Reining
You Know the Competition is Fierce When a Score of 230 is a Two-Way Tie for Second…….
The combination of cool days and the huge outdoor pen at the spectacular Horse Park at Woodside, California proved to be the perfect setting for some of the fiercest competition of the year. The horses were fresh, the riders invigorated, and the size of the Bay Arena let the top horse and rider combinations in the country show the judges the true meaning of horsepower.
Frank Costantini, past president of NRHA, Chairman of the FEI Reining Committee and NRHA Hall of Fame inductee commented on his first trip west to Reining By The Bay “The competition was really very close, competitive and phenomenal all in one fell swoop. The outdoor setting, the size of the arena and the preparation of the ground allowed the riders to really show what their horses were capable of.”
Frederick Christen of Whitehouse, Ohio, also a first-timer to Reining By The Bay, made the most of his pilgrimage West. Rick came into the competition as the leading rider from the first leg of the 2010 Trifecta Reining Challenge. New this year, the “Trifecta” boasts a seven day vacation for two to the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea to the highest money winning horse and rider combination in the Non Pro Derby for Cactus Reining Classic, Reining By The Bay and the High Roller Reining Classic.
Christen who trains with Dan Huss, and his partner Skeets Little Annie were draw 33 out of 41 in the Non Pro Derby and were staring down the barrel of huge scores of 223.0 posted by Kim Dooley on Country Custom and two scores of 222.0 posted by George Lawrence on This Chicsdundreamin and Tish Fappani on Premiere Diamond. Not to be outdone, Christen gave the run everything he and Annie had resulting in a personal best of 225.0 for the win. “I knew we had to be spot on and tried to really emphasize her good points, which are her circle, her comeback in her circles, her spin, and hopefully get her built up for her stops. It seems that we achieved all those objectives…..225 is my highest score ever.” That score also earned Christen the win in the Intermediate Non Pro Derby and the Prime Time Non Pro Derby as well. Christen also won the Non Pro Futurity on his Starlite N Peppy (Skeets Peppy x Starlite N Oak x Doc’s Oak).
Skeets Little Annie (Skeets Peppy x Oaks Little Annie x Doc’s Oak) was purchased by Christen at the 2 year old prospect sale at the NRHA Futurity in 2006. “Bobby Avila Jr. had started her and when I purchased her she immediately went into Dan Huss’ program and she’s been with Dan ever since.” Due to an injury at age four Annie took a year off during which she was bred to his two stallions Heza Bigtime Bingo and Dun It Regally, producing three yearlings for Christen, all of which will be going into training later this year.
Andrea Fappani was also two for two in the Futurity and the Derby, winning the 17 horse Open Futurity on Amanda Brumley’s Sweet N Custom (Custom Crome x Sweet BH) and the 23 horse Open Derby on Steven Simon’s Custom Smart Olena (Custom Crome x A Darn Smart Chic).
Open Futurity winner Sweet N Custom was one of three Open Futurity rides for Fappani, all of them first- timers to the show ring, and the one on which Fappani has had the shortest amount of time. “One of his best qualities is that he’s a good-minded horse. That’s why I decided to show him early, even if he wasn’t that broke, just because he’s a pretty mature horse mentally. He’s more like a 4 year old gelding than a 3 year old stud. I’ve only taken him to one other show to see how he acted outside. No matter what arena you ride him in or what time of day he’s always the same. He’s very level minded, and that’s probably the best quality for a reining horse because we ask so much early on and they need to be able to not get too excited about things, which made it possible for me to train him the way I wanted to. He’s always trying to figure out what you’re asking him to do. I had a pretty good feeling that he would be a good show horse, so I pushed him a little harder than the other horses just because I knew that he had that kind of mentality and he showed well for me and posted a 148.
I showed all 3 of my Futurity horses two-handed just to make sure that if something happened they wouldn’t panic too much. The plan is to show them again in Las Vegas and see what we’ve got. It was a good experience for him. I think Reining By The Bay is a good spot to show them for their first time because they stay pretty relaxed. I’ve got a big outdoor ring at home so the environment doesn’t change that much for them, so for their first time it’s a good place to show.”
Not only is Reining By The Bay horse and rider friendly, but it has become a big draw for spectators and sponsors alike. Frank Costantini who works for RBB Gold Sponsor Markel Insurance remarked on the size of the crowds at Reining By The Bay “The spectators at Reining By The Bay were a very educated group. They came from many disciplines to see what the best in the West had to offer. Everyone from Olympic Show Jumping gold medalist Will Simpson to New Zealand 2010 WEG team member Guy Thomas and an incredible number of athletes from other disciplines were on hand to see what these Reiners had to offer, and really showed their appreciation.”
Both sponsors and spectators packed the VIP and general admission tents at the Bay Arena for the Open Derby. For those who couldn’t be there in person, Corporate National Sponsor Equestrian Life provided free live online streaming coverage (of both the Open and Non Pro Derbies) increasing the viewership by thousands of people worldwide, and the horses and riders did not disappoint a single one of them.
When the dust settled in the Open Derby, it was Fappani and Custom Smart Olena posting the highest scoring run of the show, a whopping 230.5, edging out Austrian WEG team rider Martin Muehlsteatter on Kim Dooley’s Wimpys Little Buddy (Wimpys Little Step x All Thats Dun by Hollywood Dun It) and Randy Paul on Rancho Oso Rio’s Star For The Chicks (Smart Starbuck x Dun It By Chick) both posting scores of 230. Muehlsteatter won the coin toss and was awarded second place, with Paul in third. Wimpys Little Buddy also topped the Intermediate Open Derby field of 21, and Sean McBurney on Great Red Chex (Great Red Pine x Pines Polly Chex) owned by Rhodes River Ranch won the Limited Open Derby with a score of 225.5.
Fappani agrees that the Bay Arena enabled the horses to perform to the best of their ability and garner such high scores “If you look at the horse I won on, he’s a big horse, he’s a Custom Crome……most of the ones I’ve ridden have been bigger horses, and they express themselves when they have a big space to go in. A smaller arena doesn’t give them the chance to get the speed and style they need to do their job, so this arena has an advantage for those types of horses. When you’ve got a lot of space you can take your time and the horse shows a little bit better for you. I think the arena played a big part in the big scores we saw in the Open Derby.”
Custom Smart Olena is a new ride for Fappani who got on him for the first time at Reining By The Bay as his assistant Arno Honstetter has been successfully showing the horse. Fappani explains “I had him as a 2 year old and sold him and three other trainers had him, and Steve (Simon) asked me to try him back out thinking that he might adapt to my style a little bit more. He was a little uptight in the show pen, so we took our time to get him to relax again. At this show I had a spot open for the Derby, and the owner asked if I would try him myself, and I said yes, I think he’s ready to go. We pushed him a little bit, I rode him, and it turned out great. I didn’t know him that well since I had never shown him before in my life, I thought I knew him pretty well from what I had seen, and my assistant trainer who has been with me for 6 years got him ready for me. He did all the hard work, I just got on and had fun.”
Fappani also had a hand in the career of the second place finisher, Wimpys Little Buddy “He is a special horse. I trained him and showed him until he was 5 and then I sold him to Kim Dooley. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him have a bad run. Today’s 230 was by far the best run he’s ever had, and he’s never marked less than a 220 in his life. It’s the first time that Kim’s husband Martin showed him in the Open since they bought him because he’s going to use him for the Austrian WEG team, and wanted to make sure everything was good. That’s a special horse to me. It’s obviously nice when you win yourself, but when you see a horse that you trained do well it’s just as rewarding.”
Speaking of animals going to new homes........Ken White, President of the Peninsula Humane Society, the charity partner of Reining By The Bay and emcee of the Friday "Pooch Parade" of animals available for adoption shared his enthusiasm for the event "The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA is delighted to have been chosen for the second year in a row to participate with Reining By The Bay. This has proven a really wonderful opportunity to get our animals and our mission in front of an incredibly large audience of "animal people" who are simply drawn to help us help homeless animals in our community. We've made many new friends as the result. This partnership has led to quite a few of our dogs finding new forever families, including one dog who had been at our shelter for a very, long time; he left us for a sprawling, wonderful home and a lovely, loving family, and none of that would have been possible without Reining By The Bay. Pat and Jim Warren are the matchmakers who brought us all together. They adopted Ralph the beagle from PHS/SPCA, and then clearly felt that this was a great next way to work together. And they were right, since this is a truly perfect match of missions and interests."
Horse Show Manager Mandi Brumley of Brumley Management Group could not have been more pleased with the 2010 event “The caliber of horses at Reining By The Bay this year was amazing…I think the Open Derby was one of the best Derbies I have ever watched….the quality of horses and riders and the scoring was amazing. The great thing about that pen is that you can really open horses up in a safe manner that can really make your horse shine.
The improvements we did this year, particularly the Sponsor’s Tent complete with lunch and brunch was such a hit that we have a list of people waiting to come onboard as sponsors for 2011. Reining By The Bay is one of the few events that sponsors come to because of the venue, and how we recognize their contributions to the event. The sponsors are the life blood of our event. You can have exhibitors and no sponsors and no horse show. It was so nice to see the corporate sponsors like Ariat, Markel and the Four Seasons all come out to the show. Just about every one of our sponsors came out and truly enjoyed themselves.”
When asked about Sweet N Custom’s win in the Open Futurity Brumley replied “To see him come such a long way in a short period of time was very satisfying as an owner, but equally as important to me, to win at this horse show that I started 11 years ago with the help of Jim and Pat Warren….was awesome. This is where I grew up………..My mom and dad who are both in their 80’s and never get to come to horse shows were there and got to be in the win picture. That meant a lot to me to have my horse win at this venue, probably more than at any venue.”
Replays of the Non Pro and Open Derbies can be seen free of charge in their entirety at www.equestrianlife.com/rbb
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