THERMAL — In the $1,500 Platinum Performance Hunter Prix, a West Coast qualifier for the Platinum Performance $250,000 Hunter Prix Final at HITS-on-the-Hudson, Polly Sweeney of Pasadena jumped her own Duet to a win with consistent scores of 83 and 84. Sweeney rides under the direction of trainer Archie Cox.

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.”

POMONA — Nicolas Barthelemy and five other top reined cow horse riders treated the Horse Expo Pomona crowd at Fairplex to world-class competition in the first Toyota California Classic held on Friday night, Feb. 8.

Barthelemy, riding Sheri Jamieson’s Jans Rey Cuatro, shined in all three phases of the event — herd work, reining and cow work — en route to winning the $6,350 first-place prize. His 435 composite score outdualed Marjie Robinson on MH Its Only Boon, owned by husband Ted Robinson, who totaled 430.5 after an exciting cow work performance that brought down the house and moved her into second past Tucker Robinson and Gunna B Lucky, owned by Michael and Debra Brautovich. Marjie earned $3,810 for reserve, and Tucker, who scored 426, collected $2,540.

POMONA — Charles Wilhelm’s Ultimate Super Horse Challenge, a series of events designed to showcase the rider’s control and the horse’s relaxed lightness and responsiveness, attracted good crowds at three days of Horse Expo Pomona Feb. 7-9, and Robin Bond of San Marcos outmatched the field with her 6-year-old Quarter Horse mare, Ka Choo. Deanna Williams was reserve champion in the judged event, followed by Don Moore, Paula Bellesi and Krista Koenig.

THERMAL — The seven-week HITS Desert Circuit took a mid-point break last week, and along with the hiatus came recognition for Mid-circuit Champions.

NORCO — The 39th edition of the Sierra Empire Arabian Horse Association’s show took a change of venue this year, but the direction was the same: The region’s top Arabians and Half-Arabians schooled and tuned up before heading east this month for the Scottsdale Arabian Show.

THERMAL — In their first grand prix of the 2014 season, Saer Coulter and Springtime kicked off 2014 on the highest of notes, topping 31 jumpers in the $50,000 Strongid C 2X™ CSI-W2*, presented by Zoetis.

The class, a highlight of World Cup week at HITS Thermal, was a qualifier for the 2014 FEI World Cup Finals in Lyon, France this April. The jumps were big, the time was tight and the field was competitive with six of the original 31 advancing to the jump-off.

Course designer Olaf Petersen, Jr. of Muenchen, Germany, kept the promise he made after Thursday’s grand prix and built big.

Reiners gathered at the the Pomona Valley Mining Co. in Pomona Jan. 11 to honor the California Reining Horse Association standouts from 2013 and to set membership’s sights on another successful year. The night also featured a Silent Auction fund-raiser, with all items donated by members or sponsors. A beginner’s reining clinic with Brenda Brown at Green Oaks Ranch is set March 1st.

MORE INFO: www.calreining.com