Stock Horse trainers Nicolas Barthelemy of Descanso and Stacy Hanson of Idaho, two rising stars on the reining and reined cow horse circuits, have announced plans to marry.
Barthelemy, 28, who trains at Barthelemy Performance Horses in Descanso, proposed in Fort Worth in late July — between his Limited Open Futurity win on Smart Cherokee Chic at the Reining By The Bay in Woodside on July 22 and his trip to the National Stock Horse Association Futurity this week in Paso Robles. The Canadian native will compete on Jamminalena in the NSHA Derby in the same arena where he won the NRCHA Limited Open Derby in June.
Hanson, 25, a Wyoming native who has assisted Million Dollar Rider Jake Telford in Idaho for almost two years, has left her own mark in premiere events at Paso. At June’s Derby, she took Sheza Roo to the NRCHA Limited Open Bridle title, the same prize that she had won with the 7-year-old mare at the NRCHA Stakes. Before entering the western performance world, she trained hunter/jumpers and previously worked for T.J. Good in Texas and Clayton Edsall in California.
“We are pretty competitive — both of us,” admitted the good-natured Barthelemy. “So I am guessing we’re going to love each other — until we get in the pen.”
Actually, Barthelemy says they support each other whenever they manage to get together, not often lately given show schedules and the distance between them.
“She’s going to stay another year with Jake up there becasue she’s doing so good,” says Barthelemy, who believes he first noticed his future fiancee at a NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno. “She has worked so hard to get where she is, and we want to be sure she gets the most out of what she has been working on. She is a big support to me, and I want to be for her, too.”
No date has been set, Barthelemy said.
MORE: See Reining By The Bay, Page 48
Leave a Comment
All fields must be filled in to leave a message.