PG . 46
AQHA FEATURE ~ REINING
HE ’ S A 2 X NRHA OPEN WORLD CHAMPION , AN NRHA LEVEL 4 OPEN DERBY RESERVE CHAMPION , AND A MULTIPLE FINALIST AT ALL MAJOR NRHA EVENTS .
MARTIN
Larcombe
NRHA MILLION DOLLAR RIDER
WORDS BY : LYN HOFFMANN © 2023 D PHOTOS BY : MCKINNON LARCOMBE PHOTOGRAPHY / WATTENBERRY
DURING THE 2022 NATIONAL REINING HORSE ASSOCIATION FUTURITY , MARTIN LARCOMBE FINALLY SURPASSED $ 1 MILLION IN NRHA EARNINGS AFTER MARKING A 221.5 IN THE LEVEL 3 OPEN FUTURITY FINALS ABOARD VINCENT VAN WHOA , POCKETING $ 42,500 FOR A RESERVE CHAMPIONSHIP .
Martin Larcombe has been around the Reining industry , in Australia , Europe and the USA , for 35 years , and has been training reining horses for around 30 of those . He ’ s been a past President of what we know today as Reining Australia , has served on the Board , and has also been a hard-working committee member .
But it was during the 2022 NRHA Futurity Level 3 Open Reining Futurity that Martin , riding Vincent Van Whoa ( Spooks Gotta Gun X FM Master Tag Chex ), passed that magic million-dollar mark in earnings ! Martin , who coowns the stallion with Andrea Costa , tied for the Reserve Champion Level 3 , with NRHA $ 2 Million rider , Jordan Larson , who rode HA Tune of a Mobster , each marking a score of 221.5 . Winner of the event was NRHA Million Dollar Rider , Matt Mills , on Walla Be A Bigstar . Martin and Vincent Van Whoa also finished second in the Open Prime Time & combined with his other entry , Strike Your Fancy ( Inferno 66 X Designed To Shine ) owned by Suzy Hutchins , left Oklahoma City with $ 58,816 added to his name .
JOURNEY OF A REINING MASTER Always having horses growing up , Martin joined his father to begin his equine competition in Rodeos . At the same time , Quarter Horses were becoming very popular in Australia . Martin began showing as a Youth rider at Quarter Horse shows , and showed successfully in many Western Performance events . He showed Willomurra Mambo , sired by Jet Master , to many awards , and in 1979 , at the age of 16 , he rode the horse to demonstrate a Working Cowhorse pattern for a Channel 7 children ’ s
AUSTRALIAN QUARTER HORSE ASSOCIATION - WWW . AQHA . COM . AU