PASO ROBLES – Entering the Open finals fence work at the 2010 National Stock Horse Association Futurity, Jake Gorrell knew exactly where he and Playin Ace High stood. Two rivals ahead of him after the herd and rein work — Phillips Ralls on Dom Dualuise and Todd Bergen on Red It One Time – were three points ahead of him. Then came the draw for order of go of what looked to be a thrilling finish to a week’s worth of top stock horse competition.

“It’s funny because I drew, then Phillip was right after me, and Todd Bergen was right after — the top three horses were all back-to-back-to-back in the same set,”

As a former ranch kid and a dedicated trail rider with 7,000 logged trail hours, I now ride in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. It is the largest City park in the world, with nearly 60 miles of horse trail.

It is a prized and unique feature of a huge city like L.A. to have this Park adjacent to centralized horse-keeping facilities. The Griffith Park system is overloaded and under budgeted, like most parks in the U.S. They deal with a wide variety of demands in the public’s usage of the park areas. The horse riders, a minority, have their own agenda to fulfill.

ENLIGHTENED SELF INTEREST
If it is a danger or nuisance to you, it will be for other riders also.
When I first started riding in Griffith Park, I noticed many things about

WOODSIDE – Andrea Fappani kept his stronghold on the Reining By The Bay Open Derby last month, taking Custom Smart Olena to a 230.5 that scraped past a pair of 230s in reserve to win the $30,000-added Derby Open. The victory was worth $8,635 for Custom Smart Olena (Custom Crome x A Darn Smart Chic x Smart Chic Olena), owned by Steve Simon of Marietta, Okla.

Last year at Woodside, Fappani pulled a hat trick I the Derby Open, winning first, second and third places – the championship coming on board Shiner Olena.

The battle for the Derby Open reserve crown featured Wimpys Little Buddy (Wimpys Little Step x All That’s Dun x Hollywood Dun It) ridden by Martin Muehlstatter for Kim Dooley of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Star For The Chicks (Smart Starbuck x Dun It By Chick x Hollywood Dun It), ridden by Randy Paul for Rancho Oso Rio, also of Scottsdale. The matching 230s earned each of them $5,444.

CALGARY, Alberta, Can. — After three rounds of intense competition at the Cowboy Up Challenge Extreme Cowboy Race July 10-12 at the Calgary Stampede, Robin Bond and Jose Perfection fell one point shy of winning. Her enthusiasm upon returning home, though, sounded more like a champion’s than the reserve.

“For me — I’d never competed out of our country. I’d never BEEN out of the country,” said Bond, who received a hero’s reception upon return to Rancho Dos Palmas in Vista, where she trains. “It was just really exciting.”

And challenging. The fastest-growing sport in the equine industry, Extreme Cowboy Racing is a timed and judged event that demands both horsemanship and speed. It confronts both horse and rider with an extreme obstacle course of moguls, bridges, log crossings, tunnels, cowboy curtains, roll backs, and water crossings.

LOS ANGELES — Later this month, there will be a scene at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center when riders of all ages and all disciplines will enliven the facility with the annual ETI National Horse Show and Convention.

At this event, so large it must be spread over different venues and weekends, there are riders young and not-so-young, in breeches and in chaps, going over fences, around barrels and even in carriages. Clearly, Equestrian Trails, Inc. has grown beyond the trails it dedicated itself to acquire and protect in 1944.

“It sounds like a movie script, but during World War II, a small group of horsemen joined together to patrol the power lines and guard public property in Long Beach to secure the safety of the area,” explains current ETI President Linda Fullerton. “Every night during the war, these men on horseback patrolled areas only accessible by horseback.”

PASO ROBLES – Todd Bergen, who had too often found himself at the tough end of luck with Smart Luck, found himself in the best of places with the stallion June 20 when the fence work ended at the 2010 National Reined Cow Horse Association Derby.

He was at the top of the Open Division.

But as fate would have it, he wasn’t alone there. Defending NRCHA Derby Open Champion Corey Cushing and Smart Boons (Peptoboonsmal x Smart Little Easter) were settled at the top, too, with an identical 664.5 composite score. Since both entries had identical 223 scores in finals fence work – used as the tie-breaker – there had to be a dramatic work-off. Bergen, who went second, scored a 221 to win with the 4-year old (Very Smart Remedy x Gunna Be Lucky), owned by Cable Creek Ranch.

BURBANK – Final exams of her junior year in high school loomed in the days ahead, but they were far from Lucy Davis’s mind on Memorial Day when the 17-year old warmed up her gelding, True Love, for the jump-off at the Memorial Day Classic Grand Prix.

A more immediate concern was Susie Hutchison on Cantano, her jump-off rival.

“I really didn’t think there was a possible way to beat her, so I just kind of said to myself, ‘well, here goes nothing,’ and I guess I got lucky,” said Davis, whose coolness under pressure as a junior rider has followed her into the grand prix level. “I knew she would go behind me and that she’d be tough to beat, so I just gave it my all and went as fast as I possibly could.”

TEMECULA – The Sherri Gilkerson Memorial Bridle Spectacular came to Casner Ranch last month, and with it – for the fourth straight year – came some of the top trainers and horses in the performance horse world.

The three-day event, co-sponsored by the Southern California Reined Cow Horse Association and the Arizona Reined Cow Horse Association, featured an AQHA cutting on Friday, followed by reined cow horse events Saturday and Sunday that totaled almost $65,000 in pay-outs.

The list of winners reads like a “Who’s Who” in the stock horse world –- Lyn Anderson in the Bridle Spectacular, Lance Johnston in the Hackamore Spectacular, Karen Stallings in the Non-Pro Bridle Spectacular. But the victor here is the show itself, which commemorates the life of fellow trainer and friend Sherri Gilkerson and helps fund the Sherri Gilkerson Memorial Scholarships for undergraduate college and university students with an interest in reined cow horses.

KATY, Texas – In the four years he’s been training Boom Shernic, Craig Schmersal has always known what’s under him. It was no surprise, then, that the 6-year old stallion (Boomernic x She And Chic Dunit) captured the Open Final of the richest National Reining Breeders Classic yet, held April 14-20 at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center.

“I’ve been knocking on the door for several years with him,” said Schmersal, who moved his operation to Overbrook, Okla., from Menifee in 2005. “That’s the thing about that horse. He’s been a hard-knocker. Every time you show somewhere, he has a chance to win.”

The duo’s 228 bested 30 other riders in a tough finals that required a 221 to enter. Reserve was split between Jordan Larson on Stop Like A Dream, owned by Gilbertgo Leal, and Shawn Flarida on Wimpys Little Chic, owned by Arcese Quarter Horses — both with 227.5.

The NBRC event has evolved into one of – if not the – favorite stops on reiners’ calendars. The large, well-footed arena combined with the aged horses make an event that truly allows the showing of a reiner. The fact that this event is well-run by its management team helps, too, as its steady growth indicates. This year’s total payout of $1,405,903 was the most ever, and entries for the show and the Classic totaled about 1,900 – an increase of five percent.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – As eagerly awaited as the swallows, the Blenheim EquiSports Spring Tournament returned Easter weekend, launching a fresh season of Blenheim show jumping while winding up FEI World Cup qualifiers with the $50,000 Orange County Register CSI-W Grand Prix.

The April 2 Friday night headliner class, the final West Coast qualifier for the 2010 FEI World Cup Finals in Geneva, Switzerland, April 14-18, went to the Canadians. Riders John Pearce, Karen Cudmore and Chris Pratt went 1-2-3, respectively, with Pearce and Chianto the only ones managing a clear round on Olaf Petersen Jr.’s challenging course.