Custer man named Show Trainer of the Year

Doing what he’s passionate about is paying off for Custer horse trainer Randy Guggisberg. He will travel from his place on Pleasant Valley Road west of Custer to Fort Pierre on Saturday where he will be honored as the 2022 Legacy Show Trainer of the Year for South Dakota.
Guggisberg, who runs Sliding G Performance Horses, raises and trains performance horses, mainly reining and rope horses. He also rides them in shows across the nation for his clients.
“We go all over the country showing horses,” said Guggisberg, “We go to Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota—all over.”
“It’s a pretty big honor,” said Guggisberg of the award. “I’m very grateful to my clientele and my help.”
Guggisberg is quick to share the credit for the honor with his three full-time employees who help him in caring for and training the horses.
“You can’t do this by yourself,” he said. “It takes a whole team to run a horse training operation like this.”
He also gives credit to the clients who trust him with their fine horses and employ him to ride them in competitions.
“I kind of feel like a NASCAR driver,” he said, “because they pay me to ride their show horses and go in.”
Guggisberg said it takes 18 months to two years to train a show horse and a lot of hard work goes into it. When we caught up with him, he was out in the barn doing chores on a Saturday morning.
“It’s an art form,” said Guggisberg. “You don’t paint a Picasso overnight, but if you have a passion for it, it works out pretty good.”
A Custer resident since 2006, Guggisberg also credits his new hometown for his success.
“It’s a great place to train horses and a great place to live with great people,” he said.
The award will be presented at the Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Museum.

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