FORT WORTH, Texas — Doug Williamson and the Rocking J Ranch’s Short And Smart nabbed the Aaron Ranch Cow Horse Classic Derby, setting the stage for other California trainers and horses to make their mark in the National Reined Cow Horse Association Celebration of Champions, held Feb. 14 – 22 at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center. The big week featured the Derby, the 2013 NRCHA World Championshps, and the 2014 World’s Greatest Horseman competition (see page 20).

FORT WORTH, Texas — True to form, the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) World’s Greatest Horseman Championship finals, held Saturday, Feb. 22, in Fort Worth, Texas, came down to the very last fence run. The showdown in Cowtown ended with Spearman, Texas, professional Boyd Rice capturing the $25,000 World’s Greatest Horseman Championship by a half-point aboard Oh Cay N Short.

LAKESIDE — At the end of seven arduous days of rodeo queen competition at the International Professional Rodeo Association Finals in Oklahoma City, Elisa Swenson stood in the arena, awaiting announcement of the 2014 queen. Whether her name or someone else’s was called didn’t matter. She felt like a winner.

“I’d never done anything like that — a whole week of competition,” says Swenson, whose pageant days began at 4:30 a.m. and ended when her head hit the hotel pillow about midnight. “By the end of the week, you are so proud of yourself that you did this and completed it — whether or not you get the crown. I felt like I was a winner.”

PASADENA — A funny thing happened after the Norco Cowgirls applied a third and final time to be an equestrian entry in the venerable Tournament of Roses Parade.

They got in.

The Norco-based drill team, formed by Mychon Bowen in 2008, had previously turned in its comprehensive, three-ring binder of an application for the 2010 and 2011 parades, but didn’t get the call.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — California reiners were hot indoors during an otherwise icy 10 days at the National Reining Horse Association Futurity, returning home with some notable performances at the national competition – both the Futurity and the Adequan North American Affiliate Championships.

This year’s NRHA Futurity paid out $2,104,900, with 1,108 Open entries vying for $1,500,950. There were 660 Non Pro Futurity entries going for $603,980. The 3,047 combined Futurity and NAAC entries were the second-largest in history, and taking into account the record-setting prices at the NRHA/Markel Insurance Futurity Sale, the mood was upbeat.

JANUARY: On the heels of a dominant year in working cow bridle competition, Smart Boons was retired from the show pen as he embarked on his new career as a breeding stallion. Under trainer Corey Cushing, the striking 8-year old red roan stallion (Peptoboonsmal X Smart Little Easter) recorded two major wins in his first year in the bridle — the Magnificent 7 at Horse Expo and the World’s Richest Stock Horse event — and pushed his lifetime earnings to almost $200,000. The 2009 National Reined Cow Horse Association Derby Open champion, owned by Kevin and Sydney Knight, is at the top of Cushing’s rides in the arena. “He’s been a great horse for a long time,” said the trainer. “I think the most important thing if you want to have a breeding stallion is to finish when he is at the top of his game. With the success Smart Boons had this year, we felt he was at the height of his career, and this was the best time.”

FEBRUARY: In a thrilling, down-to-the-wire fence work finish, Ron Emmons of Ione claimed his second consecutive World’s Greatest Horseman Championship aboard Olena Oak (Smart Chic Olena x Fritzs Oak E Doakie), a 2002 stallion owned in partnership between Nichole Scott and Emmons’s wife, LaDona Emmons. The pair scored a 219.5 in the herd work, a 214.5 in the rein work, a 221.5 in the steer-stopping and 219 in the cow work, and while they did not place first in any of the events, the steady stream of above-average scores added up to the winning 874 composite total on four events. “I’m ecstatic,” Emmons said. “To be able to get by those guys and win a prize is pretty awesome.”

JANUARY: It may not have been a day at the races, but Tommi Clark’s win-place-show stranglehold on the $2,500 USHJA Hunter Derby certainly brought some excitement to the LAEC Opener Horse Show, held Jan. 18-20 at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank. Although she is no stranger to the winner’s circle, Clark’s finish in the top three spots was quite a feat for the young professional. “I am so lucky to have all these great horses that performed their best,” she said. “We really just went in and had fun.”

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Wrapping up the indoor season, the Las Vegas National offered the final FEI classes on the West Coast until February 2014. Fifty-six horse and rider pairs representing 11 different countries gave it a go Nov. 15 in the $33,000 EquiFit, inc. Jumper Classic. The course was technical and the competition fierce.

In order to accommodate a tight-turn option that ultimately determined the top placings in the class, fence 11, the skinny Las Vegas jump, was set as the last element of a line towards the gate, with an option to turn inside and gallop to the final oxer. Preceding the skinny was a triple combination out of the corner at the top of the ring. This line caused rails to fall over 30 times during the class. However, it wasn’t the only trouble spot; the tall vertical at fence 3 came down a number of times and the forward bending line into the combination at 6a-b caused rails, refusals and one dismount. The 78-second time allowed was also a factor, as 15 riders accrued faults.