This was indeed, our first rodeo!
Ranch Riding is really taking off! We believe our Ranch classes have grown to be the biggest in the province! We started small; the first show we hosted, was the Steel City Slide in August of 2021. We decided to put on one Ranch class because it was something a little bit different. This was indeed, our first rodeo!
The show was a three-day Reining event, with the Ranch class planned for the Friday. But the judge we had on the Friday told us he didn’t do Ranch judging… So that was fun!
Our other judge wasn’t arriving until later that day, so we had to pivot and postpone the Ranch class on the Friday and run it on the Saturday morning. We had 12 entries, no Open and Non-Pro divisions, just one class.
In 2022, when the new arena at Ancaster was complete, we hosted two shows: June the Steel City Spin and August, the Steel City Slide. We saw the Ranch entries creep up as we ran two classes, Friday and Sunday. This time, with Open and Non-Pro divisions.
Someone asked us at the end of 2022 whether we would consider running a third show… emphatically we said No! It’s a LOT of work – enjoyable as it is, we both have day jobs too!
It was in 2023 where we noticed how big Ranch was becoming – in June we had 28 riders and August, where we partnered with the CQHA/AQHA and featured Incentive Fund classes, we had 38 riders. For all Ranch classes we now have Open and Non-Pro divisions.
We like to keep ourselves guessing as well as everyone else so we added a Working Western Rail class in August. Yup, first rodeo. Again! It was a little chaotic but wildly successful – we had 30 riders in total.
In June of this year at the Steel City Spin, we again ran two Ranch classes, a Working Western Rail class and yup… we added something new again, this time a Ranch Trail class on the Friday.. We built the pattern for the Ranch Trail and oh how we laughed when the judge told us most Ranch Trail classes have between 7 – 9 obstacles and ours had 10….
On the Friday, our Ranch class had 52 riders. Ranch Trail ran directly after Ranch – we had 29 entries – although a few scratched because we were still showing at (gulp) 11.00pm at night…
The judge ended up really liking our Ranch Trail pattern and took it back to Indiana with him. Our Working Western Rail on the Saturday had 31 riders.
It’s great to see so many other shows now adding Ranch classes – as part of the Jonas Performance Horses group we have been to the Ontario Paint Horse Club shows this year and entered their Ranch classes. People ask us, why is Ranch growing so quickly?
In our view, it’s something quite different from Reining, it allows the horse to think different in the show pen, and these classes allow us to show off how broke our horses are.
The future looks bright for ranch classes and competitors! With its affordability, diversity, and you don't necessarily need a high-end horse or even an AQHA horse to compete, it opens up to a broad range of riders and their mounts. You could even do Ranch on a donkey if you could find one willing!
For our August show (August 23 – 25) we have the same as we did for June: Two Ranch Classes, and we have added a Youth division! There’s Ranch Trail on the Friday and again we have partnered with the CQHA/AQHA to bring an added incentive division to the Working Western Rail class on the Saturday. Come on down and see what all the Ranch is about!
Photo credits: Connie Smith Photography and Lone Oak Equine Photography
Pro and Non-Pro articles written by Jen Jonas of Jonas Performance Horses (Pro) and Sharon Jones of Be A Better You (Non-Pro). Together, they are J&J Reining Inc. Both Jen and Sharon are believers in continual learning – if you’re not learning you’re not growing.