RENO, Nev. — Middle America should be proud of the cowboys it sent to Nevada for the richest one-day team roping in the world.

Jake Long, 33, of Coffeyville, Kan., and his best friend Coleman Proctor, 31, of Pryor, Okla., have roped together since they were kids, partnering professionally in five different seasons over the past 10 years.

Despite the fact that today Proctor was partnered with fellow Oklahoman Billie Jack Saebens of Nowata, he was the first man to ride over and congratulate Long, horseback, after Long and Luke Brown bested Proctor and Saebens for the coveted Bob Feist Invitational championship. The two teams earned $204,000 in cash.

The 40th anniversary of the oldest, most prestigious invitational team roping in the sport paid out $800,000 in cash and prizes Monday over six rounds of fierce competition. Founded by Bob Feist in 1977 to showcase and reward the world’s best professional team ropers, the event today is owned by Ullman-Peterson Events. Annually they invite the top 100 teams in the sport to the Livestock Events Center, where they compete in six rounds for a cash-and-awards package worth more than $800,000.

Whimpys Whiz Steps, ridden by Daphne Foran for owner Gail Hutcherson, won the Open Championship.

Mark Blakley photo

BURBANK — The second big show weekend of the California Reining Horse Association came and went last month, as the CRHA Reiner Shine event brought together the region’s best June 7-11 at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

A strong turnout is no surprise, as the CRHA had an added payout of $11,500 to go with qualifying points for two National Reining Horse Association Affiliate shows. As it always done the CRHA club provided a bounty of great awards, including leather and silver headstalls to the champions and silver knives to reserves.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — The three-month qualifying period for the Zone 10 Junior and Young Rider teams culminated June 18 for riders looking to vie in the Adequan/FEI North American Junior Young Rider Championships July 19-23 in Saugerties, N.Y.

A group of Zone 10 Young and Junior riders gathered to compete in the final qualifying events during Blenheim June Classic I.

Summer is here and we are experiencing our first heat wave of the season and it is hot, hot, hot!  I think this is a great time to revisit a couple of different subjects we have talked about in the past, dealing with the heat and traveling with our horses.

Let’s start with tips for the heat. In the hot weather, there are some key points to keep in mind to help your horse through the extreme temperatures:

1. Provide access to plenty of fresh, cool, clean water. Horses can consume large quantities of water in the heat to aid in cooling and staying hydrated. Give it to them!

If you incorporate more pauses in your training regimen, your lessons will be more effective.

Also, be clear as to what you are trying to achieve. This may sound obvious, but more often than not I see an honest try made by the horse go unnoticed – and therefore unrewarded by the rider.
For instance, a common behavior riders agonize over is a disrespectful horse, either on the ground, in the saddle, or both. Behaviors range from biting and rearing to being run over while leading. Problems that you experience on the ground need to be fixed on the ground. Problems that you experience in the saddle need to be fixed in the saddle.

California Peacekeepers is a Cowboy Mounted Shooting Club governed by the rules and regulations set forth by the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association, “CMSA”. The club offers sanctioned CMSA competitions at two Southern California venues: the Krogh Ranch in Warner Springs and Star Valley Arena in Valley Center. These arenas were chosen specifically for their premium arena footing. The Krogh Ranch offers a venue to facilitate two-day shoots, barbeque dinners, pancake breakfasts and evening entertainment such as cowboy poetry and live music.

California Peacekeepers was established specifically to help grow and facilitate the sport of Cowboy Mounted Shooting in the state, offering practices and clinics to improve your skills and increase your horse’s ability to be athletic on the course. California Peacekeepers competitions are professional, detailed oriented, fun and competitive. You can reach California Peacekeepers at (760) 805-6061 or visit their website at www.CaliforniaPeacekeepers.com.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Joie Gatlin and Rammstein secured a first-place finish in the $30,000 Markel Insurance Grand Prix after a blazing jump-off, where she daringly left strides out and all the fences up. Thirteen of 30 entries advanced to the jump-off, and of the four double-clear efforts, Gatlin’s 36.12 time was the fastest.

Course designer Ivan Tagle of Argentina built a 1.40m track that included both a triple and a double combination and required riders to make adjustments and plan their tracks carefully.

Gatlin showcased her talent and precision as she guided Rocking Basilisk Farm’s 9-year-old Rammstein through both phases promptly and accurately. John Pearce and Chantico nipped at their heels, coming in a close second, double-clean in 36.51, less than half a second slower.

Losing forward motion
You always want to be riding the back end of the horse up to the front, but the most common mistake new riders make is to pull the horse back instead of pushing him around. This will cause the horse to interfere with his front legs, and then he won’t want to turn anymore. If the horse should start to shift his weight backward rather than moving freely around the turn, you will want to walk him out of the turn right away and then go try again somewhere else.

I’ve said it before, but an important thing to remember is that any time you feel like your horse would have to shift his weight in order to walk forward and out of the turn, it means he’s hanging back too far. You want to get him moving forward in a hurry before he starts to get comfortable there. If he’s hanging back, he’ll never be able to master the proper footwork or comfortably build up any speed. Set him up so he can move freely. If it starts to feel awkward, get out of it and start again.