WOODSIDE – -With a fly-by performed by an American Bald Eagle on opening day, spectacular Bay Area weather and the region’s best reiners vying for $180,000 in added money and prizes, the 2013 Reining By The Bay just had to thrive. And it did.

The event, held July 17-21 at the Horse Park at Woodside, was the second of a three show reining circuit by Brumley Management Group, falling between March’s Cactus Reining Classic in Scottsdale and the High Roller Reining Classic in Las Vegas set for Sept. 6-14.

Making headlines at this year’s Reining By The Bay were Gilroy trainer Gabe Divide, who battled aboard his OK Spook to a half-point victory over Andrea Fappani and Smoking Whiz in the Level 4 Open Derby, unseating the perennial champion; Dana Avila of Temecula, who in her first Reining By The Bay swept all levels in the Non Pro Derby on her mare, One Smart Pepto, and venerable breeder Cam Essick of Clements, who took a 3-year-old she had bred, Holier Than Thou, to the Non Pro and Intermediate Non Pro Futurity titles, respectively.

There also was the excitement of Reining By The Bay’s new affiliation with the West Coast Reining Horse Association and the two full slates of WCRHA-approved classes that count toward the 400-member club’s year-end awards.

In the $55,000-added Smart Pak 3 Year Old Futurity, Essick marked a 213 on Holier Than Thou (Jacs Electric Spark x Slylena), a product of the breeding program at Pacific Range Ranch.

“Holier Than Thou’s mother was my first reining horse,” said Essick, who owns and operates the ranch with her husband. “I breed all my mares that I’ve ridden and raised and show their babies. I raised this horse, had partnered with one of Todd Bergen’s assistants on it and bought it back.”

Essick says she breeds six to eight foals annually with the intent of having an Open horse.

She had Holier Than Thou at home for six months before turning him over to Arno Honstetter in the last month in preparation for Reining By The Bay – his first trip ever in a show pen.

“Having ridden his mother- — who was just as good minded and athletic — I felt confident in what I raise, so I piloted him through and it worked out well,” said Essick, who had four offspring at Reining By The Bay that finished either Champion or Reserve. “What comes out of this is that those of us who have a vested interest in the horse often have a better outcome. That gives me a lot of pride and pleasure to see the people who put a lot of effort into those horses succeed.”

Martin Muehlstaetter of Scottsdale and Chexmart (Smart like Juice X Peppy Tuff Chex) won the Level 4 Open Futurity with a 221.5. He slipped past Fappani, who had ended in a three-way tie.

It was a knock-down, drag-out fight in the 20-horse Level 4 Open Derby. and the 6-year old OK Spook marked a 232 to take the top spot, besting Andrea Fappani on Smoking Whiz with a 231. Fappani was third on Custom Spook with a 229.
If there were scores handed out for enthusiasm, the clear-cut winner would have been Kari Divide, Gabe’s wife,, who was screaming out the scores as she heard them from the in gate. After scores had been read, the standing room-only crowd loved it as Kari ran over and hugged…the horse.

Gabe had heard about OK Spook through the grapevine and tried him as a 3-year old.

“The horse could do the basic maneuvers but was still very green,” he said. “I felt he had tons of natural ability and was extremely athletic, so we talked it over with the potential buyer who didn’t really want a Futurity horse. We bought him with the intention of making him a Derby horse, and I would have almost a year to prepare him as a 4-year old.”

OK Spook was not NRBC-enrolled, Divide said, so he showed at all of the Brumley Management shows for the next two years until a really bad abcess at the beginning of 2013 sidelined the horse. In his first show back — the Reining By The Bay – he marked a 232.

OK Spook has over $40,000 in earnings – all of it from the Brumley Management Group shows.

“We so appreciate what Pat and Jim Warren do to support these shows, especially Reining By The Bay because it’s a hometown show for us,” he said. “I’m from Gilroy, and the lady that owns the horse is from Woodside, so we love coming here, and they have such great sponsors, great prizes, even in the Ancillary classes. We always come home with a trailer load of top-notch product from these awesome sponsors.”

Winners took home truckloads of awards generously donated by Bob’s Custom Saddles, the Four Seasons Silicon Valley, Gist Buckles, SmartPak, Markel Insurance, Finish Line, Back On Track, Ice Horse, Santa Cruz Animal Health, Cow Dog Tack, Reiner’s World, Paddock Cakes, Cavalor, Auburn Labs, Equithrive, Pard’s Western Shop, Cavalor, Sound Hoof Care, Anderson Bean and Ariat.

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