Working Western named the 2011 AHT Readers’ Choice Purebred Working Western Horse Of The Year. “It was an incredible honor for Im The Real Deal, and we are grateful to Arabian Horse Times for the wonderful evening,” says Zinke.
Crystal MCnutt and iM the real deal
Trainer Crystal McNutt says, “I showed Im The Real Deal as a 5-year-old to win the purebred reining futurity. He’s a fun horse to be around because he wants to please and he has a good work ethic. The futurities are the biggest thrill for me. Bringing young horses like Im The Real Deal along to the point where they are competitive is really satisfying. Another exciting aspect is fitting amateurs with the right horses. “Training a good reining horse is about trust. I train Quarter Horses and Arabians, and every horse is different. Staying current and keeping up with or ahead of your competition is probably the biggest challenge,” continues McNutt, whose first national win was for a 1982 U.S. National Top Ten Stock Seat Equitation title. She was 5 years old. “Not losing your edge is the key. The greatest thing about reining is that the high level of competition makes you want to keep getting better and better, and losing only strengthens your resolve. There is no resting on your laurels, even for a minute.” Im The Real Deal is only beginning his breeding career this year, because no one wanted to distract him from his reining work. “The horses are my joy,” Audrey Zinke tells us. “We watch in amazement as they perform, and get misty when our horses (very often ones we have bred) perform. The working western classes are so thrilling!”
events. “I rode and showed Morgans and Saddlebreds too, because my parents never said, ‘no’ to me,” she offers. “Working western is a part of my life. We put every Arabian on the trail with my husband’s Paint gelding, because the trails help keep them fresh. I still start all my own horses. My mother and I, working together, used to start all of our Paints and Quarter Horses. She and grandfather, Ray Roskam, had matching Palomino parade horses in the 1940s, and Mother was the 1946 Prescott Rodeo Queen. She quit riding only a few years ago and gave her horse away. She was 78 at the time.
Tracy Dowson of Black Tie Ranch also finds reining thrilling. Her parents raised Paint horses during the late 1960s and 1970s, so Dowson grew up with horses. She took lessons from Kathy Knill Meyer and many others, showed 4-H, in breed shows, and competed in rodeo
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