by Patricia N. Saffran
After the first night of the September 2017 Rolex Central Park Horse Show in New York City, we interviewed Rob Bick of RBC Show Horses of Smithfield, North Carolina, a nationally recognized top trainer and rider of Arabians, and winner of the Arabian Western Pleasure Pro/Am class, presented by Aljassimya Farm.
“I had a lot of fun on PA Kid Khan. He’s a Palmetto Arabians farm-bred stallion from Timmonsville, South Carolina. He’s an amazing horse. He made me look good,” says Rob Bick of RBC Show Horses of Smithfield, North Carolina, winner of the Arabian Pleasure Pro/AM on the first night of the five day show at the Rolex Central Park Horse Show on Wednesday, September 20, 2017. Mr. Bick continues, “I started training Kid Khan as a three year old and he’s been trained exclusively at RBC Show Horses. Nobody else rides him except me and our office secretary once in a while for the amateur in the combined pro/am class, Janie Heslep. He picks up every little move or shift of my weight. If I talk he knows what I want. The noise and distraction of Central Park didn’t bother him. I brought him up where I eased off the pressure when he was going correctly and he has a feel now for what I want. Kid Khan is very trained. His transitions are effortless, like shifting gears in a Ferrari. He has a high tail and a short back so it’s easy for him to gather himself underneath my weight. When he moves he has a floating action. I had nothing to do with that – God made him that way. I only use light plates on his front feet and no shoes on the back feet. I’ve ridden a lot of horses but not a lot like Kid Khan. He’s special - he’s the horse of a lifetime. I love him.”
Rob Bick did not always ride and train Arabians. He grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Montana. He left Montana to learn to ride and train Arabians as an apprentice with Murrell Lacey in California. Mr. Bick worked in various Arabian facilities, including Ray LaCroix [Coaching & Training] in Texas. He decided to establish Pacific Park, a public Arabian facility in Walnut Creek, California. Caralyn Schroter, filled his spot as trainer for LaCroix, Ltd. Sometime later, Mr. Bick hired Ms. Schroter to work at the public facility. Eventually, they married and went on to manage Dolorosa Arabians for 11 years in Rocky Point, North Carolina. In 2007, they opened RBC Show Horses, LLC to teach riding and train Arabians and now they have a 50 horse stable. Ms. Schroter and Mr. Bick have taken top national honors as competitors. They are highly regarded and entrusted to train horses at the highest level, such as PA Kid Khan.
“Kid Khan is now eight years old, and he was just in a breeding program at Palmetto Arabians, South Carolina. He’s sharing his time for breeding at Palmetto and training at RBC Show Horses. He’s a refined, lighter boned Arabian, which is what breeders are looking for today, but he’s still very durable and athletic. I’ve only had him back in training a couple of months and he remembers everything. He’s very intelligent. Kid Khan’s babies are coming up now. His oldest foals are now four years old and are becoming quite valuable,” says Mr. Bick.
The Arabian Western Pleasure Pro/Am was just one of the classes held at the Wollman rink as part of Arabian night at the Rolex Central Park Horse Show 2017. Competitors and judges came from around the world to attend the prestigious event here. Other competitions included Arabian halter classes for various ages for mares and stallions, Arabian Mounted Native Costume, Arabian Country English Pleasure and Arabian Hunter Pleasure. Mr. Bick was delighted with his wife’s win, saying, “My wife, Caralyn Schroter, won her class, Arabian Hunter Pleasure Pro/Am. Caralyn was the pro and Brooke Hines was the amateur. They rode PA Mayhem, another Palmetto Arabians bred horse. He was trained exclusively at RBC Show Horses by Caralyn. Mayhem is a really smooth riding horse with an excellent disposition. The horse is very personable. Besides the pro/am class, he also does the walk trot class for riders under 10 years old, with Kendall Hines riding him. She’s the daughter of Brooke Hines, the amateur rider for Mayhem.”
As to Arabian Country English Pleasure Pro/Am, Mr. Bick commented, “Joshua Shino, who was the Silver Champion as the pro, [with Katherine Kirby as the amateur] rode CP Manifesto, a Cal Poly [California State Polytechnic University] bred horse from Pomona, California. I’m on the board for the Arabian breeding program at Cal Poly. Josh is a superstar in the making. He has perfect posture and is a great rider. He’s an amazing young talent who can train any discipline.”
For Arabian breed history see: ArabiansCentralPark.pdf.
