Andrea Fappani Career Highlights: 4×NRHA Open Futurity Champion, 4×NRBC Open Champion, and 1×NRHA Open Derby Champion
The road to get there started out a little bumpy. Recalling his first competition at age 8, Italian native Andrea says it went well but that he scored a zero.
His dad, Sergio Fappani, told him “I understand that you scored a zero the first time but this never happens again with our horse, and Alberto, the horse’s owner, said if you will do it again, he just can’t let you keep showing that horse.”
“I wanted to show that horse, and I told myself, ‘This is it. I will not do it again anymore.’ Knock on wood, I think I did Zero scored a couple of times but that was it.”
By the time he was 18, Fappani was a successful non-professional raider in Italy, but he wanted to continue climbing the ladder. After giving college a shot for a few months, he decided to pursue his dream of being a professional raider in the U.S.
“I’ve always set pretty high goals for myself,” says Fappani. “When I came here, I told myself that if within a year I had the feeling that I wasn’t going to be good enough to get to the top, I was going to go back to Italy and stay a non-pro and just keep reining as a hobby. But if I thought I had a chance to get to the top, then I wanted to stay in the States and give it a chance. And it worked out really well.”
Fappani worked for Todd Bergen in Oregon for a few years before turning professional. In 2001, he became the youngest competitor and the first European to win the National Reining Horse Association Futurity Open which offered the biggest prize money in the 3 years-old horse event. The following year, he and his wife, Tish, set up their own training facility, and in 2006, he officially became a U.S. citizen.
“The thing I love about the States is the chances people gave me,” says Fappani. “In Europe, it’s more about politics, who you are, and what kind of connections you have. I came here, I showed I had a little talent, and Todd gave me a job as an assistant trainer without having any guarantees that I was going to make it.”
“The main thing I love about here is that if you put in the work and show you can do it, there are many chances to succeed.”
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/xUTlBsJiJpE
- https://fappaniperformance.com/show-record/
- https://fappaniperformance.com/how-i-got-my-start/
- https://www.horseillustrated.com/horse-breeds-apha-rr-star
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