Cindy Young’s brand new instructional video “Training The Showmanship Horse” is a must-have for anyone serious about teaching all aspects of the pattern class to an equine partner.

From set-ups to quarter turns, Cindy breaks down the maneuvers in easy to understand terms and shows the viewer exactly how the process should look.

Cindy uses three different horses, at varied stages in their training, to show what can be accomplished when you use her methods.

It is important to understand that this is a training video, not a showing video. Here she covers the basic steps of starting a showmanship horse and the effect your body position has on each move.

You will learn why release and reward are so important in the development of each component of the class and what to do if your horse curls his body around when you want him to back in a straight line.

As the daughter of a horse trainer, Cindy has spent her entire life in the world of show horses. Her father, Herb Monroe, initially began training Halter and Western Pleasure horses before gravitating toward Cutting. Cindy and her sister, Barbara Prather, literally “rode anything and everything” as kids. Cindy’s first outside professional experience was working for Alex Ross (now AQHA Senior Director of Judges) at his Greensboro, North Carolina facility. There she met her husband, Shane, who was working as Ross’ assistant trainer.

Today, Cindy and Shane live in Yadkinville, North Carolina, with their son, Jacob, where they own and operate their own training business. Together they have helped produce numerous Open, Amateur and Youth World and Congress Champions. Shane and Cindy train and coach for a wide variety of events but Cindy will tell you she loves the pattern events.

“I like the connection between the horse and handler,” she said. “I think there is nothing better to watch than a horse that “reads” its handler and makes it look like a dance!”

But getting to that stage takes work and Cindy said that she noticed that while there are plenty of videos to help with showing Showmanship, there really is not anything that focuses on teaching the maneuvers.

“I think the most common thing people do when doing Showmanship is to get in a hurry,” she said.  “They lose their form and it just gets messy and rushed.  It’s very important to get the form first and the speed will come.”

Filming for the new video was finished in March and copies are just now becoming available. You will be able to purchase the DVD with an “arena book” to carry along with you to the barn and refer to when needed from Susan Ratliff of Show Diva Designs.  The cost of the video is 29.95 plus tax.

You will also have the option to purchase the DVD or download the video to your computer from Cindy’s brand new subscriber-based website (www.trot2blue.com). Here members can ask questions, send video clips for critique from Cindy and learn valuable tips from other members. She is also working on a Facebook page for Trot2Blue.

Training The Showmanship Horse is the first in what will become a series of teaching videos in Cindy’s Trot 2 Blue – Virtual & Out of Arena Training program. She hopes to expand the series to include instructional information on Horsemanship and Equitation in the future.

Want to see what the video is like? In this sample, Cindy addresses the Walk and the Stop.