NRCHA Celebration of Champions Girl Power - Cont from page 14


owned Travelin Jonez as well. “Steve is outstanding. He’s a great guy.


We have a very long history with Steve, and I’m very grateful for him letting me have the ride on this mare. He was very, very happy that she won, and he was nice enough to let me keep the buckle,” Dawson said, smiling. Dawson, 27, has been showing cow hors- es since she was a high school freshman. At age 18, she started competing in the Open, and has become a fast-rising star in the NR- CHA, arriving in Fort Worth with more than $245,000 in earnings since the association recorded her first Youth Limited paycheck in 2005. Dawson showed three other horses in the Peptoboonsmal Cow Horse Classic Derby, and one of them earned $4,100 for eighth place in the Open, the mare Shine Smarter (WR This Cats Smart x Shiney Tari x Shining Spark).


NON PRO CHAMPION Since Ravensdale, Washington, non pro


rider Lyle Proctor started showing his mare, SJR All Time Cash (One Time Pepto x Shesa Lota Cash x Nu Cash), in 2015, one of his big- gest challenges has been figuring out what to do with all the buckles they have won together. That problem only intensified in Fort Worth, as Proctor and “Pepsi” won championships in triplicate, claiming the Derby Non Pro, Inter- mediate Non Pro, and Novice Non Pro titles. “It was a pretty good way to start out the show season! She’s such a good mare. She has big brakes, cowy, but not out-of-control cowy, and a monster down the fence,” Proctor said. With the guidance of his trainer, NRCHA Professional Jim Spence, Yamhill, Oregon, Proctor bought SJR All Time Cash in the spring of 2015, early in her 3-year-old year. He was in search of a Snaffle Bit Futurity horse and found an ideal partner in Pepsi, who carried him to the 2015 Futurity Amateur Championship as well as the Non Pro, Intermediate Non Pro and Novice Non Pro finals. Last year, as a 4-year- old, Proctor and Pepsi collected more cham- pionships and top finals placings at the 2016 Stallion Stakes and Hackamore Classic. In Fort Worth, Proctor and his mare start-


ed the 2017 year off right, scoring a composite 434.5 (141 herd/145.5 rein/148 cow) in the Peptoboonsmal Cow Horse Classic Derby. “In the herd work, I watched some of the


16 SouthWest Horse Trader


Open riders, and they had some issues with the cattle being fast. We tried to find cattle that would be quiet, and not go wall-to- wall. I worked three head, and they didn’t do a whole lot, but I didn’t have penalties, either. I wanted to be smooth, correct, stay in the middle and stay safe, and that’s what happened. In the rein work, I don’t think I’ve ever done a reining pattern that felt like that on a horse. She was right there with me and I could run her as hard as I wanted. The fence work is her best event and my best event, so I felt pretty confident. I knew if we went in there and just did what she can do, we would be OK. We drew a good cow and it worked out well,” he said.


NON PRO LIMITED CHAMPION In her first time to show at a NRCHA Pre-


mier Event, Alison Brantley, a Colorado com- petitor, won the Peptoboonsmal Cow Horse Classic Derby Non Pro Limited Championship aboard Wild Haired Trooper (Wild Haired Cat x Summer Mate x Smart Mate), her new geld- ing who has occasionally been known to aban- don good manners in public. However, Brantley is not one to shrink


from a challenge. With life experience that in- cludes raising five kids to adulthood, getting her first horse at age 40, and tackling high-im- pact endurance and hunter/jumper competi- tion, she regards the occasional mischief “Wy- lie” throws at her as nothing more than a minor bump on the road to achieving her goals. “It was exciting to do the Derby in Fort


Worth, and so cool to win my first time out. I thought I would give it a shot and see if we could hold our own at a Premier Event. I went with nothing in mind except that I didn’t want to embarrass myself,” Brantley said. Wylie pulled a few shenanigans in their


pre-Fort Worth schooling runs, but she worked through them with the help of her trainer, E.J. Laubscher, and other Colorado professionals Matt Koch, Darren Miller, and Jim Cook. “We had a practice here in January. Wylie


was super cow fresh and reared up in the herd work, and I thought, ‘oh my gosh, what am I doing?’” she said. Then, later in January, at the


April 2017


Alison Brantley & Wild Haired Trooper


National Western Stock Show in Denver, she corrected Wylie’s naughty behavior in the rein work.


“I had taken him there to kind of push the envelope and see if I could run the circles fast- er in Fort Worth. He bucked in the arena,” she said, laughing. “I’m thankful that the judges let me continue and finish the pattern. Wylie need- ed the schooling!” Her effort paid off, as Wylie was calm and


focused in Fort Worth. They scored a compos- ite 420 (136 herd/141 rein/143 cow) to win the championship check and go-round money to- taling $1,826.


“The herd work I think was the most boring I had ever done, but after watching the video, it was something the horse and I both needed. We got two cows out and only one of them moved,” she said, laughing. “In the reining, he was really good, and calm. In the boxing, the cows he does the best with are the ones that come at him. That cow did challenge us, and Wylie held his own. It all fell together,” she said.


Brantley purchased Wylie last April.


Laubscher had been riding him for his previous owner, and when he came up for sale, Brantley thought he would be a good transition from her reliable bridle horse to the limited-age events. “The younger horses teach you a lot, which I totally enjoy. It can be frustrating at times, but so much more rewarding when it goes right. I really like him. I like all that sassiness. I’m attracted to that kind of horse because I’m also energetic and I like the chal- lenge,” she said. w


Primo


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