Gold Buckle Champions… to further the education of equine health and safety while preserving our western heritage and history by means of promoting equine events incorporating the youth and community.
Demanding excellence within ourselves while helping to ensure the longevity of our western heritage; through school assemblies, educational clinics, and community projects. Encouraging everyone to find the champion within themselves.
Our "Legends in the Making" program has taught us much about what inspires kids to do the right things. It has also illustrated the old adage of "don't wait to close the barn door till after the cows have gotten out". This is the same of our youth. Prevention, not intervention is what is needed with our youth.
What keeps the kids on the right track that are not as gifted as the top 5%? What keeps those in the middle from turning to trouble and drugs to get attention and help?
Our answer... shining the light on those kids doing the right thing everyday. Offering them ways that they can "earn" scholarships and trips for their teams, or sports equipment. We do not want to create another project of instant gratification. In this program the kids get points for doing positive things for bettering themselves and their community. They can use these points once a year to buy, at auction; scholarships, trips for teams, and sports equipment. There is no guarantee that they will get something with their points, only that they will get an opportunity that they did not have before.
Gold Buckle Champions has learned much from our western heritage about raising kids, building communities, and events. Our signature event "Taste of Adventures" combines all senses of Adventure into one family oriented event. You will find something for your taste buds, something for the adventure of your souls palate, and a little something to feed your imagination.
When American cowboys of the 1800’s ran cattle together on open ranges, they gathered each year to separate their herds from their neighbors. This is what we call “Cutting”. Naturally, when you bring a group of people working together it turns into a competition, and equine competitions are some of the best. The Cutting and Rodeo heritages run strong and deep, and have for centuries. In the 1800’s they were also grand social events, some say the original networking events, and nothing from that has changed much today. The ranchers gathered, there was a competition and the families shared their stories and wares from the last gathering. They revealed crafts, sold wares, exchanged recipes, but most of all, they shared laughter. They worked side by side to teach and guide their children and developed a strong community. From this we have seen many “Legends” in the equine industries that give us inspiration to keep these sports going.
With technology and advancement we no longer run herds together, and most of the gathering and sorting is done with pickup trucks and squeeze chutes, but the social heart of where these events began, lives on in all of the people involved, and it is so strong that it will live on for many more generations to come.
Thank you in advance for your generous donations. Without people like you, organizations like ours would not exist.
You have given hope to yet one more generation to experience the values of what made our country great.
Donations can be mailed to:
Gold Buckle Champion
PO Box 70
Kuna, Idaho 83634
A donation receipt will be mailed back to you.
