Road to the Horse

Road to the Horse provides excitement for all ages and is now offering a Christmas gift set that will thrill and excite the horse lover in your family. Although milk and cookies are not included in this holiday gift package, it is filled with entertaining and useful presents from Road to the Horse that are sure delight horse owners and enthusiasts alike.

For the low price of $100 plus shipping and handling, your loved one will receive the Limited Edition DVD Box Set (including the 2003, 2005, 2006 competitions), stuffed pony, tote bag, baseball cap, bumper sticker and lapel pin. Purchased separately this gift set is worth $200 and the Limited Edition Box Set will not be reproduced once sold out.

If you have not already purchased your Road to the Horse tickets for March 14-15, 2009, they are selling out fast. Don’t miss your opportunity to see John Lyons, Tommy Garland and Richard Winters compete for the title of Road to the Horse Champion.

Another excellent Christmas gift idea is a VIP Pass for Road to the Horse (March 13-15, 2009) which includes rubbing elbows with the clinicians and judges, catered meals, complimentary beverages, and entertainment by country singer Susie Dobbs. This would be an excellent item to accompany the holiday gift set and would ensure the ultimate experience at the 2009 Road to the Horse in Franklin, Tennessee.

Road to the Horse is unlike any other event in the equine or entertainment industry. It is “the original colt starting challenge”. The two-day sold out event matches the absolute best horse trainers and clinicians of today against one another as they train unbroken colts to ride in just a few short hours in front of a packed live audience and television cameras. By combining education, edge-of-your-seat suspense, entertainment and the love of the horse, Road to the Horse has been responsible for solidifying the position of today’s horsemanship heros and launching the careers of tomorrow’s hottest new stars. In the process, the event itself has become a shining star of horse industry. Hosted by Rick Lamb, of RFD-TV’s The Horse Show with Rick Lamb, spectators are guaranteed not only to have a good time, but also to walk away with training knowledge that will improve their relationship with horses.

Road to the Horse is proud to partner with many outstanding companies including Horse & Rider, Mustang Makeover, Cinch, Cruel Girl, Gist Silversmiths, ABI Equine and John Deere . For more information on Road to the Horse and Tootie Bland Productions, visit www.roadtothehorse.com or call 325-736-5000.

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Road to the Horse, held in Franklin, Tennessee on March 14-15, will once again be providing the opportunity to rub elbows in the VIP Room with the clinicians and judges, as well as many other influential individuals within the equine industry. Road to the Horse would not be the same without its VIP Room, and 2009 promises to be bigger and better than ever with live entertainment.

In the past, the Road to the Horse VIP Room has provided the Texas hospitality that Road to the Horse is famous for and given guests a chance to get together, chat and enjoy themselves away from the hustle and bustle of the crowd. The VIP Room will be open Friday through Sunday, starting at 6 pm during the Shopping Extravaganza on March 13.

Being treated like royalty, each VIP member gets to enjoy catered meals, h’orderves, beverages, live video feed of the event and a lounge area with comfy sofas for relaxation. This year, VIP ticket holders will enjoy live entertainment by country singer Susie Dobbs.

Dobbs has performed at the National Finals Rodeo several times, and will be performing with her band inside the VIP Room on Friday and Saturday night from 8-10 pm. She will be performing popular songs from her three albums: Susie Dobbs, Road to Romance and Goin’ For Broke.

Any Road to the Horse fan can become a VIP member by simply going online and purchasing a VIP Pass for $250, which is good for both days of the event but does not include seating. A very small number of passes are still available so take advantage of this great opportunity while you can.

Road to the Horse is unlike any other event in the equine or entertainment industry. It is “the original colt starting challenge”. The two-day sold out event matches the absolute best horse trainers and clinicians of today against one another as they train unbroken colts to ride in just a few short hours in front of a packed live audience and television cameras. By combining education, edge-of-your-seat suspense, entertainment and the love of the horse, Road to the Horse has been responsible for solidifying the position of today’s horsemanship heros and launching the careers of tomorrow’s hottest new stars. In the process, the event itself has become a shining star of horse industry. Hosted by Rick Lamb, of RFD-TV’s The Horse Show with Rick Lamb, spectators are guaranteed not only to have a good time, but also to walk away with training knowledge that will improve their relationship with horses.

Road to the Horse is proud to partner with many outstanding companies including Horse & Rider, Mustang Makeover, Cinch, Cruel Girl, Gist Silversmiths, ABI Equine and John Deere . For more information on the Road to the Horse VIP Room and Tootie Bland Productions, visit www.roadtothehorse.com or call 325-736-5000.

A long legacy of ranching and horse breeding has caught the attention of Road to the Horse boss wrangler Thomas Saunders and led him to the Bath Brothers Ranch, owned by Randy and Laurie Dunn, in Laramie, Wyoming. Beginning in the spring of 1868, the Bath family started raising horses and cattle in the Territory of Wyoming and they still reside there today, almost 150 years later.

During the running of the remuda in the 2009 Road to the Horse, competitors John Lyons, Tommy Garland and Richard Winters will choose one lucky colt from Bath Brothers Ranch to complete the competition with. Ten three-year-old geldings have been chosen from the ranch based on their quality, conformation and disposition. Together, Saunders and Bath have looked at these horses for a period of months to decide which ones would best suite the competition.

“The first thing we look at is quality. I really like their blend of pedigree and it is a bloodline we have never tried before. Bath Brothers have been doing this for a long time and it’s an ideal ranch-type horse that will challenge the competitors,” said Road to the Horse boss wrangler Saunders.

Bath Brothers runs about 65 Blue Valentine bred mares and has 6 grandsons of Blue Valentine at stud. Since the late 1980s they have concentrated on a Blue Valentine and Driftwood cross because it is such a time tested and proven cross. Each year a production sale is held for these outstandingly bred horses in cooperation with Chip & Kathy Merritt, Sam Shoultz & Ken Matzner and Dick & Dianne Van Pelt. The annual Come to the Source Sale features weanlings through 3 and 4-year-olds and older mares.

“These horses have a great disposition; they’re easy to start, bigger boned, deeper horse that has a lot of stamina and heart. They also have a lot of mental capacity and are able to adapt to different situations. We feel honored that we were asked to participate in Road to the Horse and it’ll be interesting to take our horses down to Tennesee,” said Randy Dunn, owner of Bath Brothers Ranch.

Nutrena^®, a Road to the Horse sponsor, is providing the feed for this year’s colts from Bath Brothers Ranch. With its added fat, controlled starch formula, SafeChoice^™ minimizes the risk of nutritionally related problems that can result from high starch diets, while promoting sound growth and excellent body condition.

The Road to the Horse competition is like no other. It is “the original colt starting challenge,” combining the love for the horse, the love of competition and the love of education and entertainment. Hosted by Rick Lamb, of RFD-TV’s The Horse Show with Rick Lamb, this event has something for everyone. It is a weekend filled with endless horse-knowledge, excitement and friendly competition among some of the world’s top horseman.

Road to the Horse is proud to partner with many outstanding companies including Horse & Rider, Mustang Makeover, Cinch, Cruel Girl, and Gist Silversmiths. For more information on Road to the Horse and Tootie Bland Productions, visit www.roadtothehorse.com or call 325-736-5000.

Extremely accomplished horse trainer and clinician John Lyons is getting ready for the 2009 Road to the Horse, not by practicing and improving his training techniques but by preparing for the competition physically. Lyons will be competing March 14-15 in Franklin, Tennessee against Tommy Garland and Richard Winters for the title of Road to the Horse Champion.

“I plan on getting in as good shape physically as I can. Most of the guys out there are half my age. I’m not going to do anything different training wise though. I’ve trained 4,000 to 5,000 horses in my career, and this is a challenge because of the time restraint, but I have over 25 years of knowledge,” said Lyons.

Using the deep well of knowledge that he has acquired over the years, in combination with his new workout plan, Lyons will surely give his younger competitors a run for their money. Although his son, Josh Lyons, has competed at Road to the Horse, John has never before tested his hand in the competition.

“I went to Road to the Horse last year to cheer for Ken McNabb who is a longtime friend of mine. He went through the very first trainer certification program that I taught. Road to the Horse was such a fun thing and I thought if Tootie wanted me to, I would throw my hat in the ring,” said Lyons.

About Road to the Horse

Road to the Horse is unlike any other event in the equine or entertainment industry. It is “the original colt starting challenge”. The two-day sold out event matches the absolute best horse trainers and clinicians of today against one another as they train unbroken colts to ride in just a few short hours in front of a packed live audience and television cameras. By combining education, edge-of-your-seat suspense, entertainment and the love of the horse, Road to the Horse has been responsible for solidifying the position of today’s horsemanship heros and launching the careers of tomorrow’s hottest new stars. In the process, the event itself has become a shining star of horse industry. Hosted by Rick Lamb, of RFD-TV’s The Horse Show with Rick Lamb, spectators are guaranteed not only to have a good time, but also to walk away with training knowledge that will improve their relationship with horses.

Road to the Horse is proud to partner with many outstanding companies including Horse & Rider, Mustang Makeover, Cinch, Cruel Girl, Gist Silversmiths, ABI Equine and John Deere . For more information on Road to the Horse and Tootie Bland Productions, visit www.roadtothehorse.com or call 325-736-5000.

Battles have been fought in the name of religion, politics, honor, love and economics through the ages, but for the first time ever, rhinestones will be at the center of the fray when Road to the Horse crew and clinicians square off against Extreme Mustang Makeover trainers in the The Outrageous Rickrageous “Battle For The Bling” at Road to the Horse in Franklin, TN March 13-15, 2009.

Road to the Horse owner and producer Tootie Bland and Extreme Mustang Makeover founder Patti Colbert will be pitting two of their best horsemen and horsewomen against one another for bling and bragging rights. The spoils that will go to the victor? A rhinestone laden jacket by western couturier Rickrageous.

Bland threw down the gauntlet against Colbert during the 2008 Extreme Mustang Makeover Finals when the two entered the arena to announce the Road to the Horse Extreme Road Trip winner. Both cowgirls were glitzed-out in their Rickrageous jackets when they got into a standoff about who had the most bling. Of course, both being fashionable, strong-willed cowgirls neither would concede defeat to the other.

To settle the matter of who laid claim to the most rhinestones, Bland challenged Colbert to a competition for a new Rickrageous jacket, a challenge that Colbert quickly accepted.

Plans are for 2008 & 2009 Road to the Horse competitor Tommy Garland and his 2008 Road to the Horse colt, Spirit, to face off with the Extreme Mustang Makeover Legends division champion Mark Lyon of Arlington, Nebraska and his his three-year-old bay mustang, Christian. In addition, Bland challenged Patti to put up her toughest, wildest, most outrageously bold mustang trainer to compete against the infamous Thomas B. Saunders V, Road to the Horse boss wrangler.

Colbert came back with the statement that “a girl could beat Thomas Saunders” and put her bling where her mouth was by choosing Extreme Mustang Makeover trainer Wylene Wilson of Queen Park, AZ to go head-to-head with Saunders. Wilson competed during the Extreme Mustang legends finals (bareback and bridleless with a broken hand) on her mustang Filthy Rich.

Details of the match-up will be announced at Road to the Horse in March, but rest assured with these two dynamic cowgirls at the helm both teams will surely “bring it” in the Battle for the Bling.

Road to the Horse is unlike any other event in the equine or entertainment industry. It is “the original colt starting challenge”. The two-day sold out event matches the absolute best horse trainers and clinicians of today against one another as they train unbroken colts to ride in just a few short hours in front of a packed live audience and television cameras. By combining education, edge-of-your-seat suspense, entertainment and the love of the horse, Road to the Horse has been responsible for solidifying the position of today’s horsemanship heros and launching the careers of tomorrow’s hottest new stars. In the process, the event itself has become a shining star of horse industry. Hosted by Rick Lamb, of RFD-TV’s The Horse Show with Rick Lamb, spectators are guaranteed not only to have a good time, but also to walk away with training knowledge that will improve their relationship with horses.

Road to the Horse is proud to partner with many outstanding companies including Horse & Rider, Mustang Makeover, Cinch, Cruel Girl, Gist Silversmiths, ABI Equine and John Deere . For more information on Road to the Horse and Tootie Bland Productions, visit www.roadtothehorse.com or call 325-736-5000.