Canada’s Own Wild Card Competitor Dustin Sippola
Lexington, Kentucky, hosted the 22nd annual Road to the Horse Colt Starting Competition March 27-30. An opportunity to showcase the top colt starters of not just North America but savvy horsemen worldwide. Prior to the championship round, four skilled horsemen competed in the wild card championship competition for a chance to escalate themselves into a championship competitor position. One of the four competitors was Alberta, Canada’s own Dustin Sippola of Sippola Colt Starting.
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Dustin grew up on his parents ranch in Nanton, Alberta, where at the ready age of 6 he started riding with accomplished horseman/colt starter Sid Cook. Fortunate enough to have a good horseman help him from the start, he accredits a lot of his success to that. Slowly progressing him along to greener horses until he was 10, when he started his first couple colts from scratch under the guidance of Sid Cook. Saying, “He was a bit of a special case, with good balance.”
After high school he moved to BC and was at the Gang Ranch for 6 years. He met his wife, Carmen, at the Williams Lake Stampede. Both their kids, Hunter and Grace, were born at The Gang Ranch. Following shortly after the kids were born, Carmen and Dustin moved their young family back to Alberta. Working on ranches all the while growing and establishing his colt-starting business. Dustin has had many well-earned accomplishments, from Top Hand awards at multiple ranch rodeos across western Canada (2008-2023), Canadian Finals Rodeo Qualifier (2015), Heart of the Horse Champion (2021), and most recently Horse Expo Trainers Challenge Winner (2023).
Now he and Carmen are settled south of Longview, working for Pekisko Creek Ranch, a 1000-head cow/calf operation south of Longview, Alberta. All the while travelling across western Canada teaching colt starting and horsemanship clinics. Together they also run their own breeding program. A lifelong dream for them both, but Carmen’s passion. Their stud BMP Enuff Pepto (Ragnar) is a quiet, good-minded stallion Dustin can rely on to help him day to day on the ranch or travel with and help colts at clinics. They run a small band of broodmares. All mares that have proven themselves on the ranch and in the performance pen have carried their kids throughout the years. Their goal is to raise good-minded working horses who will take you where you want to go.
Dustin’s Road To The Horse 2025
Qualifying for the Road To The Horse ‘Wild Card Competition’ seemed to be the next natural thing for Dustin to do, having spent his whole life dedicated to the betterment of horses and honing and refining his colt-starting skills. Prior to leaving for Kentucky, he and Carmen started 5 colts as per the timeline, as well as getting to work two colts with his mentor, Sid Cook. This looked like the first day: round one, an hour and a half with a ten-minute break. Round two lasted one hour, finishing off the first day. The third round was on the second day, consisting of 20 minutes in the round pen, and then you go to complete your obstacle course. Each round is scored by the judges, and at the end of the three rounds, the contestant with the highest total secures themselves in the Championship Colt Starting Competition. Dustin came in second overall but scored first in both the first and third rounds! Proving that he more than earned his place as a champion on this world stage.
The Pitchfork Ranch supplied the remuda for this year’s wild card competition. All the horses they brought were pretty nice. “They have a top-of-the-line horse program; they are trying to better themselves every year by bettering their bloodlines,” says Sippola.
Dustin picked the only Red Roan filly in the herd, ‘Shesa Blue Boon Cat.’ He says, “It wasn’t my first pick; I had my eye on a bay until I got in the pen, and it looked kind of sideways at me.” In the end he was happy with his choice. He liked the way the roan moved, and she had some energy and some go.
For myself personally, I want a horse that has some go, then all you have to do is direct their feet. But if you have something that has no go, sometimes it’s hard to get your forward motion. It’s not much time, but it’s intense. That’s what works for me,” says Dustin.
The Pitchfork Ranch supplied the remuda for this year’s wild card competition. All the horses they brought were pretty nice. “They have a top-of-the-line horse program; they are trying to better themselves every year by bettering their bloodlines,” says Sippola.
Nothing really surprised Dustin about the competition, having been skilled in colt starting challenges for many years. “It was just more intense and a bigger crowd with more interviews,” he says. Dustin’s training methods are rooted in keeping it simple: pressure and release. “That’s all it comes down to, the fundamentals of it. If you release at the right time, it’s going to get better,” he says. “It’s easy to overthink things, then you miss it. Stay in the moment. Things work the best when you allow them to happen. If you are trying to make it happen, it’s never as pure. Feel, timing, and balance, everyone’s heard those words. I’m a firm believer in being effective. Learning to do less to get more.”
Dustin has surrounded himself with great mentors and a support system. First and foremost is his wife, Carmen: ‘She’s been with me on the good days and bad days. She keeps me grounded.’’ Dustin credits a lot of his growth to different horsemen he has worked for or ridden with over the years and a close group of friends who support each other and bounce ideas off one another, exchanging things they have learned and encouraging one another on.
A unique experience The Road To The Horse provides is allowing people to come and see different styles of horsemanship and how they apply their methods to their colts. Sippola says, “ Generally they all have the same methods; they just apply them a little differently. It gives spectators a chance to learn different ways and methods, and one way may make more sense to them, or how they apply it may work for them a little better. Generally everyone’s horses are better at the end.” It’s a great event to get together and enjoy horses and riding and the lifestyle and be around like-minded people.
A unique experience The Road To The Horse provides is allowing people to come and see different styles of horsemanship and how they apply their methods to their colts. Sippola says, “ Generally they all have the same methods; they just apply them a little differently. It gives spectators a chance to learn different ways and methods, and one way may make more sense to them, or how they apply it may work for them a little better. Generally everyone’s horses are better at the end.” It’s a great event to get together and enjoy horses and riding and the lifestyle and be around like-minded people.
Dustin says of his competitors, “They were a great group of people to get to visit with, laugh, joke, and talk horses. Everybody was really nice that way. Everyone stayed true to themselves and their methods and worked on their horses.”
Travelling to Kentucky was a new experience for Dustin and his family. Accompanied by his wife, Carmen, his mom, and daughter Grace. Visiting this lush state with green leaves and grass and seeing horse pastures themselves being mowed was a surprise. A highlight of the trip was doing some sightseeing.
They got a tour of the luxurious Three Chimney Farms, a 2300-acre farm that has housed world-famous thoroughbred stallions such as Seattle Slew, Chief’s Crown, Wild Again, Capote, NoDouble, Dynaformer, and Rahy, to name a few. They met one of their stallions, valued at 150 million dollars, and were able to watch him live cover a couple of mares. Dustin said, “It was nice to see them (Three Chimney Farms) keep the history of the old buildings and tobacco barns. They have a nice-looking group of horses.”
For more info on Dustin or to join a clinic near you, visit sippolacoltstarting.com
Article Written by Danika McGuiness
Danika McGuinness lives in the mountains of the Cariboo with her husband and two boys. Together they manage a small piece of land, Danika also is an artisan or leather works, to learn more info on Danika’s leather works and written works please go to jackpinecowboy.com/blog
Photos – 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 provided by the Sippola family. Photos – 2, 3, 6, and 7 provided by Road to The Horse
