Letter from the Editor

Dear Golden State Members and Friends,

We begin this issue with part one of ways to improve your score from legendary horsewoman Sandy Collier (clinician for the rescheduled Cinch Up Productions Show-details in this issue). Our first GSVRHA show of 2022 is in the rear-view mirror and we have the results. Member Sarah Westfall took pictures at the Ione show and has now set up a way for you to access-check out the link. Golden State is planning a social with a fabulous Silent Auction at the Central Coast Ranch Horse Classic in May-read on for a list of the items and plan to join us. How ties are broken within a division and within an individual class sometimes seem mysterious. Read on for Sarah Clifford’s explanation of how ties are handled in versatility.

Errata, how we hate it. Check out where this editor made mistakes in the last two newsletters. And finally, what’s our newsletter without the “Quote of the Month?”

Clean cuts, fast turns, good cows, and perfect patterns in May!

Dawn Poston

Editor

Send comments, concerns, & ideas to [email protected]

Ways to Improve Your Score

Wisdom from Sandy Collier

I’m going to limit my article to the things that I’m very familiar with in judging (reining, cutting and cowhorse), but they should hold true across the board in any judged event.

I think a lot of us have gotten much more “credit conscious” in our judging meaning that we’re trying to look for the good in a run while still accurately accessing penalties if incurred.

In general, credits in all 3 events (cutting, reining and cowhorse) consist of degree of difficulty and courage (making the performance exciting), eye appeal (pleasing to watch), accuracy, willingness, smoothness, finesse, lack of resistance, attitude, authority, and control (of the cow in cowhorse and cutting). What does this mean in terms of scoring better?

My observation is that all boats rise with the tide. If your horse is broke and knows his job, then a rider can be courageous and take chances. If you exhibit courage and pull it off with some eye appeal (because your horse is trained, shows little resistance and is happy doing his job), you’re going to be in a credit earning situation in several of the run content boxes. He doesn’t have to be a monster stopper or huge athlete to mark a very respectable score if you have those basic ingredients. Most of us will never be fortunate enough to own a Hashtags or Scooter Kat, but you don’t have to have belly crawler or a plus 1 stopper to mark a 72 or 73. Let’s start with the reined work and I’ll show you what I mean.

Let’s get the judge on your side from the start. Walk into the arena shoulders back, eyes up, confident, and ready to show the judge what you’ve got. Your horse should be clean, and you both should be appropriately attired for your event. Now comes authority and precision in pattern placement. This is really important! Find the center of the arena on your circles, make sure your circles are different in speed and size, making your big one big and fast, your small one smaller and slower, and please change leads in the center. You’d be surprised how easy it is to credit your circles if you do these things especially if your horse is guiding well, looking happy. Even if your horse isn’t a great lead changer, the other elements are absolutely under your control and so few riders take advantage of that and execute them with precision. If you can add control at higher levels of speed, your score is going up as you enter the rarefied strata of being pleasing and exciting to watch!

See our next edition for Sandy’s conclusion that will cover rundowns, spins, and cow work.

Did the June QHEAC Show Seem Expensive?

It Was, New Fees Posted

The June QHEAC Show is right around the corner. There are two separate shows, both double judged. They are AQHA and Western States sanctioned! If you checked it out online early on and the fees seemed kind of high, they were! They were not posted correctly. Take another look, there’s a flat fee for the AQHA VRH All Around and the WS/GS classes are entered separately (no flat fee), each at a much-reduced rate. It’s even more reduced for Youth. GS/WS classes run concurrently with the AQHA. Whew. It’s a great show, we hope to see you there.

Show Rescheduled: New Venue

Cinch Up Productions

Tony Agredano’s Cinch Up Productions March show has been rescheduled for July 2-3, Bolado Park, Tres Pinos, CA. Everything else remains the same; great awards, clinicians Lyn Andersen, Sandy Collier, Bobby Cotta, Vaquero-style roper Justin Fields; and judges Karen Arlin, Ramona Koch, and Don Douglas. Let’s make this show a sell out and support Tony’s support of Golden State Versatility. Entry information available soon on our web site and FB page, and cinchuppro.com.

Just a couple of miles out of Hollister, Bolado Park is in a beautiful setting, restaurants nearby, and great camping.

Overhead view of the venue

Central Coast Ranch Horse Classic

May 21-22, 2022

If you haven’t signed up for this popular show do so now! This show is an AQHA show and Ranching Heritage show that is also sanctioned by Western States. It’s a great, low-cost opportunity to get points in each organization. GS is sponsoring a wine and appetizer social and a Silent Auction Saturday night. Please join us for some fun and support Golden State. Bring cash or check, appetite, and thirst. Some of the auction items include:

Lesson Certificates

  • Lynn Anderson
  • John Bishop
  • Cynthia Cantleberry
  • Jo Ann Carollo
  • Sarah Clifford
  • Billy Cochrane
  • Rachel Fingerle
  • Ramona Koch
  • Mike Lund
  • Jennifer Ray
  • Tina Robinson
  • Kathy Torres
  • Jamie Walker

Gift Certificates

  • Bayonet Black Horse-Seaside
  • Dubber’s-Salinas
  • Grower’s Pub-Salinas
  • Laureles Lodge-Carmel Valley
  • Running Iron-Carmel Valley
  • Sand Bar-Monterey
  • Tarpey’s Roadhouse-Monterey
  • Platinum Performance
  • Riding Warehouse
  • Malia Aldrich Body Work
  • Paso Pastures VRBO

Items

  • Show pads
  • Vintage headstall
  • CR Show Shirt
  • Novelty T Shirts
  • Show Shirts
  • Handmade quilt
  • Handmade placemats

AQHA/NRSHA World Show

June 22-26, Guthrie, OK

Entries are open! A number of California VRH competitors are planning on attending. We hope to see you there. It’s a once in a lifetime experience! The following are some pictures from last year.

GSVRHA President Kathy Torres, the reigning World Champion in Senior Cow Work at the AQHA/ NRSHA World Show last year. Riding Paul Barulich’s Kalahari Moonshine.

The trail course covers several acres and is very “ranchy.” The drag is generally an unusual object like the feeder above

Jennifer Ray and Carol Kurtz’s Forrest were among the California competitors/winners in 2021

First Show of Season

Running T Roundup a Great Success

Golden Girl and Western Girl. Photo courtesy of member Liz Dafner

Tori Sims Reining Clinic well attended and appreciated. Photo courtesy of member Liz Dafner

There was great weather and great participation at the first of two Running T versatility shows produced by Stephanie and Tim Lewis. (The next one will be in October.) The schedule provided for clinics on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning; we showed Saturday afternoon and Sunday. The awards, thanks to Show Secretary Harlee Burtschi, were concluded by 4:30 on Sunday! We think that’s a record.

The “Queen of Fun” Jen Harden and the “Judge of Fun” Bev Sparrowk had their hands full with the Golden Girl (Golden State President Kathy Torres) vs Western Girl (Western States President Sarah Clifford) extreme trail and cow work challenge. You kind of had to be there to understand it but the trail portion was timed and included obstacles like putting board shorts on over jeans outside the arena while the horse was ground tied inside the arena. The cow work consisted of moving 3 head through some obstacles and finally out of the arena. Each “girl” had a cow with a bad eye, so you know that was entertaining. Cow chaos! Who knew Chase and Marsha were that fast?! Kathy won the trail and Sarah won the cow work. The food vendors, Sierra Shelton and Allison LaFayne, provided a fabulous hot meal for the observers who brought their own adult beverage. Look for more fun social events thought up by Jen and Bev at upcoming shows.

Champion, Reserve, and Third in each division follow. Regrettably not everyone was present at the awards ceremony so not everyone is pictured. Thanks to those who attended!

Youth

  • Christian Scanlan

Novice

  • Doug Walsh
  • Liz Dafner
  • Candice Terry

Limited

  • Stephanie Lewis
  • Heather Bryant
  • Marty Raynor

Intermediate

  • Renee Jackson
  • Mary Nelson
  • Bonnie Garcia

Advanced

  • Nicole Ditmars
  • Dawn Poston
  • Kelly Saunders

Open

  • Sarah Clifford (Old Pal Hal)
  • Sarah Clifford (Cee My Foolish Tangy)
  • Chris Bugenig
CLICK TO ENLARGE AND SCROLL THROUGH

Google Link for Sharing Photos

Thank You Sarah Westfall

Sarah has created a google folder to store and share pictures and videos from our events. The link to the GSVRHA photo drive is: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nOptK2R_Y5h1N8q3gqwI-2aivdwuAt6g?usp=sharing. She has included photos she took at the Ione show.

If you have pictures or videos from Ione or other GSVRHA shows that you would like to share, please upload in the appropriate event folder. You may also send photos or videos to [email protected] and Sarah will upload them for you.

CLICK FOR CAPTIONS AND TO SCROLL THROUGH:

Editor’s Note: Sarah is doing this at no cost! Let’s think of a way to say “thank you.”

Didja Know?

There Are NO TIES in Versatility; Even if the Scores or Points Reflect a Tie!

At the recent Ione show there were some questions to past President Sarah Clifford regarding how ties are handled. Great questions! Sarah explained that All-Around ties for a competition or year-end awards are decided by the highest placing in the Ranch Cow Work class in the applicable division.

Ties do not stand in versatility! Every tie is broken either by total penalty points or a pre-chosen obstacle or maneuver. In the rulebook there are suggested obstacles and maneuvers for tiebreakers for each event, but the judge typically chooses their own tie breaker. So, if you tie with Cowboy Bob in the Novice Trail with 72 points each, the judge will award the class to the person who has the fewest penalty points or highest score in a pre-chosen obstacle or maneuver. The tiebreakers are noted in the line below each of the boxes where the obstacles are noted and above the Penalty/Content boxes.

Errata!

This Editor Apologizes

First apology to new board member Jessamy German. Her first name was misspelled in the article about her in the March newsletter. Sorry Jessamy.

Second apology to Jen Harden who was not identified as such in a photo from the Moss Beach Clinic (the person on the far right is Jen, not Kim Smoot!) in the April newsletter. Jen was very involved in making the clinic a great success and this editor is sorry for not identifying the picture correctly.

This is the problem with having a cowgirl volunteer as an editor!

2022 Calendar

Show Dates

For more information, click here to view the complete calendar in a new window

Date Name Location
May 21-22 GSVRHA, WSVRHA, AQHA: Central Coast Ranch Horse Classic Show Carmel Valley, CA
June 20-25 AQHA: VRH World Show Guthrie, OK
August 12-14 GSVRHA: Clifford Horse Training Versatility Challenge Carmel Valley, CA
Sept 3-4 GSVRHA: Central Coast Fall Classic Clinic & Show San Luis Obispo, CA
Sept 30 – Oct 2 GSVRHA: Running T Fall Ranch Roundup Clinic & Show Ione, CA
Oct 27-30 WSVRHA: Year End Finals Las Vegas, NV

Quote of the Month

Barbra Schulte – Professional Cutting Horse Trainer, Personal Performance Coach, Author, Clinician, and Equine Consultant

“Choose to be with people who believe in you, inspire you, and gently urge you to reach for more. Return the favor. “