Barbra Schulte’s new Insight interview series doesn’t come from the horse’s mouth, but from an even better source – the top trainer who shows the horse.
Paul Hansma, famous for his seemingly effortless and relaxed style atop dynamic, super quick cutting horses, was Barbra’s guest on Thursday, June 30, when she relayed listeners’ questions to him via her online webinar. Hansma answered queries on everything from working a flag, to conditioning a horse at home, to the traits he looks for in a cutting prospect.
Perhaps one of his most poignant remarks came as a response to an amateur rider. “There are no shortcuts,” he said. “I made the same mistakes, when I started.”
Barbra Schulte is a successful cutting horse trainer, clinician, and author, whose patience, persistence and positive outlook have served to inspire countless people, both inside and outside of the cutting horse world.
Having earned nearly $800,000 in National Cutting Horse Association competition, Schulte ranks fifth on the all-time list of women who are professional trainers. In 1988, she became the first woman ever to win the NCHA Derby, and to this day she remains the only wife and mother to win one of NCHA’s prestigious Triple Crown events. She has also won the NCHA Super Stakes Classic and the Augusta Futurity.
In 2000, the American Quarter Horse Association in conjunction with the Women’s Sports Foundation, presented her with the prestigious National Female Equestrian of the Year Award.
While she has enjoyed remarkable success in the arena, and has set high standards for those who follow her, those achievements may be overshadowed by her contributions to the sport, and to society as a whole.
After earning a master’s degree in speech pathology and audiology, Schulte became an administrator at the Arizona State School for the Deaf, and also taught at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In 1994, she became certified as a personal performance coach by LGE Sports Science, Inc. and has introduced riders of all disciplines to that program’s techniques, conducting clinics and seminars throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. She also served as vice president of the National Cutting Horse Association from 1995 through 1996.
Since 2001, Schulte and her husband, Tom, have worked with a selection committee for the Zane Schulte Award, presented in memory of their teen-aged son, who passed away in 2000. The award is presented each year to a cutting horse trainer who exemplifies integrity, service and leadership, and it is recognized as one of NCHA’s highest honors.