WOODSIDE — With $180,000 in added monies and all the trimmings of the best reining events anywhere, the Reining By The Bay filled Horse Park at Woodside July 18-22, giving owners and trainers an early gauge of their futurity prospects.

Andrea Fappani continued his dominance at the venue, claiming the $15,000-added Open Level 4 Futurity on Rancho Oso Rio’s Steppin In Diamonds, earning $5,397. Fappani also won the $20,000-added Level 4 Markel Open Derby Smoking Whiz, owned by Silver Spur Equine, for an additional $6,496.

Southern California trainers Tanya Jenkins of Temecula and Nicolas Barthelemy of Descanso went home pleased, too, after respective futurity finishes on homebred prospects that fed hopes for fall trips to Oklahoma City for the National Reining Horse Futurity Nov. 22-Dec. 1.

Jenkins unveiled Gunnit, her Gunner colt out of her mare, Dunnits Cowgirl, and in his first show he marked a 144.5 to win the $5,000-added Level3 Open Futurity in addition to taking a $3,148 seventh-place check in the Level 4 Open.

“I’m so proud of him,” said Jenkins, who also took West Coast Electric (Electric Motion x West Coast Bubbles) to the Level 3 reserve title worth $1,466 with a 143.5 for owner Bill Coburn of Sherman Oaks. “We’ll work on a thing or two and make it better for next time, which will be the High Roller Reining in Las Vegas.”

Jenkins estimates her barn brought home about $23,000 in earnings from Reining By The Bay this year, with a big haul from the $42,000-added Markel Open Derby where Gunnit’s half-brother, No Wimpy Cowboys (Wimpys Little Step X Dunnits Cowgirl) won the $10,000-added Level 3 Open Derby and was third in the Level 4 Open Derby with a 225.0 behind Fappani and Matt Mills on Freckles Got A Shiner. Her client, Bob Denton, rode his Dun Its Legacy (Hollywood Dun it x Whiz N Darlin) won two Bob’s Custom Saddles, four belt buckles and substantial cash after taking the Non Pro Circuit, the Limited Non Pro Circuit and the $2,000-added SmartPak Prime Time Maturity Challenge winning not one but two Bob’s Custom Saddles.

“He is so humble and has worked so hard with that horse,” Jenkins said of Denton, who has ridden with her a year. “I was so happy for him.”

Barthelemy and owner Sheri Jamieson were happy, too, after Jamieson’s Smart Cherokee Chic (Cherokee Smart Chic x Hollywood Chex Bar) launched her show career by winning the Limited Open Futurity. The duo’s 142.5 also picked up a seventh-place check in the Level 4 Open.
The filly’s half-brother out of Jamieson’s Hollywood Dun It mare, Big Hollywood Chex (Big Chex To Cash x Hollywood Chex Bar) also showed well at Reining By The Bay.

“They went and did exactly what they were supposed to do — they were just like at home,” said the 28-year-old Barthelemy, who competes and wins in both the reining and reined cowhorse circuits. “The competition was pretty tough, and the horses there were pretty good. With a 3-year old, you never really know exactly what’s going to happen in the show pen the first time you actually show them. They were honest and did their job. There’s not much more I could have asked of them, so I am really happy.”

Barthelemy, who last week announced his engagement to stock horsewoman Stacy Hanson (see Newstrader, Page 94), will not show the reining duo at the High Roller Reining Sept. 9-15 because of the event’s proximity to the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Sept. 17-29, where he also will compete.

“We’re going to skip Las Vegas, but we’ll go to Burbank right after the Snaffle Bit, getting them ready for Oklahoma City,” said Barthelemy, who won the 2012 NRCHA Derby Limited Open Championship and Reserve Open Reserve on Jamieson’s Jamminalena in June.

Balancing interests of reined cowhorses and reiners at the Barthelemy Performance Horse barn can be challenging, he says, but his faithful, understanding clientele make the difference. Besides, decisions often make themselves when it comes to the direction a horse may go.

“Training-wise, we try to get horses as broke as we can,” he said. “And you know, pretty much the horses are the ones who decide the best way for them to go. We can’t really argue with them when it comes to that. If he doesn’t want to look at a cow, he’s not going to go on cows.”

Barthelemy came to California six years ago at the invitation of fellow Canadian Yvon Mathieu, the reining and cow horse trainer who won the 1994 NRHA Futurity Non Pro Championship. Mathieu was diagnosed in April 2011 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and passed away last October at age 65.

“He taught me everything I know, pretty much,” said Barthelemy. “I have a lot of friends who’ve helped me out. Glen Aspinal in Temecula and Corey Cushing is always giving me good advice. But Yvon had been a tremendous mentor and teacher for me, and a father figure as well. I wish he could have been there to finally see everything pay off, because we worked really hard together,” said Barthelemy. “And, it seems to be a good year, so far.”

Kim Muehlstaetter, Loren Booth and Tish Fappani also enjoyed a sucessful Reining By The Bay. Muehlstaetter and her Custom Smart Juice (Smart Like Juice x Custom Spinderella) marked a 143.5, winning the $10,000-added Level 4 Non Pro Futurity to take home $4,111. She also was reserve to Tish Fappani in the Non Pro Level 4 Derby on Daddy Day Care (Nic It In the Bud x Shiners Pretty Woman) for another $4,052.

“He fits me,” said Muehlstaetter, who just started riding Custom Smart Juice after NRBC last spring. “I love riding that horse, and look forward to riding him everyday. We bought him from Tracy and Mandi Brumley as a 2-year old. We’re going to take him to the Scottsdale Futurity and then the big Futurity from there. He’s such a quiet horse, and he barely takes any warm up, he just goes in there and feels like a 5 year old.”

Booth made it a clean sweep in every division of the $33,000 Markel Non Pro Derby she was eligible for. She won the $10,000-added Level 3 Non Pro Derby, the $2,000-added Prime Time Non Pro, Derby, the $4,000 Level 2 Non Pro Derby and the $2,000-added Level 1 Non Pro Derby on her 6-year-old Brennas Dream (Magnum Chic Dream x Brennas Red Dunit). The pair took home $6,579 for their efforts, which was enough to put them in the lead for the 2102 Trifecta Non Pro Reining Challenge for the trip to the Four Seasons Resort in Whistler British Columbia. With the last leg of the Trifecta Challenge at the High Roller Reining Classic in Las Vegas, Booth and Brennas Dream are only one run away from the big prize.

No stranger to the winner’s circle, Tish Fappani and her Premier Diamond (Like A Diamond X Sexy Chexy Nic) captured the top spot once again in the Markel $15,000-added Level 4 Non Pro Derby, marking a 221.5 to narrowly edge out Muehlstaetter on Daddy Day Care with a 221.0. According to her husband, Andrea, “this is such a great pen for him — he enjoys being outside, and Tish didn’t put too much pressure on herself. She just went and showed and it paid off.”

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