Barnes Training Stable

Welcome to Barnes Training Stable. We are located on Highway 395 in beautiful Carson Valley, Nevada just a few miles south of Carson City. Since 1978 I have trained horses for the public, the last 26 years here in Nevada. Prior to that I was in college, worked on ranches in Montana and Canada and roped competitively. My business in Montana consisted of starting somewhere between 70 to 100 colts per year and training rope horses. I had shown a few reining horses while I was in my teens so when the Snaffle Bit Reined Cow Horse Futurities became popular I started training and competing in those events. From there I got involved in Cutting and today that is what I primarily compete in.  I am also an NRCHA (National Reined Cow Horse Association) certified judge, and spend my weekends judging reined cow horse events when not competing.

Dating back to the 1960’s I have won money, points and/or awards in over 10 different disciplines and have also started horses that were stakes winning race horses and advanced level dressage horses. The basic foundation that you put on a young horse is the same regardless of what your eventual goals are for him. The reason our program has had so much longevity and success is because I don’t compromise on establishing those fundamentals. Most of our modern performance events evolved from some kind of ranch work. I come from a background that understands the history of these events and value the opportunities we get to do some real ranch work with our show horse prospects. Most of my Cutting horses have drug some calves at brandings, crossed some rivers and know what it’s like to feel tired. Don’t send them here if you don’t want them ridden.

My greatest pleasure comes from developing young horses and competing at the Futurity and Derby levels. Along with training numerous champion performers over the years, nobody in Nevada has introduced more new people or turned out more successful riders than we have. It has not been uncommon for horses and riders originating here to win over half the year end awards in our local affiliates in a given year. It is very exhilarating to ride and compete on horses where you’ve established a high level of communication. I try to keep our program simple and we are very results oriented. Unfortunately, some people underestimate the time and work involved to get to a competitive level showing horses. We work to improve our skills here and have some fun along the way, but I expect my Non-Pros to make a serious commitment in time and effort.