Scott Reinartz truly is an amazing horseman. Not only does he love his horses with all his heart, he has talent and dedication as well. These three ingredients are a big reason why he has 4 AQHA World Championship Titles, 6 Reserve world Championship titles and 5 Bronze World Championship titles among several NSBA World and Congress titles together with the two geldings he owns today.
I met Scott while I worked for Bruce Vickery, who is Scott’s trainer, and I felt that I had to write an article about him and hopefully bring some inspiration to our readers.  

The sorrel horse in this picture is named Investin a Goodbar aka “Hank” and the bay one is named Only One Request aka “Potter”. When I asked Scott to tell us a little bit about these two gentlemen, he said that Hank probably is his all-time favorite horse that he has owned. That says quite a lot since he has been showing horses for 32 years and quarter horses since 1999.  
 
Scott bought Hank 10 years ago, when he was only 4 years old. Together they show in Trail, Halter, Showmanship and Pleasure Driving. Over the years they have won 2 7003 AQHA points in the Amateur / Select Amateur Division and Hank has won 1070 AQHA Points in the Open Devision. Scott lets us know that Hank has a quiet personality and is just great to work with. Unfortunately, Hank had some time off while I worked at Vickery’s so I never got to see Scott ride him but sometimes Scott would take Hank out and do some showmanship. They would do it for about five minutes and then Scott would come back to the barn and say something like “And that is how a pro does it” and smile. 

Although, I have been fortunate enough to see and get to know Scotts other horse Potter. He is 8 years old and Scott shows him in Halter, Hunt Seat Equitation, Trail, Western Riding, Showmanship and Horsemanship. In these four years when they have been a team, they have won more than 72 All-round titles and earned 1463 AQHA Points in Select Amateur events. In addition to that, Potter has 650 points from showing in Open events. Everybody knows that Scott trusts Potter completely. One time at a horse show I saw that the door to Potters stall was open all the way. Potter was in his stall resting and Scott was outside the barn, eating a sandwich and talking to some friends. No one had anything else to say than “Yeah, that’s how Scott does it. He and Potter are something else”. 
 
When I congratulated Scott on his very successful show career he smiled and said, “Its kind that you refer to my showing as successful. I believe I am successful at so many different events due to the time I put into them all. I ride 3 or 5 days a week and practice all the maneuvers it takes to be successful. I incorporate horsemanship, equitation and western riding into my daily riding. I will practice showmanship with my horse and in any other way that I can, for example I sometimes just run in the sand with my boots on. If I am struggling with something I will talk to my trainer and come up with solutions to fix it, at least try to”.  

What do you look for when it comes to trainers? “I look for a trainer who understands me and has the horse’s best and welfare in mind.  Also, someone who allows me to be a part of the process, one who will push me to be better than I was and who will listen to my needs. I train with Bruce Vickery for those reasons and his barn is just down the road from my house”. 

To be able to have a trainer that watches him practice, show and can tell him what he does right or wrong is one of the biggest reasons why Scott prefers to go to shows together with his trainer. He says it’s a huge difference to go to a show without the trainer, which he sometimes has to do due to conflict in schedules.  
Before shows he rarely practices the whole pattern as it is to be shown more than a couple of times, if at all. “I practice parts of it and make sure I have the maneuvers down to where I am comfortable with my horse. I focus on the things I know need more attention, for example my one horse is not a strong backer in Showmanship so I will emphasize that maneuver in my warm-up. I try to do my homework before I get to the show. I Feel like a horse show is a place to show what you have. Riding with your trainer as much as possible is the best way to improve”. 

I asked Scott if he has a specific moment together with his horses that stands out. He laughed and said “Honestly, I am always happy when I am with my horses, it might sound a bit cliché, but it is accurate”. But after some thinking he said that his first Golden Globe and first Silver Globe with Hank are two moments that stand out a bit more, together with the time that he was NSBA World Reserve Champion in Hunt Seat Equitation with Potter.  

To finish off, Scott says, “the biggest difference between showing the amateur and Select is that at the Select level, even though very competitive, there is a genuine level of sportsmanship and we take time to enjoy the journey and make time for wine and dinner” and laughs. 
 
Thank you, Scott, for taking your time to give us all some inspiration and we wish you the best of luck at the big upcoming shows this season!  

Writer: Josefin Odeberg