Curt Fuller, of Twin Falls, Idaho was named Trainer of the Year by the Appaloosa Horse Club at its 2005 Year-End Awards Banquet in Oklahoma City on July 2, 2006. Curt has had a very successful career, which has been woven into the fiber of Appaloosa history. Curt began in his early teens with a horse named Honey’s Ric-a-Tic that he purchased for $350.00. This unbroken stallion became a lifetime training partner through Curt’s youth show career and to this day resides in his pasture while his son and daughter, both 4th generation Appaloosa owners, compete with Curt and cheer him on.

Curt began his riding career by starting with the Twin Falls County Mounted Sheriffs Posse, and later joined a group of horse enthusiasts to become the Idaho State Horse Show association. Later Curt went on to college and earned the first associates degree in Equine studies from the college of Southern Idaho. He went on to coach the first College of Southern Idaho intercollegiate horse show team earning the team a reserve title.

According to Curt, “my favorite part of competition is not the show pen but the warm up arenas.” The warm up pen has been one of Curt’s most educational classrooms. Curt has taken this knowledge and education and applied it to promoting the versatility of the Appaloosa breed by training all-around horses. Curt states, “I train horses because I have a passion for maximizing the potential of every horse I train.”

Curt’s philosophy for training and teaching is to have fun, work hard, raise the bar, challenge ones self, and understand that we all impact one another. Curt takes the best part of each trainer, as a person and horseman, and incorporates what he feels will work for him the horses and the riders that he teaches. His goal is to help riders and horses gain confidence through practice, positive feedback and challenges in the right proportions. Curt shares with us, “It is awesome to have an addiction for horses; it is one of the best ways I know to build meaningful character in all of us.” The Appaloosa Horse Club warmly congratulates Curt on this very deserving honor.

The Appaloosa Horse Club is the international breed registry for Appaloosa horses and is located in Moscow, Idaho. Since 1938, the ApHC has been dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the breed. Agile, intelligent and distinctively colorful, Appaloosas excel in a variety of events and are beloved around the world for their even temperaments and reliability.

Photo available. Contact: Krystina McCoy, ApHC Public Relations Coordinator at (208) 882-5578 ext. 229 or publicrelations@appaloosa.com or Curt Fuller at (208) 734-8148.