Investing time and sweat in horse training

Daynon Mowry has been riding horses since he was 5 years old, and has been around horses all of his life.

He is now 15 years old and has been competing with his horses for the past several years in 4-H. Before then, he was competing in local horse shows.

This year, he won several first place ribbons at the Carbon County Fair.

Mowry said he likes the fact he can teach an animal something without using words.

Mowry credits the Lions Club Youth Horse Show for some of his success. “It helped me get ready for fair. It’s also good to get the horse used to commotion and loud speakers.”

Mowry said there are lots of things to distract a horse that they are used to when ranching. Mowry rides every day.

To break the horse, he had to ride every day for several months. The family raises horses and has a stud and broodmare, but the horse he has been competing with is one he bought.

He competed with her last year and won the trail class, reining class and western riding class.

Next year, his horse will be his senior horse for competition, and he is working on breaking a filly to ride as his junior horse for the next three years.

Mowry’s advice to young 4-H horse riders: “It’s a lot of work to train a horse. It takes time. It takes years to truly finish a horse.”

Mowry is a sophomore at Saratoga High School.