Joani and Boon Suen Enuf Photo by: Scootem n Shootem Photography
Joani Mink was in Australia on an agricultural exchange program and the first thing her host family did was assign her a cutting horse. They didn’t show cutting horses; they actually used them on their cattle ranch. A big part of Mink’s job was separating yearlings and settling the cows so they wouldn’t be wild.
When she returned to the States her dad got her a cutting horse. She put off college for a short time and went to work for Tom Campbell. Campbell trained Mink and the horse. She walked to the herd for the first time in 1997 and showed her own horse as an NCHA member in 2001.
Winning the 2007 Non-Pro Big Sky Derby is Mink’s greatest achievement so far. Mink and Pobres Montana Cat had their picture featured in the Cutting Horse Chatter and the horse’s name was in the High Brow Cat ad.
Living an hour from the Canadian border made it easy for her to show in Canada where she would also train with Gerry Hansma. She has traveled all over the US to compete.
Mink’s immediate goal is to get her three year old trained to take to small futurities. She also hopes to earn more money on her six year old before she retires the horse.
Why Joani Uses CHTO:
“When COVID hit and I wasn’t able to get to Canada to ride with a trainer I thought that’s ok I can do it on my own for a year. I felt like I went from a point in my life where I felt like I was actually improving to actually just getting worse…I was just [wondering how I would continue to] learn and better myself and train my own horses if I don’t have a tool in the toolbox to help me reach my goals. I thought, I know how I’m going to do it: CHTO! [I get] access off my phone, all the videos in the world, the best trainers in the world, guys who have been there and done that, you can trust what they’re talking about…It has been an absolute blessing for me.”