USU Student Heads to Utah Horse Expo

Utah State University student Jason Romney qualified for the Annual Utah Horse Expo March 11-13 at the Salt Lake County Equestrian Center in South Jordan, Utah.

Romney qualified for the event after being selected from 10 competitors at the Third Annual Utah Horse Trainers Challenge Jan. 15 at the Golden Spike Event Arena in Ogden, a premier horse trainer’s event sponsored by the Utah Horse Council.

Romney is the youngest of the four finalists and the only college student among the competitors. For the competition, he will bring a young, untrained horse to South Jordan with only 60 days of permitted training time.

The winner of the Utah Horse Expo takes home, among other awards, a saddle and $5,000.

Matt Bartlett, president of Utah Horse Council, said Romney was well-deserving of the finalist position and feels that Romney has a great chance at winning.

“Jason rides a lot like someone who trains reigning horses, where the horse needs to move fluidly at speed,” said Bartlett, who is glad to have Romney a part of this year’s competition since Romney used to volunteer at the Horse Expo when he was younger. “Jason obviously has experience like that. With a compact body, the horse is built for this style of riding.”

It’s an opportunity for someone who also takes a full load of classes while continuing other training responsibilities in Benson, Utah.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for trainers in Utah to share how good we are and what we do,” said Romney with regard to what it means to represent the Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences Department, the College of Agriculture and the university in general. “I like to push my limits and to see how far I can get with my horse.”

At the Utah Horse Expo, contestants are asked to perform a variety of skills, including roping cows, maneuvering through obstacles and cutting logs with chainsaws, all feats of talent and training that usually take several more months, even years, to develop.

It is a process that Romney said is unorthodox compared with the typical procedure of equestrian work, due to the short amount of time to refine such a raw product.

“From early on, he’s had a passion to do what he’s doing,” said Thomas Bunch, associate department head of the Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences Department. “He’s been doing this for years and years. He’s a perfect fit. What he does, you can’t find in a textbook or a single class. It’s something he has a talent for and he’s learned by doing. In his own right, he’s become an expert.”

Collette Tebeau, a Logan Equine Education Center manager and USU Extension 4-H youth equine specialist who has often worked with Bartlett, couldn’t have agreed more with Bunch’s assessment.

“He’s not afraid to spend the time to get to a good communication level with the horses or with other riders,” she said. “He’s very careful not to give any type of message while training and competing that can be misinterpreted. He speaks to the horses and riders in a way that they completely understand what he expects.”

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Writer: Rhett Wilkinson, (801) 603-6004
Contact: Colette Tebeau, (435) 890-2802