60-year-old Yoshichika Ando stepped into the OG&E Coliseum at the 6666 NRHA Derby presented by Markel aboard his mare, Flinns Hollywoodbabe. While his 202.5 score didn’t set him up for a finals run at the event, Ando is one step closer to his ultimate goal as a competitor, to make the NRHA Derby Finals. The rider from Osaka, Japan, has achieved much in the 22 years he’s been in the saddle.
“I started reining in 2008,” Ando said. “I loved the Western movies when I was a child. I loved the Western style riding but in Japan, there are few Western riding clubs, so I didn’t ride a horse until I was 36 years old. It was an accident that I found reining and a Western style club in Japan. I love horses so I went to a club [event] and saw many people riding horses, but one person was doing reining style riding, and I was impressed. It was so interesting! I asked him about it, and he told me it was reining, and that is why I wanted to do reining.”
While there is an NRHA affiliate in Japan now, when Ando started down the reining road, it wasn’t an option to be involved at the NRHA level. He found his way to the 2017 NRHA Futurity, where Tim Shelley, a trainer who lives in Japan, helped Ando purchase a gelding named Redd Snapper (Master Snapper x A Ruf Mistress).
“I want to attend the show in the U.S. and needed to find a trainer in the U.S., and Tim introduced me to [NRHA Professional] Joe Schmidt,” Ando said. “My goal is to be a finalist in the NRHA Derby. I usually practice on a trained horse. I learn riding technique from Joe Schmidt. We live in Japan, and we ride every weekend. We video our rides and send the video to Joe, then Joe watches and sends us feedback on what to fix.”
Though not ideal to take lessons via video from a trainer who is more than 6,000 miles away in Pilot Point, Texas, the method is working for Ando and his wife, Yuki, who is also a reiner. The Andos aim to compete in the U.S. two or three times a year.
At the World’s Hottest Reining, Ando showed Flinns Hollywoodbabe (In Like Flinn x Sweet Hollywood Babe), nominated by Karen Gage, in the first section of the Non Pro Derby, in the Level 2 and Level 1, and the Non Pro Prime Time divisions.
“I bought this mare last year and she is the first mare I’ve had,” Ando said. “She’s very different [from Redd Snapper]. I learned a lot from riding her. Redd Snapper is [excitable] so I don’t have to do a lot to go fast, she is more laid back.”
Ando and Yuki both competed in Oklahoma City, with Yuki riding to 7th place in the Green Reiner class at the 6666 NRHA Derby presented by Markel this year. She now competes on Redd Snapper.
In addition to riding, Ando was influential in the creation of the Japan Reining Horse Association, a NRHA Oceania regional affiliate. In 2024, he was crowned the Japan Non Pro Champion. Ando’s focus on higher-level competition in U.S.-based reining events is helping him to achieve his dreams as a competitor.
Follow the action at the 6666 NRHA Derby presented by Markel at nrhaderby.com.
