Aaron Brookshire takes Krugerrand Queen to the Open SRCHA Saddle Shoot Out title Oct. 21.
More than $15,000 in awards and prizes were given out at the three-day event Oct. 19-21, including certificates for the trio of customized Cowdog Saddles. On Friday, the SCRCHA held its Cut for A Cause charity event, which club President Laura Edwards said raised $8,700 for The All Glory Project, a non-profit program led by Elizabeth Shatner that uses animal-assisted therapies to aid military veterans and their families upon their return home.
For Brookshire, who took Krugerrand Queen (Snorty Lena X Badger Sis) to the Open Shoot Out title, it was a great way to cap off the year. The Somis-based trainer finished in third in both the SCRCHA Year-End Two-Rein standings with Krugerrand Queen and in the SCRCHA Open Hackamore with Judith Young’s Shining Rose Bud.
“I really enjoy showing at all the SCRCHA shows,” said Brookshire, who competes at SCRCHA’s Temecula events as well as Valley Cow Horse Association shows in Bakersfield. “It is a great group of people to be around and a great group of people to show with.”
Sarah Bradley and Very Smart And Sure capture the Non Pro win at the SCRCHA Saddle SHoot Out in Temecula Oct. 19-21.
“She’s just a good solid mare, and she has matured really nicely,” he said.
The striking palomino mare also earned Brookshire his first trophy saddle at the Shoot Out. Even more, she has been a cornerstone for him – she helped him start his own operation after he was away from the show pen a few years.
“She was kind of the one that made me feel like I could get back into training – give me the confidence,” said Brookshire, who learned from Lance Johnston, Dan Roeser and other mentors. “I just kind of got burned out and wanted to do something different. Then, at the end of 2009 I decided I’d just hang out a shingle and see what I could do. I just kind of got back into it and found some people who were interested in the kind of horses I had and was training. And that time I had that yellow mare, so it kind of progressed from that — she kind of built the program.”
“I count my blessings,” he added, “that I was able to build a barn in this tough economy.”
In the Non Pro Shoot Out, Sarah Bradley rose to the occasion on her 6-year-old mare, Very Smart And Sure, winning the saddle as well as keeping their momentum heading toward the NRCHA World Championship Show in January. Under trainer Roy Rich’s tutelage, Bradley and “Saturn” wowed the crowd with a statement-making fence work en route to the win.
Bill Dickenson of Temecula takes his Cat Can Dual to the Non Pro Cutting title in SCRCHA "Cut For A Cause" on Friday, which raised more than $8,700 for the All Glory Project.
“I could not have asked for a better ending of the year,” said Bradley, 37, who purchased the gelding from Annie Reynolds in Idaho two years ago. “It really gave me confidence. I got home and I asked, ‘Did I really win a saddle?’”
Bradley, who works in the corporate PetCo office in San Diego, was bitten by the cow horse bug when she attended her first Snaffle Bit Futurity in 2001 with her reining trainer at the time, Monica Albair of Poway. Now she owns her own trophy saddle, and not one, but two cow horses -she just purchased a yearling full sister to Flo N Blu Boon.
“I’m absolutely hooked,” said Bradley, who is hoping Saturn will earn his NRCHA Supreme Cow Horse Award this year after the World Show. “Once I went to Reno, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. These horses are absolutely amazing.”
Rich, who won back-to-back SCRCHA Open Shoot Outs in 2010 and 2012, says Bradley’s Non Pro victory in 2012 was a big one for him, too.
“This is my biggest, first Non Pro win,” he said proudly. “All my Non Pros make me proud – they just keep getting better and better.”
“This is her second full year showing, and she’s been working very hard,” he added. “She has a great horse – an Open Futurity finalist and Open Derby finalist. It was the best run she had ever had on that horse, and it paid off for her.”
Rich and Bradley met after she had purchased Very Smart And Sure (Very Smart Remedy x Shirley McLain) from Annie Reynolds in Idaho. Without a hauler to bring him to Southern California, Bradley was given a suggestion by Reynolds that Rich, passing through Idaho, might trailer him to her. He did.
The Limited Non Pro Shoot Out winner was Ruth Noring on Tommy Olena.
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November 17th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
Once again the Horsetrader doesn’t get the whole story… you are CONSTANTLY ignoring the Youth in the SCRCHA. Their numbers may be too few to ride for a saddle but they rode for custom chaps and Big Horse Feed Gift Certificates (two generous anonymous donors stepped up to the tune of $1000 for the SCRCHA Youth Shoot Out prizes-they care about the next generation). Have a staff writer call a SCRCHA Board member to fill in facts that you MAY be missing. It is not always about the BIG winners. The Youth train and ride with the same passion of any of the adults and for this article to totally ignore their efforts is a big SHAME ON YOU!!!!
November 27th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
You sound like a proud mom! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Tracy. You know, there are many, many stories to tell at each event, and I wish we could include all of them. This article centered on those saddle-winners, their paths they’ve taken, and on their hopes ahead. I like your idea of including more youth in our show articles, so send us those results and the inside info on the kids — everyone wins that way: the kids, the associations, the Horsetrader…and those proud parents!