River resident rides way to honors
Marc Buckhout ~ Managing Editor ~ 2/17/2010

After growing up showing horses the idea of getting involved in any type of equestrian competition had very little appeal to New River resident Kandace French.
That was before French was introduced to the North American Trail Ride Conference and competitive trail riding.
In an event that isn’t a race, but rather a test of the physical condition of the horse, the rider’s form and the way in which the pair negotiate obstacles along a course which measures anywhere between 25-50 miles, French said she was drawn to give it a try.
“I like it because of the time out with my horse, for 25 to 50 miles, riding in beautiful back country,” she said. “The teamwork we’ve developed is great. We can take on any of these obstacles and to negotiate them it’s really satisfying.”
In 2008 the Arizona native, and Yankee, a registered Tennessee Walking horse, made their debut in the sport with a grand entry as the duo won their first two events in the novice division.
The third time out though wouldn’t be a charm for the team as Yankee tripped and fell, flipping French. The horse would come down on French’s leg, breaking her ankle.
“It was a freak thing,” she said. “It wasn’t a difficult stretch of trail. It was just a misstep, nothing spectacular and we both went down. There wasn’t anything we could have done differently. The only thing it reinforced for me was the importance of wearing a helmet.”
After surgery to repair her shattered ankle French said she was back on a horse 41 days later.
In 2009 French showed she was unshaken by the fall as she and Yankee earned ribbons, by finishing in the top three in each of her seven competitions.
“You start with 100 points for the horse and then can have them deducted for lack of cooperation negotiating obstacles,” French explained. “Then when you get to checkpoints veterinarians check the vitals of the horse to see how they’re doing physically and you can lose points there if the horse is under any duress. They’re very serious about the safety of the horses.”
The riders are also graded on a 100 point scale for their performance, for such things as horsemanship, the ability to handle the horse and other criteria.
Overall both French and Yankee were consistently successful enough to earn honors as the novice high point rider and horse of the year in 2009.
That ceremony will take place in Reno, Nevada on Saturday.
“Kandace is very competitive, but she’s not cut throat,” friend and fellow competitor Sherrie Bray said. “You could tell when she found out that she and Yankee would be honored that she was tickled. I knew she was going to win, but she seemed amazed. She’s very humble. She trains hard, works at having a good relationship with her horse. She’s a great ambassador to our sport.”
French said her success was due to the time she and Yankee spent training.
“We put in about 650 miles of practice last year and that doesn’t really include the arena work we did,” French said. “Our training schedule included a lot of trotting in deep sand and a lot of muscular work, climbing hills. I love living in New River. There are so many places to ride that are close, whether it’s going over to Spur Cross or Tonto Natural Forest, there are plenty of options.”
By ribboning in all of her competitions in 2009 French and Yankee will move up to the open division in 2010, which gets under way in April.
In the open division she’ll face more experienced competitors and compete in events that are twice as long as the ones in the novice category.
“Being at this level is going to be a whole new ball game,” she said. “It’s going to be a learning year. I’ll try and pick the brains of other riders. You have to ride at a faster speed, because you’re given less time to get to each checkpoint. I’m nervous about it, but each ride I go on I give myself a goal for us to shoot for and even if we don’t win it’s important to improve by reaching that goal.”
For information on the North American Trail Ride Conference go to www.natrc.org.