Reining
Arcese Quarter Horses’ Wimpys Little Chic may be the Tiger Woods of the reining horse world. Shawn Flarida guided the daughter of Wimpys Little Step to the championship in the NRHA Derby, her third win of a major NRHA event since December, all with scores of over 231: NRHA Futurity (231.5); NRBC Classic Open (233.5); Derby (233).
“If the NRHA had a Triple Crown she would have won it this year,” said Flarida. “She’s a tremendous athlete and sweet minded. She can do something so hard and then go back and be soft. With her, you just have to show her and she does it. The little mare ran an awesome pattern. She’s so pretty. She turned good. Her stops must have been 1 ½. She stops with so much strength and power. I’ve never had a horse this good before.”
His ride on KR Lil Conquistador was bitter sweet. He and Flarida have been a team since the horse was two, winning the Futurity in 2005. This was the NRHA’s top money winner’s last Derby; he placed fourth.
“They should have named him ATM,” said Flarida. “The horse gets a paycheck and a big paycheck everywhere he goes. I think the world of KR; he’s been the world to me. He’s the only horse to make every finals of every major event.”
KR will have a new job, showing in the Non Pro pen with breeder and owner Cheree Kirkbride.
“He’ll be awesome with her,” he said. “He’s super sweet-minded and a super athlete.”
Flarida’s tenth place horse, Western Whiz (by West Coast Whiz out of a Colonel Freckles mare), was a last minute substitution.
“My RC horse (RC Fancy Step) had colic surgery so I called Sammy Ely and asked if I could ride Western Whiz,” he said. “He was out in the pasture eating grass. Sammy put him on a semi and I got him two weeks before the Derby. I was proud of him; he went from pasture to tenth in just two weeks.”
Andrea Fappani captured the reserve championship with a 227 on Tinsel Jac (Dolls Union Jac out of Holly Tinseltown) and third with Spooks Gotta Gun (by Grays Starlight out of Katie Gun). He’s had both six-year-old stallions for a month. Tinsel Jac’s owners, from Mexico, approached Fappani at the end of last year; at the time, he had three Derby horses.
“At that time, I had my three Derby horses but one of them didn’t show well in the NRBC so I sent him home,” he said. “The six-year-old is honest in the show pen. He circles well. He’s a strong stopper and a strong turner. He’s an honest horse. He shows as well as he goes outside the pen.”
Before the Derby, Fappani took the horse to the derby at Ranch Murietta.
They plan to stand him next year in Mexico.
“When he came to me, he’d earned $35,000,” he said. “Now he has $87,000. We’d like to pass $100,000, before he stands at stud. Next, we’ll take him to Reining by the Bay and Las Vegas.”
Big Chex to Cash, another of Fappani’s Derby prospects, developed a sarcoid tumor in his mouth just where the bit rests.
“It was in a weird spot, right on his gums where the bridle sits,” he said. It got so big it was uncomfortable to put a bit in his mouth. We didn’t want to remove it before the NRBC but it grew bigger so we removed it. We hoped it would heal before the Derby. When I tried to put a bit in his mouth, he put his ears back and was uncomfortable so we scratched him for the Derby.”
The six-year-old has won over $200,000. Fappani is going to rest him the rest of this year; he hopes that eventually he’ll be his FEI horse, perhaps eventually qualifying for the Olympics.
Instead he showed Duane Hicks’ Spooks Gotta Gun to a 225, a stallion he got the ride on after the NRBC.
“He’d had a lot of people riding him,” he said. “He’d been successful but he was getting a little tricky to show. I’d always liked the horse. They thought I’d get along with him. He’s powerful but started anticipating stops. I worked with him and changed my cues. It worked, I got him down the pen. He’s still pretty strong.”
Fappani was tied for tenth on his third horse, Wimpys Little Buddy; he has won over $100,000.
“He’s a little horse,” he said. “He has trouble catching up with his feet. We got good scores on the circles, plus 1 ½ and 1. I just ran out of horse. He’s for sale. I’ll keep showing him until he sells.”
Jared T. Leclair rode Wolf Stern Partnership’s Rootin Tootin Dunit to a tie for the championship in the Intermediate Open division and to thirteenth in the Open. This was the four-year-old stallion’s second horse show. His first was the NRBC where he made the open finals.
“He was hurt as a three-year-old,” said Leclair. “I’ve had him for four or five months. He’s a beautiful horse with big turns. He’s easy to show.”
Leclair comes from Massachusetts where he rode hunters, jumpers, eventing and dressage as well as reining.
“My uncle introduced me to reining and I liked that the best,” he said. “After college in Ohio, I worked for Steve Simon for three years and then for Tim and Colleen McQuay for three years.”
He’s been on his own for one year. Next, he and Rootin Tootin Dunit head for the World.
Mandy McCutcheon added to her trophies with a win in the Non Pro on I Spin For Chics. She was tied for sixth on Dun It Found a Star and 12th on Haidachino Hollywood, the horse she won the Futurity on last year.
“He’s (I Spin For Chics) is pretty much the same every time,” she said. “He just puts his head down and goes. Every maneuver gets points. He just waits for me to tell him what to do. He always waits. He’s yet to try and get ahead of me.”
Her family raised Dun It Found a Star by Hollywood Dun It; McCutcheon showed his mother.
“We had a turn penalty,” she said. “The NRBC arena fits him a little better. He’s a big horse so he does better in a bigger arena.”
She had a penalty point for a lead on Haidachino Hollywood (last year’s Futurity winner). All the horses get to go home for a little rest and relaxation. They’ll swim and hang out in the pasture. McCutcheon will ride them to keep them in shape and show them in some smaller events to help them keep ready for the same events next year.
Arizona was represented in the finals in every division. Randy Paul and Taris Designer Genes, the 2006 Futurity winner, finished tied for sixth.
“She’s good minded and real athletic,” said Paul. “We raised her. She is by Mr Boomerjac x Taris Little Vintage. For most of her first year I thought she was just okay. By the end of the year, she stepped up.”
His wife, Andi Paul, rode Darlins Not Painted and marked 218; that was good enough for a time for fourth in the Open and second in the Intermediate Non Pro Derby. They’ve had the six-year-old mare for one and a half years. Paul has been riding since she was eight but didn’t ride reiners until she met her husband, Randy.
“My family always had show horses, rail horses,” she said. “I started riding reiners when I met Randy. It was fun and challenging. It is never the same; it’s different every time. When it works, it’s very exciting.”
The mare is an exceptional stopper.
“Everything is easy for her which makes it easy for me,” she said. “She’s extremely agreeable and a great stopper. I could sit on her backwards and say “whoa” and she’d stop. She cannot miss a stop.”
For the first time, Marcy Ver Meer qualified two horses for an open finals. She was 14th with a 221 on Gunners Special Night, the horse she was second on in the NRHA Futurity; and 29th with a 211 on Ruff N Dun It.
“Gunner was really good in parts,” she said. “We had a few bobbles. He’s really athletic. He didn’t do anything to the best of his ability. Ruff N Dun It is by Lil Ruff Peppy. We bought him as a two-year-old. He’s pretty athletic but was a little studdy.”
In the Intermediate Open Pen, Arizona had three finalists. Tracer Gilson rode America West’s Whiz N Star (by Starlights Wrangler); they tied for 12th.
“I was happy with how he showed,” he said. “I’ve been putting him in a program. I’ve ridden him for eight months, ever since I moved to America West. I’ve been working on building his confidence. He can get worried and then he tries too hard. We work on confidence and doing things the right way. I left him alone and rode him for two months. We just galloped around. He just went and showed good. He was a little worried on the right circle. He’s showing well considering the little amount of time I’ve had him.”
Next, they’ll head for to Reining by the Bay and Vegas.
Brent Naylor rode Big Papi to a tie for 18th with a 214.5.
“In the prelims, he went well,” he said. “A small bobble kept him from making the Open. When he came to the center for the second stop (in the final), he tripped and almost went down so he got marked down for going out of gait and then didn’t plus the stop. That made a big difference in where he placed.”
Martin Muehlstaetter tied for fifth on Marilyn Fleek’s Whiz N Lena Jack.
“I’ve had him since March,” he said. “I showed him in the NRBC and was in the finals. The owner showed him in Vegas and the Sun Circuit. Mostly, we keep him fit. He doesn’t have a whole lot of energy. I just try to keep him fit and happy. He’s a nice horse and honest.”
By Top Sail Whiz out of a Doc Olena mare, he has LTE of over $45,000. Next stop is Reining by the Bay.
Muehlstaetter’s fiancée, Kim Dooley, was ninth in the Non Pro on Bueno Sis Starlight with 215.5. The horse is a five-year-old by Bueno Chexinic out of a Paddys Irish Whiskey mare.
“I’ve had him a year,” she said. “I showed him at the NRBC. He showed real good. The more he shows, the better he is.”
Her top mare, Rosetta Rooster, had to stay home; she’s in foal to Gunner.
Muehlstaetter’s student, Otto Stanislaw Jr., DVM, was tied for 10th in the Limited Non Pro with a 207 on Double This Surprise by Arc Sparkle Surprise. He’s had him for four months. Muehlstaetter found him at Dell Hendricks’ barn.
“The horse is so easy,” he said. “He just takes care of me. I only have a chance to ride about once a month. He was out on pasture the year before. His stops are huge; he’s a big stopping horse. When you get on, he wants to do it.”
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