Montezuma County Fairgrounds, Cortez, Colorado
2012 Rescued to Ride
Rescued to Ride is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization, founded and operating out of Steamboat Springs, CO. As a charitable and educational organization, Rescued to Ride is dedicated to training horses from compatible horse rescue organizations, decreasing the number of unwanted horses within North America, and educating the public on the issue of horse overpopulation, while teaching effective horsemanship techniques at every level.
Working with a skilled crew of individuals, and decades of experience combined, Rescued to Ride not only offers effective training for the horses, but also demonstrates unique colt-starting techniques, and general horsemanship to the live audiences it presents to at equine venues across the country. For more information visit them at www.rescuedtoride.org
Rescued to Ride is pleased to bring trainers Scott Whinfrey, Jeff Derby and Jason Patrick to the Four States Ag Expo this year. See below about these champion horsemen with a heart for helping horses.
This year, the featured horse rescues bringing excellent adoption prospects to the Ag Expo Rescued to Ride event include Fresh Start Horse Rescue
(Dolores, CO) and Four Corners Equine Rescue (Aztec, NM). Visit their website for details about the horses they've nominated for the Rescued to Ride program--and enjoy the preview photos below.
About the Trainers:
Scott Whinfrey:
Raised in suburban California, Scott was a cowboy without a horse until he was teenager. Knowing all he wanted to do was be a cowboy, Scott worked on ranches in Oregon and Washington while attending college before setting out on a world-wide adventure to learn horsemanship.
Scott worked on some of the worlds largest and most remote ranches in Australia, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina. At each destination he left his western tack at home in order to ride and work the same as the locals starting hundreds of young horses and driving countless herds of cattle along the way. Those experiences, combined with five years back in the US training world class reining and reined cow horses, have made Scott an accomplished horseman and colt starter.
Scott runs a training facility and farrier business located in Steamboat Springs, CO where he specializes in reined cowhorse and Ranch Horse Versatility competitions.
Watch for him out on the road showing some nice young horses this coming show season. After long days of instruction and training Scott enjoys playing the guitar and singing cowboy songs or building his own tack.
Jeff Derby:
A lifelong student of horsemanship.
Jeff’s passion for horses and working livestock began early on his grandparent’s small beef farm in rural Ohio. He got his first horse at age four, and they’ve been a huge part of his life ever since. His initial jobs away from the house were cleaning stalls at nearby horse operations, often in exchange for being able to work horses with the trainers.
Jeff attended The Ohio State University, where he lived and worked at the OSU Horse Barn and Research Center. It was while there that he began taking in outside colts to start and riding horses for the public. Jeff finished his degree in animal science at the University of Tennessee at Martin, where he was a four year member of the college rodeo team. He went on to compete on the pro circuit for a number of years, riding bulls in the PRCA and PBR. Throughout college and his professional rodeo career, he continued to take in outside horses and do daywork for local cattle producers. During that time, he also attended horseshoeing school, and began shoeing for the public as well. With the birth of his first daughter, Jeff quit the rodeo circuit and went into the equine business full time. It was around that time that he was first exposed to some ‘better horsemanship.’
"I guess looking back; I was always searching for a better way. I don’t think I ever liked to see the horse get bothered. I’d heard of Ray Hunt, and about some things that people had seen him get done with horses, so I figured it had to be possible- to work with horses in a way that fit them better. I just never had been around any of it until then."
Jeff started taking ranch jobs based largely on how well they afforded him the opportunity to study and work at horsemanship.
“I’ve worked hard to be in a position to study and learn from some of the very best horseman I know of. I’ve taken jobs where I can put it to work, to try to continue to improve every day. I wake up thinking about it, I go to bed thinking about it, and I work at it all day in between.”
He’s since cowboyed on and managed horse programs for outfits throughout the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain West. He has worked several immense ranches owned by well known billionaires, and at other times he’s been the entire work force for one man operations run on shoestring budgets.
"I don’t know why they put up with it, but my family sacrificed a lot as I moved them around most of Colorado, and from Montana to Texas, working different jobs where I could learn from folks that were handier than me, and then put it use. Of course we all learned a lot, and had the chance to live in some pretty amazing places."
Jeff and his family now live at and operate Strawberry Creek Ranch, near Granby, Colorado, where his equine business, Derby Livestock Company, is headquartered. He makes his living working horses in different ranching situations, preparing them for cattle work, competition and recreational use. In addition to the ranching, he now gives lessons and puts on clinics where he gets to share some of what he’s been able to learn over the years as a student of horsemanship.
Learn more about Jeff Derby at his website:
http://www.strawberrycreekranch.net/
Jason Patrick:
Jason is a ranch raised Colorado cowboy who has spent the last 20 years learning, traveling and developing his horsemanship skill. Having started over 2000 colts in his lifetime has given Jason the feel and timing needed to create a balanced, willing equine partner from the very beginning. Colts are shipped to Jason from across the country and his clients include NRHA world champions, NRCHA champions, NCHA futurity champions, multiple Grand Prix Dressage trainers, ranchers and professional horsemen from all walks of life. Jason's colt starting techniques have been noticed across the country and he has been featured on CMT, several RFD TV shows, Western Horseman, USA Today, Horse Country, and countless other periodicals across North America.
Jason has now entered the performance world on a more consistent basis and shows several nice Reined Cow Horses and Ranch Horse Versatility Horses across the country. Whispering Willows Ranch has always produced some of the nicest ranch horses in the country, they now produce some of the nicest performance horses in the country.
