RANCHO MURIETA — The West Coast Reining Horse Association held its Best of the West horse show Oct. 11-16 at the beautiful Rancho Murieta facility near Sacramento. The show ran a full slate of reining classes, including classes for the National Reining Horse Association’s North West Regional Affiliate Finals.

Reiners came from Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada to compete for seven trophy saddles, over $20,000 in prize money, and possibly the honor of representing the North West Region of the United States at the prestigious NRHA Futurity show which will be held Nov. 2-Dec. 3 in Oklahoma City. Gina Hunter from Tracy, winner of last year’s Non Pro Futurity with Guns Lit N Blazin, said that this show was a “great preparation for the NRHA Futurity in Oklahoma.”

For Cal State Fresno senior Joey Pacini of Novato, the show featured a breakthrough win as he and his mare, Cash Me If You Can, won the Affiliate Rookie title. The dedicated Pacini, 22, bought the mare from Ted Robinson in Oak View coming into her 3-year-old year. For six months, every other weekend, Pacini would make the six-hour trek to Robinson’s ranch and learn from the NRCHA Hall of Famer.

He is transitioning the mare from the reined cow horse world into the reiner’s universe with the help of Kim Yancey of Ione.

“She’s a really talented horse,” said Pacini, an Animal Science major who began riding at age 7. “She’s really good on the cow, but I just couldn’t afford to go to the cow horse stuff and I didn’t want to just let her sit. I decided to go a different venue and contacted Pat and Kim Yancy who’ve helped me on all my rein work and all — and that’s been my year so far.”

Pacini will take “Callie” to the NRHA Futurity and vie for the Rookie of the Year, then take some time off.

More results are available at www.wcrha.com