How A 21-Year-Old Trainer Builds World-Class Reining Horses In Scottsdale

A reining run can look effortless until you realize what’s happening: a quarter horse moving at full speed, sliding to a stop, spinning with precision, and changing leads on a draped rein without the rider “holding” the horse together. That kind of softness at speed doesn’t come from tricks. It comes from training choices, timing, and a mindset that keeps the horse comfortable enough to be athletic.

We’re joined by Luca Fappani, a Scottsdale, Arizona, reining horse trainer who started his own business at 21 and competes across the country. We talk about the growth of reining through The Last Cowboy and the Run For A Million in Las Vegas, plus how YouTube and social media open the western lifestyle to people who’ve never stepped into a barn. If you’ve ever wondered why these events sell out, why prices and interest have surged, or what makes reining such a spectator sport, this conversation connects the dots.

Then we get into training philosophy and horse care. Luca breaks down the “head down” debate in reining horse training, how relaxation changes posture and performance, and why he starts young horses in a hackamore to build body control before focusing on more direct face pressure. We also talk real-life barn management: balancing show season travel with keeping two-year-olds progressing at home, staffing assistants and grooms, turnout and daily movement, and practical nutrition like alfalfa cubes, grass hay, and individualized grain.

If you enjoy honest talk about horsemanship, performance horses, and the mental game of competition, hit subscribe, share this with a horse friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

Check out Luca's website - https://lucafappani.com/

Subscribe to Luca's YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@LucaFappaniPerformanceHorses

Transcript

Welcome To Harness Up

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to Harness Up with Haste Draft Horses and Mules, where we talk all things related to these magnificent animals. From their history and uses to training and care, we cover it all. Join us as we chat with experts and enthusiasts in the field, share stories and tips, and explore the world of draft horses and mules. Whether you're a seasoned owner or just curious about these gentle giants, this podcast is for you. So harness up and join Haste Draft Horses and Mules for some lively discussions about these God-given creatures.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Howdy folks, Stephen Haste here with Harness Up Podcast with Haste Draft Horses and Mules. Thank you all for coming on again and listening. We sure appreciate you very, very much. Guys, I'm here tonight with a guy that I am super excited to announce to you guys and introduce to y'all, Mr. Luca Fapani. Luca, go ahead and tell the folks a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and kind of what you do in the equine world.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Steven, thanks so much for having me on here. Basically, I'm a reigning horse trainer here in Scottsdale, Arizona. I'm 21 years old. I opened up my own horse training business last year. I've been doing it my whole life though, regardless. So what we do is train horses mostly two years old to, you know, for the most part, seven or eight years old. We do have some that are older than that, but we specialize in the aged horses. They're all quarter horses, all in what we call raining. And we go and compete around the world. There's raining all over. It's really big in Italy, really big in Germany, and then of course America and Brazil. It's getting really strong, also. So it's kind of a worldwide sport. A lot of places we compete. We compete in Oklahoma quite a bit. We compete in Texas quite a bit. We compete in Arizona, Colorado, California. So really all over the place, and then a bunch of few and far places in between. But most of my week is just spent horseback and then traveling around trying to win as much money as we can for these owners.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Guys, also get on and check out his stuff. This guy here, he comes from a long line of this rain and training. And uh, you didn't get this just by getting up overnight and doing it. Tell them about your dad, who your dad is and his his experience in this business.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

So my roots, like you kind of mentioned, run pretty deep. My dad is the winningest all-time rider in the sport of reigning. He's won over his career over$10 million of prize money. So he's been doing it his whole life, also. He's an immigrant, he's from Italy. He came over here when he was about 18 years old and started working with some really prominent trainers and just building his own thing. His dad wasn't a horse trainer or anything like that. He built most of it himself with some good backing and good opportunities from his father. So he came over here, started his business. He opened up his own training business in 2003. I was born in 2004, so I've been around for pretty much that entire business and seen the ups, I've seen the downs, but he's had a really successful and strong career. Luckily enough to, you know, be born into this family and this reigning sport. I started riding when I was pretty young, of course. So one of the first things I learned how to do was ride from my mom. And, you know, it wasn't it wasn't the biggest thing for me. I think that growing up around it, it you know wasn't that exciting for me. I wanted to go see other stuff. So as a kid, I went ahead and I, you know, rode motocross quite a bit and then played baseball and did all the stuff. But then the horses intrigued me more and more. By the time I was about 12 years old, is when I really wanted to start showing and start getting into it. So that's what I did. My mom gave me an opportunity with one of her nice horses to start learning how to ride and show competitively. And so, you know, starting when I was about 12 years old until I was 15, I just completed in competed in youth reigning classes. And then beyond that, I went on when I was about 15 to start competing in non-professional classes, which means that you have to own your own horse. And so, but there is prize money. So I started competing and trying to win some prize money. And then when I was about 15 or 16 years old, is when I really started competing hard in those non-professional events, and I had a really, really big year that kind of kick-started me. My parents just gave me some really nice horses, and I worked really hard with those horses, trying to show them to the best of my ability. And that year I won over$200,000, which was sort of a benchmark in the industry at that point. No non-professional had won that much money before. And now it's been surpassed quite a bit because the money keeps getting higher, and there's some really great non-professional riders. But at the time it was a big deal. Um, that kind of gave me the confidence of okay, good enough showman. Now I just need to learn the roots and the horse training of it a little bit more. I knew a little bit, but not near enough to be a professional. So then from 16 until now, and for the rest of my life, I'll be learning. But I did a lot of learning from 16 to 20 or so. Um two-year-olds, horsemanship, learning how to get into a horse's brain, learning just how to become the most effective trainer that I could be. And I worked for multiple different trainers through that time, and all that led to me opening up my business last year, riding for myself and my own clients.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

So you're in you're in Arizona, correct?

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, Scottsdale.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

It's huge out there, ain't it?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, Scottsdale for the raining is a bit of a hot spot. For me, there's two hot spots of raining in America. Number one is North Texas. You got Gainesville, Aubrey, Pilot Point. That's a really strong area for raining. Obviously, land there isn't quite as expensive as other places, yet it's really close to the shows. So that's a really important place where a ton of trainers are. The second one is right here in Scottsdale, Arizona, and we're all located within about 10 miles of each other. It's it's it's not spread out in Arizona. If you get out of this area we're from called Rio Verde, there's not much. There's maybe a couple raining trainers, but not a lot. But within that Rio Verde area, that 10 mile radius, it's, you know, there's probably 30 different training barns out there. I think that there's a lot of wealthy people who enjoy the weather here and live here and want to ride non-professionally, which provides huge opportunity for trainers. And then also, it's just perfect weather to train horses. It doesn't get crazy cold. The summer's really hot, but it's really hot a lot of places. And most of the year it doesn't rain a ton, and it's just consistent weather where we get to train.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Let me tell you something though. You you've been back east, I'm sure, some.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

The weather here, you know, Arizona 100 and our 100s, two different kinds of hundreds.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

100%.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

We got that humidity that just soaks you. You walk outside and you're just soaking wet. That dry heat's a little easier to handle for me.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

I mean, for the horses too, for sure, because that humidity makes it way harder for them to recover, as you know, I'm sure, and kind of get back their air. The dry, I mean, the sun here is so hot, but if you have a nice covered arena with a tall roof, you're you're in you're in pretty good shape, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah, because like when I'm out west, my wife's family, they're from Montana, around Billings area. And I go out there, you know, it's 90 degrees in the summertime. You walk under a shade tree, though, it drops. You're cool. Yeah. Absolutely. I can see where that it's a huge benefit out there in Arizona for a lot of trainers.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah, the the consistency for training the horses, it's really nice.

Run For A Million And Media Boom

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Oh, it sure is. And also, you had a pretty big accomplishment getting into the run for the million. That's where I kind of learn about you. I watched the show with my wife, The Last Cowboy, I think it was called, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah, the last cowboy.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

And I found that out. I've seen you on the show, but I really didn't know about you until you came across my YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

So absolutely. The run for a million for our reigning industry has been a huge opportunity and huge, huge selling point for bigger brands, bigger money to get into the sport because of The Last Cowboy is a reality TV show, following us trainers as we go along and train these horses, which follows us moving towards the run for a million. So The Last Cowboy follows us as we prepare for the Run for a Million. And it's huge because the Run for a Million became a real spectator event to where it's held at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas. So it's not a basic dusty horse show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's a place where the owners, the spectators can really enjoy themselves and they can really enjoy the raining while also enjoying, you know, some luxury as well, being in Vegas and whatnot. So that was a huge hit for the Run for a Million. And that's why the seats have sold out pretty much every year it's gone on. I think it's happened six or seven years now. And people at the beginning questioned whether raining could handle that kind of stage. And, you know, it's handled it, handled it in an unbelievable fashion. It gets bigger every year, that sport gets bigger and bigger every year, and the TV show continues going on, which to me, if it continues going, it has to be doing successful enough to stay on TV. So all that are huge points for growing the industry, growing the purses, the prize money of raining and everything. And then my YouTube channel is just more of me trying to get raining out in front of a ton of people because I think that social media is a huge blessing to be able to reach people who would never see us if it weren't for that social media. So I'm really putting out my YouTube vlogs, stuff about bits and spurs, all kinds of free content that allows people who have never been a part of raining or a part of horses to get into it, enjoy it, start to understand it, and hopefully start to immerse themselves.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

It's really YouTube has really grew into a thing like I know I find myself watching people on there. Like I watch your channel all the time. I really enjoy it because it gives me a behind the scenes look of your lifestyle and how you do with horses. And think about it, a lot of people out there in the world, they don't own horses. They live in a high rise in a city somewhere, and they want horses. They they're dying for it. They just they gotta have them, but they can't. This gives them a look into it and they really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

That's exactly what I was going off of is there there's this guy who does cattle ranching in, I think South Dakota it is, and he just does what I'm kind of doing for raining. I'm kind of going off of his model, and he has hundreds of thousands of subscribers. And if you read the comments, it's all I'm from New York City, I'm from here, I'm from there, we see none of this. Me sitting down and watching this at night is really relaxing, and I really enjoy it. There's so many comments like that of people who would love to get to have that Western lifestyle, being around horses, being around livestock, not being around so many buildings. And that's a total foreign world to them, which I could never imagine. That's why sometimes I feel silly recording some of the stuff I record. But to some people, they've never seen that, and that's extremely interesting for them. So I really try to put out our lifestyle that we're blessed enough to live and get to show people and hopefully get them interested and really get them excited about horses and western in general, and then specifically for me, raining horses.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Are you talking about that boy Brent Ketchum? I think is his name. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That guy. There you go. See, I'm in the draft horse world. Draft horse and mules. That's what we do for a living full time, you know. He you're in the raining world, and he's a cattle rancher. Me and you're both watching him. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah. Bringing everybody together. No, it's it's a great deal.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Yeah, it sure is. It's an awesome deal. Guys, I'm sorry for the lighting on my end. I'm in the truck because, yeah, the kids are in bed, and I didn't want to wake them up with my loud mouth. So uh I come out to the truck and sit and do this podcast. So um hopefully it's all right for you guys and you can see it good. But Luca, I'm glad to have you on here, and we're really digging into you and what you do, and I think your YouTube channel is just gonna be a great thing, and it's grew pretty quick too.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Yeah, no, absolutely. I I was lucky enough that I have a good amount of following from my showing, people that watch my show videos and all that kind of stuff. So I got a little bit of a head start. But regardless, over I think the four or five videos they've put together, you know, well over fifty thousand views, I think close to a hundred even. So as long as I stay consistent and and it's solid content, which it sounds like it is, I think that it can be beneficial to people, which then in turn will be beneficial to me too.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

Oh, it's gonna be very beneficial. I mean, it is. Also, you know, you're gonna grow from it too, more than you ever realize. Because our channel, that's how we sell a lot of horses, is our YouTube channel. We put videos on, people call and buy 'em right off that YouTube, and it works. You know what? You get the YouTube analytics. Most people are watching it on TV. That's the main thing on the big screen. And people call me all the time. I'm sitting here watching you on the TV. They and YouTube has really took over TV.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yeah, absolutely. I've seen the same thing as far as it used to all obviously be mobile devices and whatever else, and now it's like you're saying, moved more towards people are watching their favorite YouTube creators more than cable television or the news or whatever it may be. So I think it's a huge opportunity for for everybody that's getting into that.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

It sure is, for sure. And you was on that show Run for the Million. That's a reality show, so you kind of got that TV presence already, anyway.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah. I've I've had a ton, I've had a ton of practice because with The Last Cowboy and the Run for a Million, it really took what was a smaller industry and more of just uh performance horses, and you know, it's a niche where there's a lot of people that absolutely love it, and that's their entire lives, but not a ton beyond that. And it has taken it to the TV and taken it to where people who have never seen horses or maybe just know a little bit have really gotten into raining. And we have seen an increase in horse prices, seen an increase in viewership at the shows, seen an increase in the amount of shows, just an overall increase in every single aspect of what we're doing to where it has just gotten really strong. And then what I've used from being on The Last Cowboy for most of its seasons, as well as doing my subscription service, I've gotten a ton of practice getting in front of camera and trying to be as best as I can for those around me. That's one of my biggest new things is at LucaFapani.com, I have my training service where I train two-year-olds, I train older horses, and it's raining specific. However, there are a lot of broad topics on there where whether you just trail ride, whether you just want your horse to be quiet as he lopes around, the biggest question I get is how do you get your horse to put their head down for people just trying to impress their friends and make that round-looking horse? That is a lot of what I cover on there. And for me, I really want to try to give back to the community as good as I can, to where all these people support me by watching us, by supporting our shows, by sponsoring our shows, to where I want to give back to the people that are actually supporting us. And that service is a way of me to do that, to get reigning training broad to a lot of people that don't have access to that.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Do you know what else spiked the horse industry more than anything? Yellowstone.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Absolutely. More Taylor Sheridan.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

More Taylor Sheridan. Thank you, Taylor Sheridan. That's what I say to a lot of people. You know, when that show first came out, we was we sell draft horses. And we sell some crossbreds that ride, you know, draft crosses and some standard bread freesian crosses, different things. Everybody and their brother wanted to ride or drive a horse.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Absolutely. I mean, yeah, Taylor, Taylor has been such a big part of Western as a whole. Taylor, the reason that Taylor is so influential to me, I ride multiple horses for Taylor. He's he's a client of mine in the reigning business. And the biggest thing about him is that he's genuinely passionate about the sport. He's not one of those guys that come and go, like some of these brands that you see that show up, hit big, and then they're gone before you know it. Taylor has genuine passion for reigning. I remember we used to show at a show in Burbank, California, which is basically Los Angeles, which is near where he was from at the time. And this is when I didn't know who Taylor Sheridan was. Everyone else did because he's been a very successful rider for a long time of shows. But me as a kid, I didn't know who he was. And most of the other people didn't know who he was either at the time. And he was out there riding, taking lessons with a local trainer from LA, just genuinely enjoying the horses. And he turned that love for the horses into the run for millions. Yellowstone, he's featured training of horses, cutting cow horse reigning multiple times. And that's the reason I think he's been so influential is because it's not a fad for him. He is genuinely a man who loves and enjoys the Western lifestyle.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

You know, too, also, we were talking, you know, before we started recording some, too. I mean, we're in draft horses and mules. You're in the reining horse. But they go hand in hand. A horse is a horse and always will be a horse. And it's the same type of people, you know, we're all dealing with people that love horses. But Road to the Horse, I go every year. I'm a huge fan of that competition up in Lexington, Kentucky. And you were talking about Nick, Nick Dallers, he's gonna be there this year. But I set up a booth at Road to the Horse. And people ask me, why in the world does a draft horse, a mule guy, go to a quarter horse cult starting competition and set up a booth? Networking and meeting people. And you know, I get I've got so much business off my booth at Road to the Horse, it's unreal.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I I can understand why. To me, Road of the Horse is the perfect place where horsemen like you or I come together and really just enjoy watching incredible horsemen work with horses and get horses to do stuff that a lot of other people wouldn't be able to get them to do. That's where when I was learning to start cults and work two-year-olds, Nick Dowers taught me so much because he's such a genius in getting into a horse's brain. And I think that's why he was a champion, and that's why, if I were to guess, he would have continuous success in a competition like Road to the Horse, because he can turn his ideas into the horse's idea without forcing it upon them. They they choose it themselves through his slight pressures and releases, and it's unbelievable to follow. And I think that I appreciate that. I'm sure you appreciate that. And I think that that's why that's a great event for people to follow, watch, and and go towards is because horsemen are horsemen, like you said, horses are horses. So for me, I can apply stuff that Nick Dowers and those guys at the Road of the Horse are doing just the same way that I'm sure you can.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

I appreciate what you do. Like watching those competitions, watching you on Run for the Million, you know, I started watching some raining after that just on YouTube because it was so cool. And I want to see it in person. I gotta go sometime. But when you all come in that arena, full force, and you're doing those patterns, you're changing leads, and you're stopping and sliding, that has got to be a feeling sitting on that horse's back like nothing other.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Absolutely. I mean, raining for me is is so impressive to watch other people and and just to genuinely watch as just someone who likes to ride horses myself, of the control that these riders have at such high speed. It is so hard because you look at cutting, you look at cow horse, you look at show jumping, whatever it is, horses are thinking on their own. Those horses are a little bit strong in the rider's hands, which they're supposed to be. That that that's not there's not a problem with that. That's just the training and the way that it is. And the reining, that horse has to function moving extremely fast, completely on a drape rein, which is way harder. Than it sounds to go really fast on a horse without touching their face and have them stay underneath you, soft, not leaning left and right. It's incredibly difficult. So when you have a horse that can go super fast, run, slide, back up, spin four times each way with extreme athleticism, run wide open circles, slow down in one stride, all without touching that horse's face. This is stuff that's extremely hard. And I think that anybody who knows horses, appreciates horses, trains horses, can appreciate the difficulty of that level. And I think that that's the reason that the non-professional industry in our sport of reigning is so large, is because anybody can get on a really good trained reigning horse and put a pattern together. And that's because that horse learns how to do all those maneuvers all by themselves. And then not to mention the thrill of the sliding stop or the thrill of big time turnarounds. All of that stuff just adds into an amazing experience of riding a reigning horse to where everybody wants to be a part of.

Head Down Debate And Athletic Balance

SPEAKER_02 23:06

And I can't imagine what it takes. You have to be able to, you have to have the want first. You got to be able to work. Getting those horses to do that, going back to the head down, that amazes me too. That head is I mean, it's just unreal to watch.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

And a lot of people are questionable about the head down. They're like, it's unnatural, it's this, it's that. Here's what I have to say about that is when I train my two-year-olds, you know, right now it's March. We started the two-year-olds in January. Those horses, at the beginning, they're going around with their head kind of high because they're in a defensive state of mind. They're they're very cautious of their surroundings, they're, you know, they're being natural horses. The moment that these reigning horses these days, with as well bred and specified as they are in their sport, the moment that horse starts to quit spooking and they start to just lope around the arena, that head just starts dropping on their own. Because for me, a horse is in its most athletic position when its neck is downwards, below level, because that then allows their back and their withers to come up. To me, a horse is built like when a horse has their neck up in the air, then that back is a hollowed shape underneath it, versus when that neck is below level, then it's the opposite. The neck is down and the back is almost in a round upward shape. And that allows for smoother lead changes, that allows for more athletic spins, that allows for deeper and more athletic stops. And you don't have to force a horse to get there, which is something that a lot of people are confused about. There are some horses that naturally do not want to get in that round position. And those horses, a lot of the best reigning trainers don't force them to put them in a position that they're not comfortable with. A Marin won the fraternity a couple of years ago, which is our largest event. Her name was Crystallized Whiskey. If you watch her video on YouTube, her head was in the air the entire time because she was able to be extremely athletic in that position. However, for the most part, our horses that are extremely athletic have their neck down in order to bring that back up. And there's trainers like myself or Casey Deary is one of the best in the industry right now. And they can get that horse to do that with just a hackamore, never seeing a bit in their life.

unknown 25:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

Do you do you use a bit or do you start them in a hackamore?

SPEAKER_01 25:39

We start all of our horses in a hackamore. I understand using a bit for cool starting, big, strong horses, road to the horse because there's a little bit more connection there. But being as specialized as we are, we start ours in the hackamore, and I stay in the hackamore for three, four months, five months sometimes. Because for me, if I get a horse to give in the face too much, if I teach them how to give to my hand pressure too early, then it disconnects a lot of my other parts, like my spin and my slide. For me, when I ask a horse to spin or I ask my horse to slide, I don't want that horse to give their face. I want them to leave their face level and engage their hind quarters in order to do all those maneuvers. And so for me with the hackamore, I'm able to connect the hind quarters and connect their body before I put that bit in their mouth to start getting a little more softness.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It all comes together. And going back to the horses' necks and stuff, you know, to me, this goes back to draft horses too. A horse's neck is supposed to come out of its chest and come up, come out, you know. A lot of these newer bred horses, draft horses and Dutch harnesses, and a lot of horses, their neck comes way up out of their shoulders and goes up. And I I really understand what you're talking about there, how their neck comes out and how they keep their head low.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Yeah. I mean you you go and look at some in the pasture, and they're not gonna be dragging their nose on the floor, which my horses never really get to the point of dragging their nose on the floor because I I don't work on that much softness that much. However, you'll see a horse loping around, a reigning horse at least, with their head below their withers as they just travel across the pasture if they're not spooking or not scared. If a horse is scared in a defensive part of their brain, their head is going to be up to try to see as much as they can. But when that horse is comfortable, which we want all of our reigning horses to be quiet and comfortable, they're traveling around pretty level.

Training Business Realities On The Road

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Yeah, they they really do. I know what you're saying exactly. I I see it. So, what is the hardest part about what you do? What do you think is the most difficult part? Is it the press? Is it the finding the horses, or what is it?

SPEAKER_01 27:59

I think that the biggest obstacle that us reigning trainers deal with nowadays is balancing getting the horses at home trained while going to as many shows to win as much money as possible. In the cutting industry of cutting horses, they are at shows nonstop, but they bring their three-year-olds with them for reference. A lot of our shows are for four-year-olds to eight-year-olds. Once it comes to the second half of the year, the three-year-olds start showing. So a concern for us is if we're gone the whole first half of the year showing, how are our three-year-olds getting trained and prepared for their shows in the second half of the year? The cutting horse trainers just drag their three-year-olds on the road with them everywhere they go, so they continue getting trained. For us Rainers, it's not as easy. We don't get to ride as many horses per day as the cutting trainers do because our workouts take a little bit longer and take a little bit of extra time. So these days, in order to compete, make a living, be at the top, you have to be at the shows winning a lot of money. And our first show in the industry was in February. Now there's been two shows in March. There's going to be a three-week-long show in April, and it's going to snowball, snowball, snowball. So you need to be able to be on the road, yet bring some of your three-year-olds on the road, also, yet also have a strong enough team at home that the two-year-olds and the three-year-olds that aren't on the road with you are getting trained, also. So it's a lot of management from the head trainer perspective that a lot of people don't see. It would be great if we just got to ride our set amount of horses per day, go show them, and it was that simple. But instead, we're riding a ton of extra horses at the shows. We're worrying about at home making sure that the horses are doing the right thing. There's assistant trainers on them who, for the most part, do a great job, but they still have stuff to learn. So you're trying to manage and teach them as best as you can in the background. So there's a lot on our minds trying to keep all the horses trained at once.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

How many people work for you in your business at your barn?

SPEAKER_01 30:12

For me, we train 35 horses, and then I'm the head trainer. I ride about 20 of those horses, and then I have two assistants that ride. One of them rides about 10 horses, the other one rides the remaining five. So that's the way it's split up. And then in order to keep us all going, I have two grooms that stay in the barn all day grooming, bathing, and then putting horses in the hot walker or the turnouts or stuff like this.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

Are all your horses mainly in the barn all the time? You don't turn them out much, do you?

SPEAKER_01 30:46

I like to turn my horses out when I can. However, for the most part, training as many as we are, we ride them five days a week on average. And then on the weekend, I like to get them one turnout day. And then on the other weekend day, I like them to go on the hot walker. I don't let my horses sit in their stall even one day per week. I think that for their brains as well as for their soundness, it's most efficient and effective for them to be moving around and getting some sort of stimulation every single day. However, I don't like to ride my horses too much. There's some guys that feel more comfortable training their horses seven, six days a week. I'm a guy that I like to train them five days a week, and that feels like enough for me to where I can let them enjoy the weekend just, you know, being on their own.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

And you may need to enjoy the weekend too. It's good to have a break every now and then.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Absolutely. And especially once that show season starts, it's hard because, like we were just talking about, you get home from a long show, the first thing on your mind is getting the ones that weren't at that show ready for their next event. And it's easy to work 24-7. However, God, family, and mental health is actually a huge part of my life. And I think it should be a huge part of everybody's life to where those horses are going to get trained. It's a part of God's plan as long as you're working hard and doing your best and being a good person. So I work my butt off when I'm working, but then we also need that time to commit to our faith as well as our family.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Oh, yeah, definitely. You have to. We take every Sunday off. We don't we don't go to the barn but to feed on Sunday. And uh that's home day and stay home with the kids and hang out and relax and do all that. But uh, it is really, really important. When I was in Arizona, I've been out there a lot. I've been through Wickenburg, I've sold horses in Phoenix and you know, in the southwest part of the United States. Hay is kind of hard to get out there. And we was in Vegas once and we stopped at a horse motel in Vegas to stay all night. And the only thing they had to feed our horses was hay pellets. Really? Do you have a hard time getting hay out there? Do you ship it in, or what do you feed your horses for hay?

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Our horses get, for the most part, alfalfa cubes, which those get shipped in from all kinds of places. A big one, there's a big factory in Idaho that does a ton. I don't know at my my parents' facilities where I train, I don't know exactly what manufacturer they get their alfalfa cubes from. However, we feed them alfalfa cubes twice a day, watered down by water. Our vets think that it helps them digest better. However, feeding the, you know, 100 plus horses on our property, the convenience of the alfalfa cubes helps over the free alfalfa. Yet they also get grass hay for lunch. They get a flake or two of grass hay. So they've always got forage in front of them. And then on top of that, they get grain, however necessary for that horse. Some horses get a scoop twice a day. Some horses just get a small handful with some supplements twice a day. So that part's all fit to the horse, but we definitely are blessed to where our horses get really good nutrition, really high quality food, and I think that's why they're all, you know, fat, shiny, and happy.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Yeah, and grooming's a big part of it too. It's here in Kentucky in the winter, we got so much mud. We don't get a lot of snow, we get mud. And if you turn the horses out, excuse me, it's hard to keep them clean.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Yeah, absolutely. For us in Arizona, you know, that that climate's huge to where, you know, it's not super rainy or anything like that. But the dust in Arizona is crazy strong to where our horses, the shavings, the moment they come out of the bag, give it a day or two, and they are really dry and there's that grain kind of going everywhere. So it is a big thing to keep them clean and groomed to where we have a specific regimen with every single horse that they get every single day to keep them to their best. However, a lot of it in keeping them in their best shape is is forage, like we were talking about.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Definitely, yeah. I agree with you 100%. We feed, we ship all our hay in. We buy Western Alfalfa by the four by four by eight bells. You can actually see one on the on the back of my truck right now. And we feed straight alfalfa and uh we just ship it in. That's what we do, and feed everything straight, pretty much free choice, all they want.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Yeah, absolutely. It sounds great for them.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

But draft horses eat a lot more than raining horses.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Yeah, I'm sure they're about twice the size. Our raining horses, they're all quarter horses, and you know, it's not very often that they're far above twelve hundred pounds.

Ideal Reining Horse Size

SPEAKER_02 35:30

What size do you like in a raining horse? Like what height? What's the perfect height for a raining horse?

SPEAKER_01 35:36

For for us, smaller horses, in my opinion, are at a little bit more of an advantage because they're the the arena doesn't move as fast for them. And what I mean by that is the larger horse's stride is obviously going to be larger as well. So they get less strides per circle than a horse that's a little bit smaller with a smaller stride. And each of those strides allows me to be more patient with that horse as far as setting up for slowdowns, setting up for lead changes, whatever it may be. The slower that it comes at that horse, the easier it is for that horse to prepare for it. So that's why I prefer a smaller, small strided horse. You know, for me on hands-wise, I think a lot of them are between 12 and and 15 on the high end. I prefer more towards the the 13 range, which seems like a small horse. Luckily, I'm a smaller guy, so I don't need my horse to be very big to carry me. But I think that those advantages of having a small horse is why you see so many of those successful reigners be at that smaller size.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

When I go to quarter horse shows or I see quarter horses, I just think, how are they that small? Because when you're loose to looking at 17, 18 hand horses every day, huge, you see a small quarter horse, you're like, whoa.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Yeah, absolutely. It's it's unbelievable the amount of athleticism and really the strength that they do have, even at such a small size.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

It is. They're they're a versatile horse. I think I think the quarter horse is one of the most versatile horses there is because there's so many disciplines they can do.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Absolutely. You go to the all-around shows, and there's a lot of those smaller horses doing the reining, cutting events and stuff like that. But then you can travel over to another pen, same breed, and you know, they're there's 16-hand horses, plenty of them out there doing the all-around, to where they're doing the English classes, the hunter under saddle, all kinds of stuff. Even the halter horses are quite a bit bigger than the reiners. So it's interesting to where the same breed can be varied in a way that it almost looks like completely different horses.

Pressure, Confidence, And Faith

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Well, the reigning competitions and everything, you're in a super high competitive thing. I mean, it's very competitive. I watched from Atlas Cowboy, it's tense. Absolutely. I was like, oh my lord, it's crazy. How do you prepare for that and deal with that when you're in those competitions? You just have to think outside the box, or what do you do?

SPEAKER_01 38:05

It's all mental and confidence-wise for me. Horse training is so tricky because it'll take your confidence so fast. To me, you never really figure out horse training 100%. There's always going to be a horse that comes through with a new problem that you've never had before. There's always going to be a horse that stumps you for a little while. So it's easy to be at a horse show and then all of a sudden you're stumped with a problem and you know you're stressing, you're losing sleep over it. It's really difficult. The biggest thing for me is to keep mentally sound. And the biggest thing for me is my faith in that. I know that as long as I am doing the best thing for my horses and I'm trying my best and putting all of my time into those horses, that God's going to guide them and put them in the correct place for where they need to be. So for me, it's not going good. Sometimes it shows, regardless. I stay calm, I stay patient, I don't override my horses. I I don't I don't start going off script just because things are going out of plan. So to me, the best competitors are the ones that stay the most calm and level-headed as far as not panicking when things aren't going their way, not panicking when there's a speed bump in the road. All of that mental game and staying as cool as you can is to me what makes the best competitor. So it's hard sometimes with the press and all the people watching and something as big as the run for a million, all the nerves and knowing that there's thousands of people that are going to be watching you that night. But for me, it's all about erasing yourself from that scenario, just focusing on what's best for you and your horse.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

That guy that won that run for a million on the last show, he was totally not expected to win it, was he?

SPEAKER_01 39:49

No, that's the beautiful part of reigning. His name was Arnaud Girenon from France. He flew his horse all the way over from France and had an unbelievable run to where he wasn't even on anybody's radar to win. And he went in there and genuinely, you know, smoked everybody. He he had a solid run with no mistakes and big maneuvers. It was an amazing moment for reigning because America is the center of the sport. However, that was a beautiful moment where someone from a total different space, doing total totally different methods and everything, was able to beat all of those American millions and millions and millions of dollars of riders. He came in there and put a run together that was genuinely better than everybody else's. So that's just a great example of where anything is possible. A guy like that putting the work in, working super hard, believing in his horse, and it it all paid off. They looked in sync that entire week, and it really just came through at the right moment.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Guys, go back and watch Luca on The Last Cowboy. You can find it probably on online on platforms, I'm sure. The last season, it was a really good season. And uh it was the first one I had watched, and my wife got me to watch it, and I I thought I wasn't really she watches those shows all the time, horse shows like that. You know, I'm with horses all day, every day, and I work at home at night, you know, uploading and I really don't usually watch horse shows when I get home. But I watched the first one and I was hooked. I was like, I gotta watch this, and we watched the whole season. It was really good.

Where To Follow Luca

SPEAKER_01 41:23

No, thanks, thanks so much for watching that. I I think that the Last Cowboy is a great simple way for people to start to understand the sport, meet some of the riders, watch some of the horses, get to appreciate the sport and all the behind the scenes that goes into it. And I think that that's something really powerful for people. I think that that's what I'm trying to work towards on my YouTube as well.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Do you have any last words to tell the people out there? Anything else you want to say to them?

SPEAKER_01 41:49

Really, for me, obviously I'm talking to a totally different audience here than usually I'm talking to with your draft horses and the amazing stuff that you guys are doing. For me, I would just I love looking at different aspects and different disciplines in the horse world that that show horsemanship and skill. And for me, reigning is is a really good display of that. Because as I already explained, those horses are so mentally trained to do everything, incredibly impressive stuff on their own. And when you talk about what reining is, reining is horses doing a pattern consisting of slides, spins, and circles. There's no way to explain it to make it sound as exciting as it actually is. You have to get on YouTube, you have to watch a run of these horses, and you can see that those horses look calm, they look happy, yet they're doing stuff that you would never think that a little quarter horse could do. So I encourage people to go check it out a little bit. If you want to see the behind the scenes, look into my stuff at Luca Fapani Raining on YouTube. I'm also on every social platform of Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook to where I'm trying to show people the behind the scenes and what an amazing lifestyle it is to train these horses and be privileged enough to ride with these horses every day, while also what an amazing career it can make for us as well.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

That's great. And I appreciate you coming on here tonight. I it's after midnight here in Kentucky, guys. If I'm yawning and look a little tired, it's probably because I am. But uh I'm trying my best. We we're there's a three-hour time difference here, and what y'all don't know is this is the second time we've done this. We did it the first time tonight, and something went on technically with some recording errors, and we had to redo it, but that's fine. I've enjoyed both times, and I really feel like I know you a little bit better now, Luca, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

No, I mean the same to you, and I really appreciate you bringing on your platform here and talking to me a little bit about what you do, and also allowing me to share what we do and and really just trying to grow the audience of the whole Western world. I think there's amazing stuff going on for horses and livestock right now, and I really look forward to see where it's going.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

We may even Bring some English people into the Western world. I think it happens every day.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

It does absolutely so. I look forward to that.

SPEAKER_02 44:07

Guys, thank you all for watching. Check out Lucas stuff. I watch his channel, his YouTube channel. It's super cool. Get on there and subscribe to it and check him out. And get on our website. Our website is www.drafthorses and mulesforsale.com. We're all across all social media platforms under at Haste Draft Horses and Mules. Guys, God bless you. I appreciate you. Until the next one, keep harnessing up your horses, and we'll talk to you real soon.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

As another captivating episode of Harness Up with Haste Draft Horses and Mules draws to a close, we extend our sincere gratitude to our listeners for joining us on this enlightening journey. We hope today's discussions have deepened your appreciation and understanding of these magnificent creatures. Remember, the adventure continues beyond this podcast. Stay connected with us on social media and share your stories. For more information and to explore further, visit draft horses and mulesforsale dot com. Thank you for being part of our community. Until next time, keep harnessing your curiosity and passion for these God given creatures. Farewell for now.