New Marks Set at NRBC

This year’s NRBC was made doubly exciting as records fell by the wayside and both horses and riders reached new milestones. The show entries were 1689; that was up 267 from last year. According to Dr. Kim Sloan, the president of the NRHA, with 170 horses, this was the largest Non Pro aged event in NRHA history. Cheree Kirkbride’s KR Lil Conquistador became the top money earner in the NRHA; Brent Wright joined the ranks of Million Dollar Riders; and Topsail Whiz became the first sire whose foals have earned over a million dollars at the NRBC.

Shawn Flarida topped off the exciting week by finishing first and second in the Classic’s Open division. Arcese Quarter Horses’ Wimpys Little Chic (Wimpys Little Step X Collena Chic Olena) captured the top spot with a 233.5. Flarida believes that she might have become the highest money-winning mare of all time at this NRBC.

“She came in the arena and stopped huge,” said Flarida. “The turn to the right was not as good as I’d like. The rest of the round was awesome. One judge marked her at 80. I think that was the first 80 ever.”

Flarida has been riding the mare since she was two. She’s that perfect combination, both athletic and good-minded. At first, they had a little trouble getting her step going to the right but that was soon resolved.

“With her, you just have to show her and she does it. If she doesn’t see it your way you negotiate. She can do something so hard and then go back and be soft.”

For Flarida, the mare’s mind is what makes her so outstanding.

“I wish I could tell somebody how good-minded this mare is but I can’t think of the words,” he said. “You don’t find many horses that are both that strong and that willing….and then on top of that she’s a mare. If you’re running around hard to the right, if you hum to her, she’ll stop. She’s the princess around the barn.”

His reserve horse was RC Fancy Step (Wimpys Little Step X Sonita Wilson) with a 231. Owners Jimmy Pierce and Mark Schols sold him to the Buffalo Ranch at the NRBC.

“That’s the best that horse has shown or done,” he said. “He’s matured and gotten better since he was a three-year-old. He’s a big pretty stud – a docile horse. He doesn’t say too much. I love the mind. He was always talented; he always wanted to be there. He’s fun to circle; he can go so fast. And he can turn. He carries his head real low.”

Flarida started riding the horse in March of his three-year-old year. Bernie Paetzel bred him; with just 60 miles between farms, he and Flarida are almost neighbors. He asked Flarida if he’d help with the horse.

“I had him the whole time,” Flarida said. “He was a little stiff in the chin and the jaw. I had to get him broke. There’s always things you want to adjust when you’re a horse trainer.”

Flarida finished off the finals by marking a 226 to place fifth on Arcese Quarter Horses’ Walla Walla Whiz (Topsail Whiz X Shiney Walla Wanda).

“He’s a great horse,” he said. “Mr. Arcese has placed really, really, nice horses with me. I can’t thank those guys enough. It makes our job easy.”

For Mandy McCutcheon the 2008 NRBC was almost a repeat of 2007. She won the Championship and Reserve in the Non Pro division; only the horses were different She marked a 224 for the win on I Spin for Chics (by Tangys Classy Peppy and out of Chics Koko Angel), last year’s reserve champion. They got him late in the fall of his three-year-old year.

“Debbie Arballo and Todd Crawford saw him in the Non Pro Finals at the Snaffle Bit Futurity and called us,” she said. “My dad asked how much he was and said “Just bring him here”.

When the horse arrived at their ranch, he was so sick with shipping fever that they thought they were going to lose him.

“I didn’t ride him until four or five weeks before the Futurity,” she said. “I didn’t show him until the first go-round of reining. He’s so good-minded.
He was second there at the Futurity. In the first go-round here, we were a little off. I should have just put my hand down and let him do it himself. He’s so physical on his own. The more I ask him to give, the more he just bears down and does the best he can.”

This year’s reserve horse was Dun It Found a Star (by Hollywood Dun It and out of Dont Miss This).

“Dad raised him,” she said. “He’s out of a mare that won the NRBC. We’ve been hit or miss. He’s a big stopper and a big turner. He’s a little bigger and more powerful. I Spin for Chics is quick footed and gritty.”

Both horses are headed to the NRHA Derby but first they’ll get a little time for R and R.

“We may do some Quarter Horse shows to relax,” she said. “We’ll give them 10 days vacation. They earned it.”

Corey Hendrickson slid Vaughn Zimmerman’s The Skeetist (Skeets Peppy X Jessie Dot Tari) into a tie with Robin Schoeller and KR Lil Conquistador for first place in the Intermediate Open Division with a 223.5. At only 13’2”, The Skeetist is a little horse with a big heart.

“He’s a little bitty squirt,” said Hendrickson. “I’m 6’2” so it’s an odd partnership. He doesn’t know he’s little. He’s a talented little horse.”

The Zimmermans bought the horse before he foaled and rejected offers to buy him when he was a weanling.

“I own his sire, Skeets Peppy,” said Vaughn. “The people that owned the mare wanted to sell her. We had the chance to sell him as a weanling. People from Germany offered us $35,000.”

They sent him to Todd Bergen for training. With Bergen, he won the Manntana Futurity with a 229 and was a finalist in the NRHA Futurity. After the Futurity, they thought that he could be a Non Pro horse for Justin Zimmerman, Vaughn’s son.

“We brought him home for Justin to ride in the Non Pro division,” said Vaughn. “Justin just ran out of time. He didn’t have as much time as we’d planned. Justin is a partner with me in my business and Corey lived in a different part of the country. It was a long distance trip to travel and if you want to compete in Non Pro you have to ride several times a week. But now we’ve hired Corey and he moved to Missouri to our facility.”

When Justin ran out of time, they knew the horse could be competitive in the Open arena so they gave him to Hendrickson to show. Hendrickson showed him for the first time at the Bill Horne Shootout in January; he scored a 228 and was third. At the NRBC, The Skeetist missed the Open Finals by half a point so Hendrickson had to wait until much later in the day to discover if he had won.

“It was a rather nail biting experience,” he said. “He has a style of his own. It makes my job easy. He just plus-halfed them to death. He was about out of gas after his run.”

Hendrickson gives Bergen the credit for the horse’s performance.

“I had to figure out how to ride him and he had to figure out what I want,” he said. “The Skeetist is consistent. He has a ton of heart. Everything I ask him to do he tries to do. You know the second you set across him of he’s on or not. If he’s on, lay down your hand and start clucking. He does the rest.”
Cheree Kirkbride also thought that KR Lil Conquistador might be her Non Pro horse.

“We originally thought he might go as a Non Pro horse after he won the Futurity but we felt we should let Shawn (Flarida) show him as long as he wanted to show him,” she said. “Shawn showed him for most of his wins. However, Shawn couldn’t show him for the NRBC so he suggested that Robin show him. It paid off well; they were 10th in the open and first in the Intermediate.”

This prize money put KR at the top of the all-time earnings list. The riders decided to share the championship honors.

“A runoff would have only been for our pride,” said Hendrickson. “Neither horse needed to be second. It was a great horse show with great trainers. It was the first time either of us had shown our horse at that major an event. Anyway, it’s pretty good to tie with the highest money-winning horse of all time.”

Next for both horses is the NRHA Derby. After that, both horses will go home for some downtime.

“I ask him to give a lot,” said Hendrickson. “He can have the summer off. I have a five year old and a four year old both riding him. His job for the summer is teaching kids what reining is.”

Next year, unless he’s sold, Justin plans to show The Skeetist.

“It’s hard to keep aged horses,” said Vaughn. “A lot of people are looking at him. We have three-year olds and about twenty two-year olds. We’re starting the weeding process. We’re not actively looking to sell him but if someone wants him, we’re going to put a price on him. If we ever had to be a co-champion with another horse we couldn’t have tied with a better one.”

Andi Paul and Darlins Not Painted (Smokin Chic Olena X Mi Hollywood Darlin) won the Intermediate Non Pro (220) for the second year in a row; she was sixth in Non Pro. She bought her a year and a half ago from Pat Warren. She knew she was gambling; the mare had a bowed tendon.

“I rehabbed her and started showing her last year,” she said. “It took six or seven months to get her rehabbed enough to show. We hand walked her. My friend Trish Gilson worked on her with a P3 machine every day. At first, we were walking her for a half hour; then we were jogging her for a half an hour. I wasn’t able to work her much until we got to the horse show. The first time I was really able to work her was at the NRBC last year. “

Paul knew that if the mare came sound, she’d have something special.

Tracer Gilson trained the mare at Rancho Oso Rio; she was tenth at the Futurity.

“She got hurt after that so I had the opportunity to buy her,” said Paul. “It was a bit of a gamble but it paid off. The run this year was a lot like the run I had last year. I was braver about circling. We did faster circling. I knew her better.”

Paul feels that the mare’s strength in one particular maneuver compensates for Paul’s weakness.

“Stopping is her best thing,” she said. “Stopping is my weakest maneuver as a rider. She has to be really tuned into my voice. She stops for me every time without fail. I try not to stop her too much the night before. I have my husband ride her so I don’t mess her up.”

Currently, the mare is at Tim McQuay’s being bred to Gunner. After they flush the egg, they’ll head for the NRHA Derby.

Clinton Anderson, renowned clinician, best known for his “Downunder Horsemanship” enjoyed a busman’s holiday in the reining arena. While he teaches general horsemanship and riding, reining is his hobby. He showed Princess On the Prowl (High Brow Cat X Princess In Diamonds) to first place in the Limited Open Division with a score of 222.5.

“I’ve had Princess since she was born,” he said. “I imprinted her. I owned her mother and had a long history with her. I trained her as a two-year-old. Brent Wright, who just became a million dollar rider, trained her when she was three. He showed her in the Futurity; she was the only horse by her sire to ever make the finals in the Futurity. She has a trainable mind. She’s a huge stopper and is laid back. You can run her fast and she’ll still come back to you.”

“Reining is my hobby; it’s my fun. I only get to go two or three times a year. It’s my vacation. Her run was real clean and real honest. I did a decent job of showing her. Brent did an excellent job training her.”

Anderson sold Princess to Donnie Bricker of California for a customer.

“I was sad to see her leave,” he said. “It’s part of the horse business. You have to sell some sometime. They’ll have a lot of fun with her and take good care of her. I’m going next to the NRHA Derby with a Shining Spark mare, Shine on Retsina.”

The exhibitors felt that this was the best NRBC ever.

“The quality of horses in the NRBC has improved,” said Vaughn Zimmerman. “There were five really outstanding horses and a ton of great horses. Money changed the event. It’s exciting to go and compete.”

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