RENO, Nev. — One could say Zane Davis and Reymanator terminated the competition at the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s Snaffle Bit Futurity with their 5.5-point margin of victory–652.5 composite score–to win the NRCHA’s premiere event in the Open division.

In true reined cow horse fashion, the 2009 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Championship came down to the cow work. As a matter of fact, it came down to the very last run in the cow work. The in-arena action at the Reno Livestock Events Center brought the crowd to the edge of its seat Oct. 4 to conclude two weeks of competition from Sept. 20-Oct. 4.

RENO, Nev. — National Reined Cow Horse Association recognized the best of the industry at its annual NRCHA Hall of Fame banquet on Oct. 1 at Silver Legacy Resort Casino during the 2009 Snaffle Bit Futurity. The evening included the induction ceremony for new members of the NRCHA Hall of Fame and Hall of Merit, in addition to presenting Snaffle Bit Futurity Awards and the Vaquero Award to Jimmy Flores, Sr. of Perris, Calif. 2009 NRCHA honorees included:

Ted Robinson, Hall of Fame 2009

Ted Robinson of Oak View, Calif., holds the distinction of being the winningest NRCHA rider of all time. He has won the prestigious NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity a record seven times and has also taken the NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman title twice.

DEL MAR — Two weeks of hunter/jumper competition at the Del Mar International ended with riders named Rich–Rich Fellers and Richard Spooner–winning the two highlight Grand Prix events at Del Mar Farigrounds for the Oct. 14-25 show.

For Del Mar International I from Oct. 14-18, Fellers of Wilsonville, Ore., and his mount Flexible were in familar territory while competing in the $50,000 Del Mar International World Cup Qualifying Grand Prix presented by Antares. Fellers and Flexible, a 13-year-old Irish-bred stallion owned by Harry and Mollie Chapman, previously came close to winning the 2008 FEI World Cup Jumping Finals in Goteborg, Sweden, so their Oct. 17 victory at Del Mar International puts them in early contention to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

In a four-horse jump-off, Fellers and Flexible rode clear and the fastest in 38.78 seconds to win the $50,000 Del Mar International World Cup Qualifying Grand Prix. Second-place finisher John Pearce rode clean aboard Chianto, owned by Forest View Farm Inc., in 40.05 seconds.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The 7th annual Scottsdale Classic Futurity and Quarter Horse Show continued to draw thousands of entries and especially remained popular to reiners, show officials said of the Oct. 1-7 show held at WestWorld.

Though entries were traditionally high in many classes, the biggest numbers were seen in reining, both for the National Reining Horse Association and American Quarter Horse Association classes. The Scottsdale Classic once again hosted the NRHA Southwest Affiliate Finals in which the Top 4 finishers in each Affiliate Class earned the right to compete at the upcoming NRHA Affiliate Championships in Oklahoma City.

Many Californians attended the show, especially to compete in the NRHA Southwest Regional Affiliate Finals.

Johnette Burman of Hemet rode Valentine Dreamin, owned by Wendy Anderson, to win the Open Affiliate Finals. The reserve championship was won by Tom Foran of Santa Paula aboard Gunball Machine, owned by Copus Performance Horses, Inc.

POMONA — The Los Angeles County Fair hosted four horse shows during the run of the annual fair Sept. 8-Oct. 1. One of them, the International Draft Horse, Mule and Pleasure Driving Show continued a Los Angeles area tradition of attracting both riders and spectators who come for both the horse show and fair.

Teams of 2,000-pound draft horses, mules and pleasure driving horses ruled the Fairplex’s outdoor arena for the five-day show held Sept. 30-Oct. 4. The show, which has been a part of the L.A. County Fair for more than 25 years, drew participants from the farming and rural communities of Montana, Idaho and Utah as well as California, where draft horses are still used on the farm for tasks such as plowing, pulling large loads and hauling carts through fields and vineyards to gathering crops at harvesting time.

Competitive classes at the Fair had the six major breeds–Belgian, Clydesdale, Percheron, Friesian, Shire and Suffolk–participating in challenging feats depictive of their work back home. Divisions for pulling country surreys, carts, carriages and other rigs while facing obstacle courses were included for these gentle giants.

Continuing in a Series
This time, we continue discussing Exercise No. 3: Moving the Ribcage and briefly introduce Exercise No. 4: Hip Control. In the next few installments, Les Vogt takes you through exercises of his Five Easy Pieces. When you’ve mastered them, you should be able to put any part of your horse’s body where you want it, without resistance.

The Brace Rein
Remember how you used your rein to move the horse’s shoulders? First making light contact for the bend, then lifting your hand and moving it over to direct the shoulders?

HARRISBURG, Penn. — The four team members from California’s Zone 10 might have traveled the farthest to get to the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s National Junior Jumper Championships, but the reward made it worthwhile for the junior riders. Lucy Davis, Saer Coulter, Paris Sellon and Karl Cook came from California with the intention of winning, and with anchor rider Davis turning in a clear-and-fast ride in the jump-off, they took home the title in this prestigious Prix de States team competition Oct. 9.

The riders from Zone 10 were always in contention for the title, but the combined team of riders from Zones 1 and 8 were in the lead after the initial round.

For Zone 10, Coulter riding Chalan went around the track fault free, while Davis on True Love and Cook aboard Notories Utopia each had a rail down. Sellon riding Troyes had two rails down and two time faults in their first round, and were the ride that was not counted.