Scottsdale riders look to make mark at World Equestrian Games

• Reining is the only western discipline contested at the World Equestrian Games.
• Oklahoma and Texas are considered the sport%27s hotbed in the United States.
• The U.S. is aiming for a fourth-straight team gold medal in the sport.

For Andrea Fappani, the American dream lives just off of East Rio Verde Drive in Scottsdale, inside the ranches that line the long stretch of road.

Troy Heikes' American dream lives in Arizona's horse country, too. He manages a ranch just a half-mile up the road from Fappani's.

Fappani and Heikes are two of the country's best reiners, or showmen who ride horses through precisely choreographed routines that include running calculated circles and galloping before coming to a sudden, sliding stop in the middle of a show pen — all with only one hand on a loose rein.

At the end of the month they'll travel to Normandy, France, to compete against teams from 75 other nations for a gold medal as part of the U.S. reining squad in the Fédération Équestre Internationale World Equestrian Games from Aug. 23-Sept. 7.

For each rider, earning the U.S. a fourth-straight team gold medal at the only non-individual major competition in reining would be the culmination of his career.

"As far as the context, it's the Equine Olympics," Jeff Petska, U.S. Reining Chef d'Equipe, said. "It's huge. Every rider wants to be a part of winning a team gold medal. It just adds a whole new dynamic."

Reining is the only western discipline contested at the World Games, a sport meant to evoke the spirit of the classic American cowboy, from spurs to hat to the transcendental relationship between horse and rider.

That cowboy spirit is what makes Oklahoma and Texas the country's reining hotbeds — three of the squad's four other members —Jordan Larson, Mandy McCutcheon and Tom McCutcheon — hail from Texas, and the final member, Shawn Flarida, works in Ohio. Fappani and Heikes passed over both states to settle in Arizona.

The scene in Arizona is smaller than Oklahoma and Texas, but isn't lacking in prestige.

For their part, Fappani and Heikes contribute two highly successful, quintessential American stories to the Scottsdale community.

The 37-year-old Fappani emigrated to Arizona from Italy where, growing up on a dairy farm, he learned to ride the proper English disciplines popular in Europe at the time such as jumping and eventing.

But he fell in love with the seeming effortlessness of reining at a young age and came to U.S. permanently in 1999 to see if he could make it as a professional in reining's motherland.

"I wanted to get myself in a situation to where if I was good enough, I could make it to the top and make it to be one of the best all over the place, not just in Italy," Fappani said. "That's why I moved to the States, because I wanted to be in the place where reining was the most competitive, and it was recognized the most."

He became the National Reining Horse Association's youngest rider to earn a million dollars and, now ranked third in the NHRA's top-20 riders, is approaching $4 million in career earnings.

Fappani became an American citizen in 2006 and qualified for the U.S. squad as a reserve for the 2010 World Games in Kentucky, but did not compete.

Heikes, like his teammate, is a self-made man.

The Wyoming native has been showing for 30 years and became a reiner because of his love of horses. He also wanted to prove to his doubtful family he could make it as a horseman.

Now, family support fully behind him, Heikes' impossibly white showman's smile gleams. Being named to the squad made him more of a patriot. He's excited to see the World II history in Normandy.

Fappani is eager to share the experience with his wife and two young sons. The Italian wants to show his boys how the work ethic his father instilled in him can pay off.

As first-time competitors, neither Fappani nor Heikes knows what to expect. They know they'll be competing in sold-out stadiums and treated like "rock stars."

They just can't wait to get there.

"For us here, the sport of reining has been around for so long that at our major events on finals night, the crowd really gets into it and whatnot," Heikes said. "But this, from what they tell me, is just above and beyond anything that I've ever experienced."