Jaime Wright
Jaime is probably best known most recently winning on her gorgeous palomino mare, Eloquent Brisco! They are one of my favorite teams to watch, as I have a Brisco County Jr mare as well! Jaime shares alittle bit about her life, family, business and horses with us. I hope you enjoy the great common sense advice and love she approaches her barrel horses and racing with!
Jaime was born in Burlington, IA, and her grandparents had a farm in MO. They raised ponies so they gave her Sandy, a little POA, when she was 3 or 4. Jaime rode the legs off him and was totally horse crazy. They moved to Ohio, and when she was 9. Her parents bought her, her first barrel horse, Nikki. She was a super nice mare with a huge heart. After high school Jaime didn’t compete as much. She kept her horses but they were mostly pasture ornaments. She went to college and earned her Bachelors degree in Business Management, got married to Brian, and had two wonderful boys, Christian, 13, and Colten, 10 years old. They moved to FL in 1999, and she had a couple of prospects that she lost in tragic accidents. That was a difficult time for Jaime, and it was hard to want to buy another prospect. Finally, in 2003, she bought a couple of young horses to train. She has been competing here in FL since 2004, and loving every minute of it! Now at 34, Jamie has been riding horses for thirty years! She says, "wow, that seems like a really long time!" She has several jobs… graphic designer, photographer, and leather maker, but recently she has been blessed with an incredible opportunity in medical device sales, so she will be focusing more on her career. She is extremely competitive, so she will have to put things in perspective and remind herself that barrel racing is her hobby and she does it for fun! She does have a futurity colt for 2010 and she plans on campaigning him too.
Jaime has 3 horses, but most people “know” her by her 2001 palomino mare “Eloquent Brisco”, aka Ellie. She is 15h mare by Brisco County Jr. that had a few outs on the track as a 2 YO. Jaime bought her from a couple in GA, Jaime & Kelly Leatherman. Jaime says, "She was track broke and hotter than a fire cracker." Jaime trained her herself and started competing on her in 2005.
“Running Ta Dash”, aka Bendi, is a 4 YO 15.3h sorrel mare by Dash Ta Fame, out of a Streakin Six mare. She bought her from Carlee Pierce in Nov. 2008, and Add Waddell actually broke her out her 3 YO year and put a total of 90 days riding on her. She was lightly started on the pattern, but had never been hauled. Jaime has continued her training and started competing on her in 2009.
“TS Quick Fame”, aka Quick, is a 3 YO 15.3h bay gelding by Dash Ta Fame, out of a Sir Cashanova mare. She bought him from Brad Anderson in Aug 2008. He is her 2010 futurity hopeful, and has been hauled everywhere with her in preparation. Quick had 30 days riding on him when she purchased him.
Some of Jaime's best memories and accomplishments on Ellie are : 2007 NBHA FL03 1D Champion, Winning the Cash Blast Fri & Sat 1D in 2007, Winning the IBRA Rodeo in Ft. Pierce, and most recently winning the Tour of Champions Finals on Sun. w/ the fastest time of the weekend which put them 3rd in the 1D overall.
Her best memories on Bendi was at the Tour of Champions Finals on Saturday she was 3rd in the 1D, she won the SBRA Derby, and has started consistently clocking in the 1D & 2D.
Her best memory on Quick is winning the SBRA Futurity. It was his first competition & first win!
When Jaime was growing up she had two competitive horses, Darks Champs Nikki, aka Nikki, and Powders Buck Shot, aka Buck. Between the two of them she won many barrel races and pole classes including 2X Butler County Fair Top Run Champion, Butler County Fair Barrel & Pole Champion, AGCA barrel & pole champion, Pony poles & barrels champion, and state qualifier (although she never attended).
I asked Jaime how she patterns her barrel horses and this is what she shared; "I like a horse to be really broke before I start patterning them on the barrels, see the basics below that I want them to have prior to the barrels. When I do start them on the pattern I trot them to the rate point, usually where the tracks cross, and ask them to collect in their turns without dropping their shoulder and keeping forward momentum around the barrel. I don’t like when a horse turns as soon as you drop your hand for a turn, I want them to wait on me."
That brought us to a more important question, what basics does Jaime like on her horses before they ever see the barrels and this is what she said; "Basics are essential; without them you have nothing to go back to! I like a horse to be really broke before I start patterning them on the barrels. They should pick up their leads, stop, back, give at the poll, be light in the sides, side-pass, counter arc, and be smooth and fluid in their turns. I am a big fan of how Chris Cox trains his horses, and how they learn and respond with pressure and release."
At the barrel race Jaime's goal when she warms a horse up is to make sure they are relaxed and listening to her. She prefers a “free runner”, it wears her out to have to really push one! Ellie and Quick are “free runners”. Bendi is a little lazy and is more “push style”. They all have a 4 wheel drive/bendy style. She does not like one to roll back.
She likes to train her horses to go straight to their pocket, or rate point. Usually a 5’ pocket going in and then leaving with a 3’ pocket. She tries to make it easy for them. She doesn’t train a lot of rate into her horses. She actually tries to keep them pretty freed up in the pattern and is always working on forward motion.
Jaime believes that the KEY to soundness is keeping a horse fit and conditioned!!! Most of what she does during the week is just keeping them legged up. She will pony the horses down the trail two or three days a week, long trotting and loping, for 3-4 miles. She will work them in the arena on tires, basics, etc. once or twice a week to keep them tuned up. She will do slow work the pattern once or twice a week too, depending on what they need. She will also breeze my horses as needed.
Jaime rides in her own custom tack byicon.com. She has a couple of different saddles, a Stoney, by Jim Stone, and a Carl Ammerman. She rides in Saddleright , 5 Star, and Best Ever pads. She uses many different bits, her favorites are Ed Wright’s medium and short shanks, a smooth Loomis gag, and snaffle bits. She doesn't train in her competition bits during the week. She likes to use several different bits depending on what she is doing with them that day.
She feeds Southern States Triple Crown Complete with coastal & an alfalfa mixed hay. She doesn't usually feed any supplements other than psyllium a week out of every month for sand colic. She uses Ranitidine for ulcer prevention.
She keeps her horses UTD on all their vaccinations, dental exams once a year, de-worms every couple of months and use the Powerpac in the spring. She also uses Darci Lyon once a month for massage and acupressure therapy. She thinks she does a great job at keeping her horses performing at their peak.
I asked Jaime to share any special training or medical things she has learned over the years and this is what she offered; "Ellie started getting ratey, dropping her shoulder and refusing the gate. I had her hocks injected and that didn’t work. I tried mare herbs, calming herbs, etc. Nothing seemed to work, even took her to Peterson & Smith and still no luck finding any lameness. Started her on Ranitidine for ulcers and she was much better. She is very nervous and hot, so she is the perfect example of an ulcer type horse. I never had her scoped, but am pretty certain that was the problem. Now I just dose all of my horses with Ranitidine before we leave for a show and keep them on it until we get home as a preventative. Hauling and competing is a lot of stress on these horses."
The biggest mistake Jaime sees at barrel races is using your outside rein to keep them off a barrel. She says, "You are actually dropping their shoulder into it! I am guilty too, and it’s hard to break. I hate to see people abusing their horses at the shows. I love my horses and do not beat on them."
To newcomers to the sport, Jaime says; "Never give up. It just takes a lot of practice and dedication, so ride as much as you can."
I asked Jaime to share how she handles certain issues that can arise in competition and this is what she offered for alley way issues: "Ellie is so hot and sometimes does not want to go in. She gets herself so worked up and kind of locks up. What I found works for her is to relax, take one hand, disengage her hind-quarters, and circle around towards the alley. I just needs to re-direct her and keep her forward motion."
Jaime mostly competes in NBHA’s and jackpots. She plans on going to the futurities with Quick this year and joined the BFA. She also hopes to be able to rodeo in 2011 and plans on buying her card.
Jaime has learned from many people over the years and felt that a clinic with Add Waddell and Ed Wright taught her a lot and also taking a few lessons from Caryn Henry. She is a subscriber to the Winning Runs DVD’s, which feature many of the top barrel racing trainers and has found that very helpful!
If Jaime could offer barrel racers a tip it would be; "You will have a faster time by slowing down and making, smooth, tight turns, as opposed to running too fast and blowing out of your turns."
When Jaime looks for a prospect she really loves the Dash Ta Fame horses. She knows they are more expensive than most, but there is a reason for it! She says, "They are extremely good-minded and athletic. When picking a prospect she likes one to be around 15.2, big-boned, good feet, kind eye, short-backed, low-hocked, and balanced."
If Jaime has a bad run she reminds herself there are barrel races every weekend and to not get hung up on a bad run, to just think positively about how she is going to fix it next time.
Jaime is thankful to God for blessing her with my wonderful life! She thanks her parents, Patty & Bill Mitts. They are the best… their support and love of barrel racing and horses is amazing. Thanks to her husband, Brian, who takes care of things at home while she is barrel racing, she couldn’t do it without him. It takes a team and and she says she has a great one!
Thank you Jaime for your interview and best of luck to your and yours in 2010!
By- Tina Spangler