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Todd Crawford on Building & Maintaining Show Horses:
Lots of Work & a Little Luck
Article: Stephanie Duquette, Copyright ©2007. Photos: KC Montgomery, Primo Morales, John O'Hara.
When you talk about Todd Crawford, you talk about success. Look up his show record, but be prepared: it might take a while to read the whole thing. He has claimed nearly every championship in every facet of reining and reined cow horse competition. One of his most recent and long-awaited wins came at the 2006 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity, where Crawford rode the mare Smart Crackin Chic (Smart Chic Olena x Kwackin) to the Open championship, a prize he claimed in the same memorable week that he achieved NRCHA Million Dollar Rider status. Crawford is a dynamic showman whose name is first on the 2007 list of NRCHA Top Open Riders, with more than $376,000 in earnings over the last three years.
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When you talk about a guy like that, you think to yourself, there has to be a secret. He must possess some closely-guarded mojo, if he can make his show horses stop that big, spin that hard, show that much expression out of the herd, and go down the fence with that much courage. I’d like to be able to perform like that in the show pen. I’d sure like to know his secret.
“It’s just lots and lots of work,” Crawford says. “Working, working, working, until the show, and then you hope you have a little bit of luck.”
Hard work. And luck. Todd Crawford emphasizes those two basic principles more than once, as he comments on the process of developing a successful futurity horse into a worthy aged event contender. He also offers some insight for reined cow horse competitors faced with the challenge of keeping their show horses fresh and honest in the pen.
The Three-Year-Old Show Horse
For a futurity prospect in Todd Crawford’s barn, the work begins when he assesses its potential. His 2006 Futurity champion, Smart Crackin Chic, came to him late in her two-year-old year, and Crawford approached her as he does all his colts: not with an instant judgment about how she would perform in the show pen, but by giving her time to demonstrate her ability and attitude.
“It always develops down the line. You never really say you’ve got a great one, because as soon as you do, they prove you wrong.”
However, Crawford favors certain characteristics in his horses, and Smart Crackin Chic displays natural talent in two important areas.
“She does move really well, and she has a lot, a lot, of cow. They have to be able to move good not only to look good, but also to perform. They have to obviously lope well, they have to be able to stop,” he says.
Crawford sums up the futurity training process from the beginning to the day of the show: “It just takes a lot of work, that’s all I know. We prepare for it for two years, but that day, it’s just a day that you either have luck, or you don’t. You can be riding the best horse, but you don’t have luck, or you can be riding (a less talented) horse and have luck. That (the 2006 Futurity) was my lucky day, but I prepared for it for a year. Or maybe 15 years,” he says wryly, a reference to the NRCHA Futurity Championship being the one title that had eluded him until last year.
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Beyond the Futurity
At the end of March, 2007, the now four-year-old Smart Crackin Chic traveled to
Nampa
,
ID
to compete at the NRCHA Stakes, testing her skills against many of her 2006 Open Futurity rivals. Would the reigning champion three year old prove her mettle as an “aged event” horse?
Todd Crawford has the simplest answer of all when discussing his management strategy for horses between the ages of three and four: It’s exactly the same. He says there is no significant change in his training approach; just a consistent program that reinforces the basics of herd, rein and fence work.
“The whole two- and three-year-old year… you’re just building the foundation for the different parts of the event. You’re building, building, building that foundation so that on the day of the finals, you can call on them and get the most of what they can do. And then with a four year old, you’re continuing to work on the foundation of the events with no real change.”
In the case of Crawford and Smart Crackin Chic, no real change was necessary to capture another top placing. In the NRCHA Stakes Open finals, the mare had the high score in the herd work with 219, marked 215.5 in the reined work and earned a 216 down the fence for third place overall, and a check for $23,276.
The “It” Factor, And What To Do If Your Show Horse Doesn’t Have “It”
Let’s face it, once a horse has been shown a few times, he figures out the difference between the rehearsal at home and the serious performance in the pen. Bad habits can develop, from scotching a stop in the reined work to running off down the fence, and everything in between.
The fix is not always easy, especially for a non pro who may lack the knowledge and experience to deal with naughty behavior during a run. And it’s not as if we can do a DNA test to reveal which horses will stay honest through years of showing, and which will require considerable maintenance.
“They either have it, or they don’t,” says Crawford. “I don’t really think you can tell if you have it or you don’t, until you walk in the show pen and see how they show. Some horses get stage fright and almost won’t allow you to show them; some horses don’t. A lot of them train up, but when you actually get to the show part, sometimes they fall apart.
Crawford does apply the common sense technique for calming a nervous horse: hauling frequently to shows until it becomes a commonplace affair, not worth getting excited about.
“Hauling does a lot for them,” remarks Crawford, “But it’s still not the same thing as stepping in the show pen and seeing if they’re a show horse.
“That’s probably the most important, the luckiest thing you can get, and that’s a show horse. If you’re lucky enough to get a show horse, you can blow some of that out, but most of the time you can get it to come back. Most of the time, it’s what they are their whole life: they’re just a show horse.”
If luck is not on your side, and your mount is fractious or disobedient at show time, Crawford says there are some simple things that can help.
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“I will take them and lope through some runs and let them relax, and let them know they don’t have to go wide open every time they go in the pen. I believe that will help some,” he says.
Professional help can always be useful, but if you are on your own, Crawford cautions against trying to prevent your horse’s errors. When you school, let him be wrong, and then make a correction.
“You have to allow your horse to make mistakes and get into trouble and almost bait him,” Crawford says.
He also observes that if you expect compliant behavior from your horse all the time, not just at a show, it makes pen problems either nonexistent, or much easier to deal with.
“It goes back to the fundamentals that you’ve put on them, and demanding a certain level of obedience,” Crawford says.
However, obedience doesn’t necessarily mean boring drills day after day, for a show horse who understands its job.
“I personally maintain mine a lot by working cows. It would just depend on what I felt the weaknesses were, and I would build my works around what my weaknesses were. I maintain one a lot by working a flag, or working a cow. I don’t run a lot of circles on an older horse; I don’t do a lot of stopping until it gets close to show time. It’s not that I don’t do it, but I certainly won’t drill them on it, because if you run and stop a lot, it can make them sore. Or make me sore, too,” he says.
Read more about Todd Crawford and his program at www.crawfordperformancehorses.com.
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