Sarah Dawson and Shine Smarter. Primo Morales photo
It was a busy day in Reno as Champions were crowned in the Cinch Intermediate Open and Limited Open Futurity divisions. We also recognized our Open Hackamore Champion and honored two reined cow horse greats – one human, one equine – at the annual Hall of Fame Banquet. See it all in the latest edition of the Reno Wrap Up, and don’t forget to visit www.NRCHA.com for detailed results and video of the top daily runs in their entirety.
CINCH Intermediate Open
Mr Shiney Lights (CD Lights x Lil Miss Shiney Chex x Shining Spark) and Nicolas Barthelemy stole the spotlight in the CINCH Intermediate Open finals. The duo scored a 219.5 in the herd work, 217 in the rein work, and a whopping 225 to win the cow work, giving them a composite 661.5 and a 7.5-point lead on their competitors.
“When we went in for the herd work it was just a matter of finding the right cow. Morgan Cromer was there and she gave me a lot of help and he came out with a solid score,” Barthelemy explained. “All I had to do was show him right in the reining, and then down the fence I heard Sarah [Dawson] had a great run so I knew I was going to have to have a really solid run to take [the championship]. But I knew I had the horse for it, it was just a matter of putting it together. It’s a lot easier when you’re riding a horse like that. I’m glad he was just so good and I’m really happy.”
Barthelemy and Mr Shiney Lights earned a check worth $30,000 for owner Sheri Jamieson, along with a Bob’s Custom Saddle sponsored by Cinch, CR Morrison Trophy from Jim Lane Insurance, Gist Custom Buckle from TKO Ranch/Bob Stevens, 30X Hat from JW Brooks Custom Hats, Classic Equine Polar Fleece Cooler, monogrammed Cinch Jacket from NRCHA, product from Platinum Performance, and a $500 Gift Certificate for a CR Ranch Wear Shirt.
“I just really want to thank everybody that has been here to help,” Barthelemy added. “Also, Sheri Jamieson for being such an awesome client. There is nobody better and she is such a great woman. I also really want to give a big thanks to my wife, Stacy. She’s up early every morning at the barn and she doesn’t get to be with all the pros and all of that, but she shared the win just as much as I did. I am really glad I have her backing me up.”
Limited Open
Shine Smarter and Sarah Dawson claimed top honors in the Futurity Limited Open finals. Dawson and Shine Smarter scored a 217.5 in the herd work, 213.5 in the rein work, and scored a sweet 223 in the cow work for a composite 654. Their score was also enough to earn them the Intermediate Open Reserve title.
“I’m just so proud of that mare, so it feels awesome!” Dawson said about her win on Shine Smarter. “The herd work has probably been the toughest event for me out of all three of them and that went really, really well today and in the prelims. Then in the rein work, she got a little strong in her circles but she ran and drug her butt, which is what she really needed to do anyways. In the fence work, we got a cow that really tried us in the boxing and went down the fence with a whole lot of speed, and she just swallowed it up on both turns and went and circled big.”
Dawson and Shine Smarter (WR This Cats Smart x Shiney Tari x Shining Spark) garnered a $12,419 paycheck in the Intermediate Open and $15,000 in the Intermediate Open for a total of $27,419 for owners Richard and Cheryl Winters. For their Limited Open Championship, the duo took home a Bob’s Custom Saddle, CR Morrison Trophy, Gist Buckle and a monogrammed Cinch Jacket all from the NRCHA; a 30X Hat from JW Brooks Custom Hats, Cow Trac, Classic Equine Polar Fleece Cooler, product from Platinum Performance and a $500 Gift Certificate for a CR Ranch Wear Shirt.
“This win is very special. I think it means more to me for the horse really because she’s just such a cool little mare and I knew she was capable of doing it,” Dawson said. “There are a lot of great horses here that it just doesn’t come together for them for one reason or another, so I’m just so happy that things came together and it really means a lot.”
Open Hackamore
With 11 Hackamore Open finalists, Darrel Norcutt, of Fallon, Nevada, and Over A Barrell bested the competition with a 2.5-point lead. Norcutt piloted the 2011 gelding (Nic It In The Bud x Katie Gun x John Gun) to score a 441.5 (219.5 rein/222 cow) for the win.
“[Over A Barrell] felt really good in the reining. Everything I asked him to do was good and the cow was just what we needed. Other than that, it was kind of a blur,” Norcutt said following his win.
Norcutt and Over A Barrell earned a $7,280 paycheck for owner Joyce Diegel, along with a Bob’s Custom Saddle and a Gist Buckle from the NRCHA, product from Platinum Performance, and a Cooler Bag with Grooming Supplies and a $50 Gift Card from Santa Cruz Animal Health/San Juan Ranch.
“He just keeps on getting better,” Norcutt said. “Don Murphy helped me find him. He’s just been good all along. I got hurt last year and Nick Dowers showed him for me at the futurity and it really helped me a lot.”
NRCHA Hall of Fame
After a busy day of showing on Thursday, it was time for the annual Hall of Fame Banquet, the Snaffle Bit Futurity highlight event held at the Silver Legacy Resort and Casino. In 2015, one equine and one top hand received the NRCHA’s highest honor.
King Hill, Idaho, horsewoman Anne M. Reynolds, already firmly established as one of the most successful competitors, breeders and owners in National Reined Cow Horse Association history, joins the Hall of Fame in 2015.
Reynolds’ road to more than $1.5 million in lifetime NRCHA earnings began in 1974. She has won the Snaffle Bit Futurity Non Pro Championship a record eight times, and in 2012, she became an exclusively Open competitor.
Not only is she the NRCHA’s only female Million Dollar Rider, and the only competitor to achieve that status as a Non Pro, Reynolds is one of the association’s only Million Dollar owners. Virtually all her champions have been raised and trained at her Why Worry Ranch, where she has a collaborative program with her mother, Joyce Pearson.
Reynolds’ winning formula is based on decades of breeding and training savvy, along with a constant willingness to learn.
“We all tend to think of the process that goes into training a snaffle bit horse as a 2-year time period, and primarily one person training the horse. What sometimes people don’t realize is, yes, it takes 22 months to train that horse, but it’s taken me my entire lifetime to learn how to do those 22 months, and I didn’t do it alone. I had the help of a lot of other great trainers,” she said.
Another Reynolds trademark is an unwavering commitment to the mental side of competition. She said she has been in the process of mastering her mental game for more than 30 years. Part of that journey has been learning how to enjoy the progressive nature of horsemanship.
“When my kids were young, I went for a nine year stretch where I didn’t have enough time to prepare a horse to be competitive. What I learned during that time was that what I loved most about preparing a horse wasn’t winning, but just being able to get out there for an hour every day and improve the horse a little bit. I gave up the idea of winning, and started thoroughly enjoying the process. All of us who get to play this game at any level should be tremendously grateful for the opportunity. It is such a great sport, with so many wonderful people involved in it! My best advice is to just enjoy it, have fun, and be grateful.”
NRCHA Hall of Fame
A sorrel mare from Oregon added tremendous pizzazz to the National Reined Cow Horse Association arena during her lifetime, and now joins the NRCHA Hall of Fame: Smoke Time Tuck, an Oregon-bred daughter of Doc Tom Tucker out of Ima Smoke (x Mr Fools Smoke). The leading cow horse dam died shortly before the 2013 National Reined Cow Horse Association Celebration of Champions in San Angelo, Texas.
Foaled in 1985, Smoke Time Tuck was owned her entire life by her breeder, Bar Eleven Quarter Horses, the Eagle Point, Oregon, horse operation owned by NRCHA Hall of Fame horseman Skip Brown.
Smoke Time Tuck was shown only twice herself, earned $3,555 in NRCHA money. Her greatest contribution to her sport has been through her babies. She produced 14 registered foals, and 11 of them have won a total of $500,946.96 in reined cow horse money, making her the all-time No. 1 NRCHA dam.
California horsewoman Lyn Anderson helped Smoke Time Tuck’s offspring achieve their greatest potential. Approximately half of Anderson’s own lifetime $804,140.34 NRCHA money has been earned aboard horses out of Smoke Time Tuck.
“The number of foals she has had that have been money-earners is just amazing, with only breeding one time a year. No embryo transfer, no nothing, and she’s still on top. I owe a lot to that mare,” Anderson said.
She has observed similar ability and disposition in the Smoke Time Tuck babies that have come through her training program – they are high-motored, gifted athletes and natural performers.
“They’re all hugely quick in the front end and super fence horses,” Anderson said.
Leading the impressive list of Smoke Time Tuck’s money earners is Smart Time Tuck, a 1997 bay gelding sired by Senors Lil Brudder (Smart Little Lena x Senorita Misty x Senor George), who has just over $150,000 on his NRCHA earnings record. He is owned by California non pro rider Murray Thompson.
The second-highest earning Smoke Time Tuck foal is Tuckers Smart Cat, by WR This Cats Smart (High Brow Cat x The Smart Look x Smart Little Lena). The 2007 sorrel gelding carried Anderson to consecutive NRCHA Open Hackamore World Championships in 2011 and 2012 on his way to $136,662 in lifetime earnings to date. Tuckers Smart Cat is owned by David and Barbara Archer, Clovis, Calif.
