Let us take a moment to explain the reason behind developing Gold Buckle Champions, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, and the need for your support.
Gold Buckle Champions… to further the education of equine health and safety while preserving our Western heritage and history by means of promoting events incorporating the youth and community. Encouraging everyone to find the champion within themselves.
By donating Gold Buckle Champion, you pledge to guarantee we can pass on our Western lifestyle to the next generation. Sharing the grounding qualities the horses instill in all of us, the social and family bonding that this combination supports, and the strengthening of the communities where these events occur. Gold Buckle Champion events will help all horse sport disciplines everywhere, as well as the youth and the communities involved. Our goal is to illustrate the positive value of what equine sports have done for the history of America. By actions, we wish to demonstrate the legendary proceedings of the men and women, unafraid of hard work, who founded the West and the lifestyle that gave them the courage it took to endure its hardships and lead them to a better life.
Gold Buckle Champion events focus on not just the equine events or shows but also introducing clinics and educational seminars involving horses, local products, and cultural art forms. It also presents the opportunity for local businesses to become involved with the public to inform them of measures to promote equine health and safety, preserve the Western heritage, and provide leadership opportunities for the youth and community.
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 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 and 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 the 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.
This is the goal of the Gold Buckle Champions every year with our events. Gold Buckle Champions was created by Sue Marostica and Corey Fagan, after working for several years as Coordinators for the Idaho Cutting Horse Association. Getting the community involved and helping other non-profits like Toys for Tots and the Ride for Joy were just a few of the pleasures of putting on these cutting events. Expanding this process to include other events and other communities was natural.
Our goal in establishing the “Legends in the Making” program is to reward our youth for their problem-solving skills so that they can support and teach each other new ways to survive and prosper without the crutch of drugs and crime. Our goal is to use peer pressure in a positive way by teaching children how to be leaders instead of followers. Implementing the Prevention to Intervention philosophy.
There are many ways for you to get involved.
