Long Days.....Lots of Fun...

It has certainly been a couple of busy months in the horse show arena. I see the last thing I blogged about was Kyndall at the USEF and Lucas up in Tennessee.

Well I would say these two are still at it! Congratulations to Kyndall and her steady mount "Chicken" for being Reserve Champions again this year at the Congress in Columbus Ohio in the 13 and Under. It was a cold three days up there for us Florida folks and Chicken had plenty of energy because of that. Kyndall also placed 9th in the NRHA approved Ladies division out of about 90 horses and got a nice paycheck for that.

Kyndall now has her sights set on the Florida Futurity this Saturday night in Ocala. Then two weeks from now in Williamston, North Carolina she is riding in the futurity they have there during the affiliate finals weekend. She will be riding her three year old mare, Funny Face. Good Luck!!!!


We have been at several cow horse shows with Lucas since I last blogged. Lucas and his steady cow horse "Bobby" have been paying their way every time. They are like a Horse Show ATM machine.... go to the show and withdraw money!! Seems pretty easy doesn't it!! They have made it look easy but I will tell you they work hard at home and just keep getting better! They sure make me proud!!

Lucas just bought a new 4 year old mare with his own money and we are real excited about her. She is by Boonlight Dancer and has a lot of potential. He is going to test drive her at a couple of shows and then hopefully have her ready for cow horse derbies next year.

Congratulations to Meagan Whitehurst of Williston, Florida for her purchase of Burl White's horse Hickorys in Hollywood, "Bugsy"! Meagan is a very good rider and in her first cow horse show last month she did amazingly well for her first time out. The pair marked 69's and 70's in the reining and in the cow work they marked... 70, 71, and two 73's!!!! It was really fun!!! We hope to see them at a lot of the cow horse shows in 2010!


Congratulations to Rodney Osborne on his purchase of a very nice four year old stallion by Soula Jewel Star! We will be excited to see the horse get out there and work some cows in the show pen! Here he is pictured below with Brad giving him a try.



Last month in Ocala, Ashlyn Harper made her reining debut!! She has been practicing so hard and really did a great job on her Aunt Lisa's mare. This month Ashlyn is going to give it another try but this time she is going to ride McCullough's good mare Lana so it should be exciting!! Good Luck to them!!!

This weekend in Ocala, we have one more show of the year here for FRHA. One exciting part of the show will be the three year old futurity. Colleen Smith will be showing her three year old stallion "Dallas" for the first time! Good Luck to Colleen and Kyndall on their futurity horses!!



In two weeks we will be in Williamston at the NRHA Affiliate Finals. We have four horses going there. Kyndall and Chicken are in the Youth 13 and Under and also Kyndall will show Funny Face in the futurity there. Ginger and Juiced Up will be competing in the exciting Rookie Division. It will be a huge deal to see if she makes it to Oklahoma for the Rookie Finals!! Finally, I will have Dually to show in the Novice Horse. He is the only Florida horse qualified in this class!



See you all soon!

Brad

One Busy Weekend!

We had two shows to attend this past weekend! Friday Lucas and I headed to Sarasota for a cow horse show while Esther stayed in Ocala and worked with the reiners at the FRHA show at OEC.
Lucas and I both had fun Friday night schooling Boony and Bobby in the AQHA cutting classes. We are getting both horses ready for a big cow horse show in Tennessee next month.
Saturday Lucas had an outstanding ride on Bobby marking 72 1/2 in the reining and a huge 75 on his fence work!!! It was a flawless cow work getting in and out quickly and making a very fast run look easy. They won the Non Pro and the Novice Non Pro garnishing about $580 dollars. Lucas showed Bob three times over the weekend and marked consistant 72 1/2's in the rein work all three times. Sunday he ended up second with another good ride but not as good of a cow to work. What a great weekend!! Lucas is becoming more and more composed as a showman and thinking clearly making good decisions on his cows...its really fun to see him doing so well!!! Way to go Luke!!!
Boony had a very nice outing for his debut cow horse show. I showed him one time in the Open Hackamore class and he was very good. He marked a 74 1/2 in the rein work and a 70 on his cow. He was so relaxed and happy to go down the fence real hard...he is a fun horse to show!! I am really looking forward to getting him in some derbies for the first time this summer!

Back in Ocala the reiners were working hard as well! Both days this weekend Karen Anderson really rode well. She was so relaxed and in control on Piggy and won herself enough points to get her Green buckle!!! Congratulations Karen!!
Burl wrestled with Bugsy a little bit but the ride I saw on Sunday morning was really good! The best spins I have ever seen Bugsy and Burl get done and until the last stop... one of the best rides I've seen them have! Way to go Burl!
Kyndall had nice rides winning the 13 an Under on Saturday and placing 2nd on Sunday with a nice 71. She was getting ready for the USEF competition in Oklahoma so she was working hard on Chicken's form and did a great job! Good Luck next Saturday Kyndall!!!!
Ginger had a bit of a tough go on Saturday with Juiced Up, (I think due to the heat) but came back with a wonderful ride on Sunday placing 2nd and 3rd in the two Rookie divisions!! Your hanging right in there Ginger... keep it up!!!
I have to say a huge special thanks to my good friend Steven Duchac for helping this past week with Dually!! Since I was going to be gone and Esther hasn't been feeling well the last several weeks...(yes for the obvious reason..Grace is going to have another playmate in her future)..Steven rode and showed Dually. He did a beautiful job and gained 6 year end points for us in the FRHA standings!! Thanks So Much Steven!!!
Everyone did a great job this weekend...we are proud of the whole team!!

I want to say a special thankyou to Cassidy Long who has spent three days with us in the last two weeks just working her heart out!! For a fourteen year old she has such a great work ethic and is such a joy to have around. I hope to have her around a lot more this summer as a working student!! Thanks Cassidy!

Grab the Money and Run

We ran in and out of Georgia last weekend in a few days, won 3 out of 6 classes we entered, and enjoyed doing it! Kyndall Harper, "Miss Consistent" won both days of the Youth 13 & Under on "Chicken" with 71 and 1/2's. She also won the AQHA youth class and the USEF both days all on the same rides. Way to go Kyndall! Lucas McCullough ended up placing 2nd and 3rd on Sunday in the upper youth division on his two horses Nice Bobby Sox and Chics Annie Oaklynn. He had nice solid rides, good job! One of our up-and-coming horses, Smart Doc Dualittle, owned by Sandy Creek Performance Horses, also put forth a great effort. He won the Novice Horse Open Division with a 72 1/2 winning $299! Sandy Creek is located in Valdosta Georgia about 100 miles from Perry and this was his first NRHA money and trophy so it was a nice win! Congratulations Cathy and Ronnie!

First Show of the Year a Hit

We had a great weekend at the Florida Reining Horse Associations' Snow Bird Slide. It was in Jacksonville at the beautiful equestrian center. We started with the Rookie riders setting the tone. Ginger White got third place in the Rookie class after just a minor mistake took her out of the win. But she had a stellar ride on her new horse, Juiced Up. JB Burney also showed in the Rookie division having a really nice ride. Then Steven Duchac who is just getting into reining but is also a horse trainer and on our team, rode well in the Rookie Professional class earning his first NRHA money of $60! The next day Lucas McCullough and Kyndall Harper both won their youth divisions (14-18 and then 13 & Under) with a 71 1/2 and a 72 1/2. Karen Anderson also made progress this weekend in the Green 1 finishing up there in her class! Burl White tied for the win in the Green 2 and really rode his horse Hickorys N Hollywood like a champ all weekend. Lucas McCullough rode his tride and true gelding Nice Bobby Sox, to a second place finish in the $1,000 Added Novice Horse Non Pro with a 72 1/2! He made over $400 and his parents thank him! Today, Steven Duchac also finished 2nd in the Rookie Pro class garnishing his second NRHA paycheck of $120. Big weekend Steven, it is no small feat to start earning money in the NRHA! Lucas also finished 1st in the 14-18 Youth and Kyndall was 2nd in the 13 & Under Youth. Big weekend for our youth riders! We have such a great group of people and we love spending every minute with you all. A special thanks to those of you who came and cheered everyone on with support and also for all the helping hands-Natalie and Cassidy.

Success at the Smoky Mountain Reins

This was a great weekend for Blue Boon. He ended up tying for 4th out of 35 horses! Murfreesboro is a great place to show with a beautiful arena. Smart American Lena (pictured left) is another 3 year old that Brad has trained and is now showing in futurities. He placed 7th in the class.

2008 American Quarter Horse Congress

Kyndall Harper and Please Me Whiz win Youth 13 and Under Reserve Champion at Congress! Kyndall and "Chicken" add this win to their list of accomplishments this year. Some of her others include: Reserve USEF Youth Champion, Leading FRHA Youth 13 and Under and Rookie year end standings.