SAN ANGELO, Texas – Roy Rich spent the night with his rig in Albuquerque on his drive to the National Reined Cow Horse Association World Championships, then was caught off guard by a frozen Interstate 40 east of town the next morning.

“I thought I was going to die — I don’t know how to drive in ice,” joked the Southern California native.

THERMAL — John Bragg of Redwood City lived up to his name and earned some bragging rights in the 5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix when he posted a pair of scores in the 90s aboard Stephanie Ray’s Castle Hill to capture the feature class for hunters Feb. 5 at Desert Circuit II.

Bragg was impressive in the popular hunter prix that featured almost 60 horse-and-rider combinations in the first round on a course set by Rian Beals. The seasoned hunter rider brought home a 92 in the first round and set the stage for some exciting competition. In the second round, Bragg and Castle Hill didn’t disappoint the crowd as they nailed the round posting another 92 en route to the first-place ribbon.

POMONA — The Sierra Empire Arabian Horse Association annual show continued its growth phase for the third straight year during its Jan. 27-29 event at the Fairplex.

The SEAHA took over the winter January slot vacated when the Whittier Lions suspended its traditional Southern California competition after 2009.

SAN ANSELMO, Texas — The 2012 National Reined Cow Horse Association Celebration of Champions concluded Sunday, February 5, with the finals of the World’s Greatest Horseman competition. The finals – which featured ten of the most accomplished horse and rider teams in the western performance horse industry – thrilled the west Texas town.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Arizona Sun Circuit Quarter Horse event continued its momentum into 2012 Jan. 28-Feb. 5 with an eye-popping 15,224 AQHA entries – a nine percent increase over last year and a 30 percent rise since 2012.

Of the more than 1,000 horses, a pair owned by Bob and Dana Avila made news with Circuit Championships: Dana took her 7-year-old gelding, Not My Day Job, to the Amateur Reining title and Bob rode his up-and-coming bridle horse, Duals Nifty Lady, to the Senior Working Cow Horse crown.
Last year at Sun Circuit, Dana won the Amateur Cow Horse championship on Not My Day Job.

POMONA, CA – Wowing the judges with a bridleless routine in the freestyle competition, trainer Mark Matson of Temecula won the inaugural “Project Cowboy” event in front of the cameras and lights at the Horse Expo Pomona Feb. 2-3 at Fairplex.

Project Cowboy, presented by the American Quarter Horse Association, is “American Idol” meets “America’s Got Talent” for cowboys, and gives horsemen the opportunity to display their talents on horseback and in front of the television camera. The entire competition was filmed for a reality television program that is tentatively set to air Sept. 27 on RFD-TV.

HEY RAY: My 9-year-old mare has an arena problem. She is outstanding and fairly “bullet proof” on the trail, but when I lope her in the arena in right-hand turns, she does well for a while and then suddenly ducks to the left – then goes for the fence. I think she gets bored.
—Tom Wilson, Norco

HEY TOM: On the surface, this seems like a simple question to answer. Just fight the turn with the right rein and a left spur, then hold the horse between your legs and reins and drive her forward, right? I’m not trying to be funny — I am assuming that you have tried this, and many other things, too. By the way, doing what I just suggested as an obvious answer may work, or it could create a mess if the horse was aggressive or calculating. As you may have possibly experienced already, your mare could very easily rear, leap forward or flip over if you were to get in the way of that tidal wave of energy that she may be throwing your way.

Fifteenth in a series
After honing a relaxed seat last issue, Les has us focus on the feel in our hands.

Every time you ride, be conscious of whether you’re letting your horse pull on your hands or not. There are two situations where you will feel resistance and you need to train yourself so that alarms go off in your head when they happen. First is when you pick up on a rein and feel resistance; that is, your horse doesn’t give right away to the pressure; and second is when the horse takes the slack out of the rein and starts leaning on you. Any time you feel resistance, you need to instinctively start working the snaffle in his mouth, until the resistance goes away and he gives his head with a soft poll. You don’t have to tug or pull, just move the snaffle back and forth with enough pressure to remind your horse it’s in his best interest to give to you and soften his poll.

The California Horsetrader would like to extend best wishes to Bill and Lou Gene Cuddeback of Cuddeback Trailers in Lakeside. After 37 years of a thriving business, they will be retiring to pursue their passions on horseback: Bill in team roping and Lou Gene in reined cow horse. Their professionalism, knowledge and warm regard for those they served over the years will all be missed. There will be an event for the last of the Cuddeback Trailer inventory: Fischer Auction will be handling an auction on March 17 — both online and with live bidding of the $1 million inventory. You may join in the bidding process for great deals on all types of trailers, shop equipment and supplies, and parts inventory. Once liquidated, the prime freeway frontage facility will be available for lease. For more information, see the ad on page 65.