river to ride through, lots of feed stores and horse supplies. Everyone seems to be like-minded. We moved to Norco in 1985 and had to leave in 2012 to take care of an ill relative who lived in the mountains of Colorado. Our aunt has passed away, and we were able to move back home to our beloved Norco. My horses love Norco, too—as shown by the big smile!
–Marsha Carey

The best part of living in Norco is that you can ride your horse anywhere, and there are so many beautiful trails at the Santa Ana Riverbed. Everything is so country in this little town!
–Gabriela T.

Norco is the last full service, semi-rural, equestrian community in Southern California: a patch of green surrounded by a sea of ever growing concrete – we must not take this for granted and fight to protect our large lots, to trails to open space!
–Kevin Bash

Norco IS Horsetown USA! It’s like no other place I know. This is where horsemen meet, work, shop and play, and that is why we moved our business here. It’s an eclectic tapestry of horse people and that enriches our lives.
–Fran Klovstad