Well, we made the long drive home last night from Reno, Nevada all the way to Arroyo Grande, California where we live. We had a fine time at the Snaffle Bit Futurity there in Reno.
We got to see Boyd Rice win the Futurity, the open division on a horse named Oh Cay N Short, who’s by Oh Cay Quixote and out of a mare called Bit of Shorty. This is a new blood line for us at the Snaffle Bit. This breeding is mostly cutting horse stuff that obviously worked very well at the Snaffle Bit Futurity too.
Lance Johnston was reserve champion on a horse called Shes Full Of Diamonds, and this horse is by Hes A Peptospoonful, and out of a mare called Shining Rings.
What we have here is a little signal – and it is something that I’ve always kind of felt – and that is that we all want the same horse: the cutters, the reiners and the reined cow horse people. I think the reiner’s horses have to be a little more placid but not much. We (reined cowhorse riders) have to have a relaxed horse that will fire on command, and although the cutters can handle a little more heat in the horse’s blood line – I think they are breeding that out cause they have to gallop so darn far with those hot ones, which means more work. Basically what I am saying here, bottom-line, is we all want the same horse.
This horse has a low neck. This horse does one big thing the best: stops, stops, stops, stops and stops. And they stop hard! They’re hock users, they’re really limber and they’re low-necked horses. Futurity horses have to have a lot of stamina and strength too because the Futurity is such a huge endurance test for a three year old. They have to stay sound, have the strength to compete, even when they are tired – which these Futurity horses all are at finals time – or it seems like most of them are anyways. And in our reined cowhorse event, they have to have the speed to run and catch the cattle, and then be able to stop when they get there. So, horses that can run, and are extreme athletes are in high demand for the winner’s circle.
What we are also seeing here is the “wheel turning”. This is my way of describing what I see happening – the political regime, the competitive “who’s who” list, seems to change in cycles, and it will go somewhat in age groups. We see the survivors that stay in the dominant group – that go on agelessly and are as competitive at 60 as they were at 30. But we see these 30-year olds too, young trainers coming up through the ranks with a lot of really, really good horse power bringing them along. It takes a really good horse to bring a young trainer up, but when they get one or two good horses, they learn how it is supposed to feel. The good athletes just kind of seem to surface and stay there for quite period of time sometimes. Then, there are other ones you see that bloom that have their one day in the sun with a good horse and they don’t seem to stay out there, and they are not as visible as we might like to see them. In other words, they only had one good horse and that horse is what pulled them through. The always seems to be the way it happens – a really good horse pulls the young trainer through. Then the good trainer, or the smart one finds out what really went on, so they can do it again, and they continue and become a force in the industry.
But we have seen at this particular Futurity a lot of the old stand-by trainers, meaning they are not too old but they have been dominant in the industry for a number of years -that weren’t in the finals this year. Not that they can’t come back next year. There was quite a turnover this year. We did see Justin Lawrence and Zane Davis, some new names in finals. There was Jake Telford from Idaho, who has been coming on strong for the last few years anyway, and he did a nice job on some horses. We saw quite a few that were new in the finals and we missed a lot of the old names.
One thing we did see in the finals, and through the whole futurity, was that so much of what I teach as far as the collection: the roundness on top, the softness, the form-to- function theory that we use in Cowhorse U, and that I teach in my clinics – it’s what makes the winners the winners. I feel like going to the Futurity and really watching this year, seriously validified everything that we are doing.
I always want to stay on top of the game. I always want to know whether I am current with trends, and new theories, and ways of doing things. Not so much what the fashion is, but what the style that creates the winner is. What is the form that is creating higher levels of performance? So I saw a lot, and everything that I saw that was really good, I totally agreed on, and totally understood how it happened. It takes a great horse to get to the top of the top in the Futurity horses, or other high performance competition. But, it also takes a trainer or rider that can create the perfect form that allows this great horse to function on a level that lets him win.
So I feel very good and very current as far as all of our thoughts and teachings methods are concerned. There are the five most important things – that are: stop, stop, stop, stop and stop. And it’s in the neck. The speed horses don’t do any good unless they can stop when they get there!
And then we had the Hall of Fame ceremony, which was quite an honor to be involved in. They had us crawl out of a limousine, which I don’t understand why anybody would ever want one. I had to crawl out of the dang thing on my hands and knees. The seats are so long and the roof is so low, you are so cramped up in there. Gosh, I would rather ride in the back of a pick up truck, myself!
Anyways, we had to ride in this limousine, and the red carpet was put out there in front of us. They had the pyrotechnics fireworks. It felt like a PBR bull ride with the firecrackers and all the sparklers going off behind us. They had quite a ceremony and they presented us with these diamond rings that are just gorgeous. Big old gold and diamond rings that say “Hall of Fame” on them. It was a very touching experience and I feel very fortunate to be included in that ceremony with a group of people that I totally respect.
Now that had to be a good sightin….a bunch of the finest cowhorse hands in the world climbin ouuta a limousine.
Back in my younger days (which includes everyday before this morning) one of my heroes was Howard Pitzer and of course Two Eyed Jack. A friend who I rode some for told me a story, don’t know if it’s got any truth to it, about “Mr. Pitzer”. (Now this was a guy who if he met President Bush he wouldn’t have no problem calling him George, but he always referred to Howard Pitzer as “Mr. Pitzer”.)
He told me Mr. Pitzer had a brand new Cadillac, top of the line, and an old pickup truck that had seen it’s days. He said only reason he owned the Cadillac cause folks told him he should have one cause now he was “famous”. But he told me whenever Mr. Pitzer went into town he would take his old pickup truck and whenever he went out to the pastures to check on his stock he’d take that Cadillac. Kinda made me think of that when I pictured Mr. Vogt jumpin ouuta the back of an old pickup on to that red carpet, leavin a trail of “barnyard goodies” off his boots as he walked up to the award ceremony”. As has been said….”it ain’t what you’re wearin, it’s what you can do.”
When I look out my back door I can see my weanling colt “Jack”, Two Eyed Jack blood top and bottom. And whenever I want I can put in a DVD and have Mr. Vogt show me how things out to be done. Got me a pickup truck already, now just gotta get a Cadillac to check pasture with. And when some of my gruffier aquaintances ask how I ever got a fancy Cadillac I’ll just tell ‘em….it’s all in the neck.
Congratulations on being in the Hall of Fame! Thats HUGE!!!
Question: Can you, being a cowhorse expert, spot a great horse or a horse with potential by watching its natural movement out in the field (racing around/playing) or do you have to ride it a few times first? At what point would you consider buying a horse? Would you buy a colt based on bloodlines or would you wait til you could determine it’s performance potential somehow?
-MJ
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