In between exercises, when given a rest, Medea stood quietly with her head down, no fear, completely content, mouthing the bit absently, until she was given another cue, to which she responded eagerly.
Randy loped her to the far end of the arena and ran her down the center, bringing her to a sliding stop in a matter of a split second, her mane and tail streaming behind her as she sat back on her haunches, dirt spraying forward around her. The signature of a reining horse.
“ This is the proof in the pudding of our breeding program,” he said quietly but proudly. Her career as a show horse is shining in front of her, and if all goes as planned she will end up in the Sliding G brood mare band.“ We put a lot of thought into what we’ re raising, because I want horses that are gentle, and very easily trainable.”
Randy Guggisberg grew up on a family farm in Iowa, but with an unexplainable love of horses and a desire for ranching.
“ We were a non-horse family,” he said.“ We just had farm horses, ranch horses. But I always wanted to train horses …. I’ ve never not had an outside horse in training probably since I was 12 years old. Those were neighbors’ ponies and things like that, but I’ ve always been riding something for somebody. I’ ve had horses in training since then, and I’ m 43 now.”
Randy Guggisberg on Medea, a young mare out of the Sliding G breeding program
“ I LOVE MY CLiENTELE, I LOVE RiDiNG FOR MY CLiENTELE, BUT MY JOB iS TO RiDE THE HORSE FOR WHAT THE HORSE iS CAPABLE OF.”
Randy Guggisberg
16 Down Country Roads November / December 2025