PASO ROBLES — After a year’s effort to train Smart Boons into the bridle, Corey Cushing has every reason to be pleased.

Cushing and Smart Boons (Peptoboonsmal x Smart Little Easter x Smart Little Lena), have entered three top 2012 bridle competitions, and they have won two of them — the most recent being the Aug. 18 World’s Richest Stock Horse competiton at the National Stock Horse Association Futurity. They captured the Magnificent 7 competition in Sacramento in June.

DEL MAR — The first World Cup Qualifying Grand Prix of the 2012-13 California season drew top West Coast show jumping horse-and rider teams to SHowpark Sept. 1 for the Blenheim EquiSport $50,000 Showpark World Cup Grand Prix.

Ferraris and Maseratis scattered in and around the field, adding an extra touch of speed to the already picturesque course. It was an FEI level competition with 24 entries taking on Canadian course designer Michel Vaillancourt’s World Cup-qualifying track.

BURBANK — Junior riders generally rule the day in the Los Angeles Hunter Jumper Association Horsemanship Final, but amateur riders Courtney Harrell and Mary Cimolino showed that they had what it took to prevail over the younger set.

The competition, held Aug. 20-Sept. 2 at the Gold Coast 6 show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, came down to a second-day duel between the pair, and Harrell, who trains under Sheri Moser, finished on top with Anything Goes.

BURBANK — Kicking off the fall horse show season at the Gold Coast 6 Aug. 30-Sept. 2, participants got the chance to earn grants for their school libraries in the $5,000 Riding for Reading Pleasure Class. Claire Sears, a junior at Claremont High who is trained by Rainbow Canyon Ranch, was glad to win this year’s class aboard Kingdom Come, owned by Mary Gatti.

“I have been participating in the class for several years, and each year my school is thrilled to receive the library money,” Sears said. “It feels really good to be able to contribute to my school while doing something I love to do.”

PASO ROBLES — Catawhit, a 6-year-old gelding by Catalano out of Call Me Cali Olena, sold for $11,200 to become the high-seller at the 2012 National Stock Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity Sale, conducted Aug. 18 at the Mid-State Fairgrounds by Duarte Sales.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – When Katherine Rich-Elzig says it was a good show at Arabian Horse Association Youth Nationals, she is one to know: She has made it to the last 19 of them.

Rich-Elzig, the 31-year-old trainer at the venerable Green Acres Ranch in Temecula, won her first Youth National Championship in 1996 –- aboard Tinka-Exouds Son in Hunt Seat Equitation. Today, the third-generation Arabian horseperson is coaching pupils like Olivia Welch and Whitney Campbell to National Championships of their own at the show, she says, she likes above all others.

DEL MAR — Hap Hansen and Archie Bunker had another close call with career Grand Prix jumping win No. 100 on Aug. 25, leading midway through a jump-off of the $40,000 Blenheim Summer Classic before Patricio Pasquel of Mexico and Serge eclipsed them.

The duo brought excitement to the Showpark crowd at the event, presented by the California Horsetrader, just as they have all season. The anticipation of Hansen’s win No. 100 has been brewing since February when Hansen and Archie Bunker notched No. 99 at Thermal.

WOODSIDE — With $180,000 in added monies and all the trimmings of the best reining events anywhere, the Reining By The Bay filled Horse Park at Woodside July 18-22, giving owners and trainers an early gauge of their futurity prospects.

Andrea Fappani continued his dominance at the venue, claiming the $15,000-added Open Level 4 Futurity on Rancho Oso Rio’s Steppin In Diamonds, earning $5,397. Fappani also won the $20,000-added Level 4 Markel Open Derby Smoking Whiz, owned by Silver Spur Equine, for an additional $6,496.

DEL MAR — Patience and speed. Those qualities aren’t typically paired, but Canadian rider Chris Pratt put them to work Aug. 4 to pull off a sensational win in the $30,000 August Festival Grand Prix.

As the final rider of 38 entries, Pratt patiently watched while rounds before him revealed a tough course designed by Pierre Jolicoeur. Almost half the field fell short in the vertical-oxer-oxer triple combination, while several others fell short over the liverpool vertical.

Pratt, who was showing Wakya in just the horse’s third showing this year, rode a smart-enough round to be one of seven clear jump-off entries, and then he pulled the stops.

Eight nations represented the field that fought to master Jolicoeur’s unique but technical track.

BAKERSFIELD — Doug Williamson rode three different horses to the top three scores at the Valley Cow Horse Association Open Futurity held July 27-28 at the Sundance Feed Yard. The VCHA Futurity was part of a three-day show that also included National Reined Cow Horse Association and VCHA show classes on Sunday, and it gave owners and trainers a chance to gauge the progress of 3-year olds heading into the futurity season. The National Stock Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity takes place Aug. 13-19 in Paso Robles, followed by the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Sept. 17-29.