Reining
KR Brings Home the Money
By Priscilla Dance
May 1, 2008, 12:59

Cheree Kirkbride’s KR Lil Conquistador (Conquistador Whiz X Smart Little Prize) became the highest money-winning horse in NRHA history with his performance with Robin Schoeller at this year’s NRBC. KR won the 2005 Futurity with Shawn Flarida and hasn’t stopped winning. At 2006 Wimpys Little Step Derby, he was champion with a score of 235, breaking the existing record for highest score of all-time. Flarida was in the saddle for most of his wins.

“KR is part of the family,” said Flarida. “They should have named him ATM. 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.”

The Kirkbrides bred KR. Many people would not have used Smart Little Prize as a broodmare.

“Smart Little Prize was difficult to show,” Cheree said. “A lot of people thought we were crazy to breed this mare. She always tried to think ahead of herself. She was the most physical and talented horse I’ve ever ridden. She did everything physically and harder than she needed. Our feeling was that you might get a good foal if you can make the right cross with this mare.”
Smart Little Prize has cutting horse blood so they wanted to pick a sire that primarily had reining horse bloodlines.

“I bred her back into reining horse bloodlines,” she said. “A cutting horse needs to think on its own. A reining horse does not. We wanted to breed to Topsail Whiz who stands in Oklahoma. Since she doesn’t haul well and Topsail Whiz didn’t ship semen we used his son Conquistador Whiz.”

Flarida went to the Jeff and Cheree Kirkbride’s place in Florida to look at the young horse.

“Jeff Kirkbride called and said I think I have one that will fit you,” Flarida said. “The horse always could stop. He intrigued me. “

Flarida started him as a two-year-old. Eventually, they made the decision to geld him.

“He was a little too quick and a little too eager,” said Flarida. “He had way too much going on.”

Lil Conquistador doesn’t have typical reining horse conformation, but he has something more important.

“Conformation didn’t have as much to do with as you may think,” said Flarida. “He doesn’t have a lot of muscle or meat. He has a huge heart and desire. We may have 30 horses in the barn that are more structurally perfect. It’s trainability and heart. When you have those two in a horse he can get it done. He’s got to be somewhat of an athlete but he doesn’t need to be Michael Jordan. People get hung up on conformation but they have to have the heart.”

Schoeller met Flarida at a show in Germany.

“I introduced myself and asked if he had an opening,” he said. “He said ‘yes’ so I came over to the states.”

He discovered that he had the ride on KR just two months before the NRBC.
“Shawn gave him to me to ride and he was awesome,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure when you ride a Futurity champion. He’s such a nice horse to ride and show. It’s easy to follow Shawn. All of Shawn’s horses are easy to ride. You just stay out of the horse’s way and show. I was lucky to have a chance to show such a great horse. I want to thank the Kirkbrides and Shawn for the opportunity to ride such a great horse.”

Schoeller repaid them by riding KR to 10th in the Open and to a tie for first in the Intermediate Open. KR enjoys showing; that’s the secret of his success.
“The horse loves to show,” Cheree said. “I rode him about three weeks before the Bill Horn Shootout. He gets pumped up. He loves to do it.”
They’ve managed the horse carefully.

“We kept an eye on him and managed him,” she said. “We brought him home and rested him. He got to come home and be a horse. That’s a luxury we have.”

KR heads next for the Derby where he hopes to add to his earnings with another check.



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