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Andrea Fappani: He has a way with 3-year-old reining horses.

Andrea Fappani has made a huge impact on the reining horse industry. He is a National Reining Horse Association Futurity Champion, consistent aged-event finalist and NRHA Two Million Dollar Rider. Business is booming. He’s in demand as a trainer and clinician, and his training video series is a huge success.

Fappani is only 33 years old, but he’s not exactly an overnight success. The process began when he was 4. That’s when he rode a horse for the first time.

Fappani grew up on his parents’ dairy farm in Bergamo, Italy. His father, Sergio, shared his young son’s love of horses and saw to it that Andrea had every opportunity to pursue his dreams. He had nice horses to ride and train, and he was introduced to people who could educate him in all facets of the training process.

In 1987, Fappani and his father made their first trip to North America. They went to Quarterama, Toronto, Canada, and came home with a 4-yearold mare trained by Guy Gauthier. Fappani was 10 years old.

In 1990, the elder Fappani purchased Jasons Easter Pepper, another 4-year-old mare on whom Dr. Jim Morgan placed third in the 1989 NRHA Futurity Non-Pro. Andrea and this mare won the Italian Reining Horse Association Derby Non-Pro. The die was cast.

The Fappanis were breeding, raising, training and showing their own stock. Sergio was training them. Andrea was showing.

In 1997, Fappani, coached by Todd Bergen, placed sixth in the NRHA Futurity Non-Pro and won the LimitedNon-Pro division on Best By Tari.
After completing his military service in Italy, Fappani came back to the States to work for Bergen at his facility in Oregon. It was then that he began his career as a professional.

In 2000, Fappani won the NRHA Intermediate Open Futurity on Hagans Sugarman, owned by Jim Blumer. In 2001, while still working for Bergen, Fappani won the NRHA Futurity Open on Lundin Farm’s RR Star. It was the first time the Futurity was won by a European, the first time the Futurity was won by a Paint Horse and the first time the Futurity was decided by a run-off. The Reserve Champion was Custom Pistol, ridden by Brent Wright for Steve Simon.

On June 8, 2001, Fappani married Tish Wood. They have two sons, Luca, 7, and Jeremy, 4. After the 2002 NRHA Futurity, Fappani set up his own training facility in Temecula, Calif. On Oct. 27, 2006, he became an American citizen.

Early this year, the Fappanis moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., so that Andrea could work out of Pat and Jim Warren’s Rancho Oso Rio. Fappani started the year off right. He just won the Cactus Reining Classic Derby Open on Rancho Oso Rio’s Tinker With Guns.

In 2010, Equi-Stat lists Andrea Fappani as the No. 1 rider of 3-yearold reining horses. He showed seven 3-year-olds last year, and they earned $178,235. He brought three to the 2010 NRHA Futurity finals. He was fourth on Custom Spook, owned by B&L Holdings LLC, sixth on Bill Coburn’s Nics Little Bud and ninth on Colonels Shining Gun, owned by Rancho Oso Rio. These three youngsters were his top money-earners.

Here, Fappani gives insight into what has made him excel with young horses and how he manages his program to result in continued success.

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QHN: Who had the greatest influence on your career?

Fappani: By far, my father and Todd Bergen had the greatest influence. Thanks to my father, I learned to love young horses very early on. My dad and I started with the young ones. We were always trying to figure out how to train them, obviously with other people’s help. My dad’s deal was – and I had to go along with it because I was only 8 or 9 – that unless I could train one myself, I couldn’t maintain one myself.

My dad always pushed me to learn how to put the basics on a horse, all the things that would be useful later on when I had problems in the show pen. We figured out how a young horse thinks.

Then, I went to ride with the best trainer of young horses today, Todd Bergen. Todd taught me how to really get into a horse’s mind. It wasn’t about the stop and the turnaround. He told me that I had plenty of talent to teach the maneuvers, but I had to learn how to make a horse think the way I wanted it to think.

Todd taught me how to get into a horse’s mind and communicate what I wanted him to do. It took Todd a good two years to teach me that. That’s why I didn’t go to any horse shows for two years. He told me until I could do the 2- and 3-year-olds the way he wanted, I was going to stay home. It paid off.

Look at Arno [Honstetter]. This is the seventh year he’s worked for me. He didn’t show anything for the first two years, then he showed mediocre horses at local events, but he just kept building. Last year, he placed fifth in the Open Futurity and won the Intermediate Open division.


QHN: What was the most important lesson you learned?

Fappani: If the opportunities come, if you put in the work and you really learn how to ride a young one, that’s what pays off. I’ve had great teachers like Todd and my dad, but mainly, I put in a lot of work and had patience. I didn’t get frustrated because sooner or later I knew that if I learned how to get in a young horse’s mind, it would really pay off, and it’s really paying off for me now.

Now, we’re riding 45 to 50 2-year-olds, and that’s because people know my system works. They know that we put a good foundation on a young horse and that even if a 2-year old doesn’t work for me and the client takes him home or sends him to another trainer, that foundation is going to help that horse reach his full potential.

I think people are attracted to my program for young horses because they know there’s a solid foundation, that we respect the animal and when a client gets a horse back, he is going to get an improved animal.

QHN: How do you manage that many young horses with your string of older horses?

Fappani: There are two guys who help with the grooming and exercising, and there are six of us riding the horses. Three of my assistants are on the young horses now, breaking them and getting them going. Arno, Luke Gagnon and I are riding the older derby horses right now. Then usually right after the NRBC, the three of us get more serious on the younger horses.


QHN: Do you personally spend a lot of time riding the 2-year-olds?

Fappani: I ride four or five 2-year olds a day. I usually ride the same one at least a couple of times a week. If we start them in January or February, I usually make my first cut by May or June. That’s when about a third of all the 2-yearolds go home.

I keep the ones I think will work in the program. From then on, I’ll be able to spend more time with them. It’s important for me to ride the 2-year-olds so that when I make the final cut and keep five of six for the next year for myself, I know exactly what they are like. I can’t judge them from watching someone else ride them. I don’t know if a horse will fit me unless I ride them myself.


QHN: What do you look for in a futurity prospect?

Fappani: Most people have a misconception about me. They think that if you want Fappani to try a young horse, it has to be pretty and has to be bred well, but that’s not my criteria when I take one in for training.

I’ve always taken 2-year-olds no matter how they are bred as long as they are a registered Paint or Quarter Horse. I’ve learned that a champion can come from nowhere. Yes, the good horse comes from a good, solid breeding program, but I’m not looking for a good horse, I’m looking for a great horse. And the great horse can come from the backyard guy who doesn’t think I’ll want to ride his horse because he has no breeding.

What I’m looking for is a horse with a good mind. The mind is what makes a great futurity horse.

There are probably 15 to 20 horses in the finals that can win it talent-wise, but the ones that can hold up to the pressure at a young age, the ones that don’t get hot, the ones that stay sound because you don’t have to ride them so hard, they are the ones with the good minds. I’m looking for a horse that has a mind that is trainable, is open to letting you tell him what you want and one that doesn’t think on its own.


QHN: You showed seven different 3-year-olds last year. Do you normally show that many?

Fappani: I usually show quite a few because I’ve had too many surprises when I go show them. The young horses act a little bit different in the show pen. And many times, the horse I think is my best one in February is not the best one by the end of the year. I’ve learned that a lot of the ones that mature early usually flatten out in the summer time, and the ones that are a little immature early just keep learning and peak at the [NRHA] Futurity.

I try to show five or six 3-year-olds, the ones I really like. After I show all of them the first time, I have a better idea of the ones I want to concentrate on.

Last year, I kept six for me from January until August. By August, I was down to three. I knew which ones I was going to show in Oklahoma City.


QHN: What advice would you give to young trainers wanting to specialize in futurity horses?

Fappani: I would tell them that if you want to be successful with the young horses, you need to really look at yourself and see if you’re the type of person that’s willing to put in the serious amount of hours it takes. If you’re not, you’re just fooling yourself. You might as well try a different niche in the business. There’s breaking colts, showing older horses or coaching non-pros. I think everybody has to look at themselves, and if they really want to make it in the futurity horse business, they have to understand the work involved.

My dad, he’s the one that gave me my work ethic. There was no slacking off. When I was a kid, I had to be right at school in order to ride the horses. Then if I didn’t ride the horses, I couldn’t go to the shows. I learned how to work hard.

I don’t know anybody that’s successful in this business that doesn’t want to work hard. You have to be somebody that enjoys spending the hours on these horses. That’s the only way you’re going to be successful. ★