The Time to Grow and Show

Written by Sabrina Anderson

For several, the year 2020 was going to be the year to grow, shine, and have a great start to a new decade. Instead, we were all blindsided by the global pandemic COVID-19, putting our plans on a back burner. Erica Owen, a up and coming all-around horse trainer, was one of the many affected by the pandemic.

Erica Owen is native of Gorham, New York, a small town in the Finger Lakes Region. When people ask where she is from, Erica will usually tell them she is from Canandaigua or Rochester, since these are the closest well known cities near Gorham. Erica was bit by the bug early by her mom, who always had a love for horses, leading Erica to began riding ponies when she was about 4 or 5. Her father, however, was not inclined to horses, despite being in the agricultural business his whole life. When Erica was seven, her father came around to the idea of horses, when him and his wife bought her her first horse, an AQHA gelding.

When Erica began riding and competing at the age of 7, she knew right away she wanted to be a trainer. By the time she was in high school, she broke some colts locally. While going to college, Erica met a well respected judge and all-around trainer, Bennie Sargent, who had just been named AQHA Horseman of the Year and was the University of Kentucky Western IHSA coach. For a few years, Erica went to work for him before she moved to Texas to ride reiners.

At the Quarter Horse Congress, Erica saw Luke Gagnon ride Whiz Jewels, which at the time was owned by Courtney (Ryan) Brockmueller. Erica could see how happy the mare was doing her job and how well she got along with Luke, and in that moment, Erica knew that she was hooked on reining and wanted to ride horses like him.

By 2011, Erica had been living in Canada, training horse on her own, but she had decided she wanted to move back to Texas, where she partnered with her long-time friend, Sam Holloway. They had a good run together for some time, but decided to part ways, leading Erica to go back to school, thinking this would be the best time to do so.

Erica moved to Arizona and ended up not riding horses for almost two years, until 2016, when she began working for Christy Snyder, a well known trainer in the Quarter Horse, Paint, and Pinto associations. By the end of the year, Christy decided it was time to retire and give her business to Erica, giving her a barn that Erica could call her own.

Owen Performance Horses, LLC. specializes in all-around horses, this being mainly prospects. Erica says, "I have a ton of babies around all the time! I like to joke that I run an elementary school of horses, AKA Erica's Equine Elementary". She does a wide range of disciplines like: western pleasure, hunt seat, ranch riding, reining, horsemanship, and lunge line. Owen Performance Horses' mission is to provide honest and dedication to service her clients and give the best care Erica can. The main goal for her in the industry is to be well-known and respected for her talent. She will try not to talk herself up because she would rather her horse's results speak for themselves. "In this industry," Erica explains, "you definitely have to be a confident person. I do feel quite confident in my abilities, but the one thing I recognize is that you're are never done learning. I seek out people I respect to grow and learn from in hopes that I can apply some of that to my own program, and tweak it to work for how I do things."

When Erica first heard the country would be put in quarantine, the first thing that went through her mind was, "well, I need to find a way to sleep at the barn because there is no way I'm letting all my babies go two weeks without being ridden". Erica hasn't been hit hard from the shut down, with the exception of a few clients bringing their horses home due to financial hardships that were to come. Most of Erica's clients have been able to find a way to keep their horses in training and because most of the horse's are babies, they have to keep learning. If Erica had a barn full of seasoned show horses, it may have been easier to give them a few months off until everything calmed down. Despite not losing horses in training, she has taken a hit from not attending horse shows, which can be large part of her income. Although the pandemic has caused negative outcomes for many, Erica has used this down time for her advantage, by using it to work harder so when she is able to go to a horse show, her horses are ready and not caught off guard.

The biggest disadvantage for Erica, as well as other trainers and competitors for the industry, is taking the 2 year olds and 3 year olds to the "big shows" like Congress or the World Shows. She explains that when these young horses step into these big pens, for some it may be their first time in a pen completely. These horses may not be able to have time to learn life lessons and this could even apply for several youth and amateur riders. The small circuits are used to her advantage to prep and school for the national level shows. But despite not having time to step into a show pen, the virtual horse shows have peaked an interest for several, including Erica. This great idea has given many people the opportunity to exhibit their horses without the stress a typical show, as well as give them a chance to perfect their skills before the video is submitted to be judged.

The best advice Erica gives to all parties involved in the horse show industry is... it can be easy to be sucked in by the media, public, and the numbers. She explains that she has even found herself having difficulty to have an easy smile or to crawl out of bed to face the day to come. Erica wants people to know, "that it's totally normal to have days where you just don't feel yourself, but you cannot let it consume you." She quoted one of her favorite people in the world, Tim O'Neil, who told her recently, "Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself and your horses is to get some rest." Erica can find this as challenging thing to do as a trainer, who is constantly running around, taking care of these animals every single day. Most of us, Erica included, can forget to take a chance to take a breather and recharge and be able to face the daily challenges without being weighed down by it. Erica believes this is the most ideal time to take a chance to find time for ourselves, to rest, before we go back to consecutive horse shows.

Whether you are in the horse show industry or not, we are all in this together. 2020, may have not been the year we were expecting, but we can definitely use this time to our advantage to grow, learn, and not take our life for granted. We should use this time to take a break from being consumed by the media and use it to appreciate the small things that we may otherwise overlook.