PROJECT COWBOY

Already known for their innovative approach to equine competition, Tootie Bland, creator of Road to the Horse, and Patti Colbert, the visionary behind the Extreme Mustang Makeover, are joining forces in the search for the next great American horseman through Project Cowboy.

Tootie Bland Productions and Patti Colbert

Project Cowboy, jointly produced by Tootie Bland Productions and Patti Colbert Enterprises, will be held October 8-10, 2010 in Fort Worth, Texas, at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center’s Watt Arena. Project Cowboy is a competition open to all horsemen or women who demonstrate exceptional horsemanship, communication skills and live by the western lifestyle. From ordinary to extraordinary, Project Cowboy is the search for “The Great American Horseman.”

The Project Cowboy Champion will receive $10,000 cash, a Martin trophy Saddle and a Gist trophy buckle, as well as an invitation to appear at the 2011 "Road To The Horse Legends World Championship" and 2011 "Extreme Mustang Makeover" events in additions to other major equine events and expos.
“Project Cowboy is a talent search targeted to horsemen located down the country roads that no one knows about. The world needs to know they are out there”, says Patti Colbert. “Project Cowboy will find the great American horseman, or woman, and make them famous.
Project Cowboy competition includes seven rounds that will challenge the horsemanship and communication skills of the competitors. Competitors will bring their own horses that best showcases their talents and will also be judged on their horsemanship abilities with unfamiliar horses.

The competition will be limited to 200 contestants for those who had submitted their application along with the $300 entry fee. While Television has made stars out of persons who made the mark on shows like "American Idol" "Project Runway" or the many food competition shows which air during the year, it will be interesting to see the results of Project Cowboy and see what it takes to make the mark of the icon term often referred as being a state of mind.

The judges come from several backgrounds of the equine industry. Here's just a few who will be sitting along the side of the arena tracking notes and scoring the event.

TOMMY GARLAND

Before coming to notoriety as the equine industry’s most popular up-and-coming clinician, Tommy Garland gained recognition as one of the country’s best trainers and most successful showmen of Arabian and Half Arabian horses. Garland was voted the Western Pleasure Trainer of the Year in 2002 by the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman’s Association and has won a multitude of national U.S., Brazilian and Canadian titles in Western Pleasure and Hunter Pleasure. Tommy especially enjoys working with the younger horses and in 2006 competed in and won the Equine Extravaganza Trainer’s Challenge. In that same year, Garland premiered his own television show, CPR for the Horse & Rider on RFD-TV. Never content without a new challenge, Garland pitched his hat into the ring as a competitor at 2008’s prestigious Road to the Horse Colt Starting Competition. Though he entered the event unknown to many, he left with an enthusiastic following who were blown away by his horsemanship.

MARIAN BUEHLER

Marian Buehler has had a love for horses since she was two years old. With over thirty years of experience, she has studied natural training techniques and methods among several species of animals including dolphins, whales, chimpanzees, zebras, big cats and horses.

Involved with Arabians her entire life, Buehler has transitioned her natural horsemanship techniques into the performance arena. Taking in problem horses and rehabilitating them through these methods, she has been able to create a successful show career in which she has won multiple regional and U.S. Top Tens in Arabian Western Pleasure AAOTR.

Marian worked on a horse film documentary with Tootie Bland in Texas in 2001, so she has an established working relationship with Road to the Horse. Living in Arlington, Texas, she was recently appointed to the Board of Directors for the proposed Texas Horse Park in Dallas.

ROBERT M. MILLER D.V.M.

Miller is a world-renowned speaker and author on horse behavior and natural horsemanship. He is also father of the revolutionary foal training technique known as “imprint training.” An equine veterinarian, he’s revolutionizing horsemanship by learning and sharing the techniques of equine behavior, natural horsemanship, and his techniques for imprint training of foals. Being a natural horseman, Miller believes that horses and people share a common bond, and works to strengthen the connection by promoting humane, effective training between horses and humans. His desire is “to create a better life for horses,” and he has dedicated his retirement to promoting humane horse training. He is the author, with Rick Lamb, of The Revolution in Horsemanship.

JACK BRAINARD

Brainard has been a horse judge in many horse associations for 40 years, which has taken him to England, Germany, Australia, Italy and Canada. Brainard is a director on the Board of the Equine Program at Texas A&M University Commerce and is an original director of the National Reining Horse Association and was one of the founders of the Stock Horse of Texas program through TAMU.

He was active in organizing state Quarter Horse associations in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin and is the author of three books on horse training, including If I Were To Train A Horse, Cowboys: Past, Present, and Future, and Cowboy Dressage- Poetry in Motion, Understanding the Horse From the Inside Out.