Wendy & Jay McLaughlin

An event-best 151 in cow work as the Kalpowar Futurity ended in Ardmore, Okla., on Sunday, Aug. 22, earned Lenaliltothewright and Jay McLaughlin $6,607 and the edge they needed to finish as Champions over early leaders and Reserve Champions Moms Silverado Cat and Todd Crawford. Lenaliltothewright (Lenas Wright On x Shining Survivor x Shining Spark), a 2007 gelding bred and owned by Van Alstyne, Texas, businessman Richard Bell, saved his best effort for last. He also helped McLaughlin, the resident trainer for Carol Rose’s cow horse operation in Gainesville, Texas, continue an ongoing hot streak in Ardmore.

(See the complete Kalpowar results here.)

McLaughlin, 35, is a longtime Missouri trainer. He relocated with his wife Wendy to Texas after accepting a job with Rose in early 2009. He has also enjoyed outstanding success since that move. At last year’s annual Southwest Reined Cowhorse Association event in Ardmore, Okla., McLaughin guided horses to titles in Futurity and Derby Open events.

The debut show for many talented 3-year-old horses is viewed by many cow horse trainers and owners as a strong indicator of whether those horses are capable of competing with the big guns at early fall’s NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nev.

“It [the annual SRCHA event] has been very good to us,” McLaughlin said. He also finished near the top regularly in futurity and derby opens as the event took place in Waco, Texas, three times before moving back to its original home in Ardmore last August.

Lenaliltothewright and McLauglin headed into Sunday’s cow work trailing two-round leaders Moms Silverado Cat (High Brow Cat x Moms Stylish Pepto x Peptoboonsmal) and Crawford by a solid 10-point margin. A rough 141 cow work by the early leaders, who competed fourth in the first of four sets, opened the door. Lenaliltothewright and McLaughlin galloped through while competing ninth among 11 first-set duos with help from the best cow the trainer drew at the show.

“It was the first red cow I drew the whole week,” McLaughlin said. “I usually drew a black cow and I didn’t have one good run on a black cow all week. I just pushed it [the red cow] across the arena and we went marker to marker. He [Lenaliltothewright] turned it right before the marker at both ends and worked the middle in circles. He was hardly out of breath when he got done. I was more out of air than he was.”

Lenaliltothewright and No. 2 finisher Moms Silverado, a recently converted cutting horse prospect who earned $5,171 for owner Rhodes River Ranch, Arlington, Wash., tied with composite scores totaling 434 based on herd work, reining and cow work totals. Cow work scores are used as tie-breakers and Lenaliltothewright’s was by far the best.

Until just a few weeks ago, Moms Silverado Cat, a stallion, had been a promising cutter in training for this fall’s National Cutting Horse Association Futurity with Craig Thompson, Buffalo, Texas, the Open Champion rider at cutting’s premier event four years ago.

Crawford, Blanchard, Okla., welcomed the addition of such a talented new horse to his stable and guided him to 148 in herd work and then a solid 145 reining effort during his cow work debut. The new duo didn’t fare quite as well in the cow work with a 141, but the horse’s strong start and respectable finish showed Crawford enough that he’s taking the horse to Reno.

“I just made a little mistake on him,” Crawford said. “He’s real green. He hasn’t done it [chase cows down a fence] but just a handful of times, but he’s a pretty good horse. I needed to bring him here to find out what I needed to do.”

Asked if Moms Silverado Cat earned a trip to Reno, Crawford said, “You bet he did.”

Betty Lou Valdez

Valdez, an elementary special education teacher at a small rural Colorado school, receives occasional help from trainers, but tunes horses primarily on her own. Hickory Fletch (Royal Fletch x Hickorys Patty x Doc’s Hickory) is a horse she purchased from veteran Overbrook, Okla., cow horse trainer Bobby Lewis early this spring. The goal from the start was competing in Reno for the first time in her career with a futurity horse.

Valdez and her horse secured the rider’s first career high profile limited-age futurity title with a strong 145 cow work effort, giving her confidence heading into their next show.

“I’ve shown at Reno and all that, but not in the 3-Year-Old Futurity,” Valdez said. “It is a pretty big deal. I’m pretty excited.”

Michelle Cowan

“I was always just knocking on the door and finally got there with her,” Cowan said. “She was really good today. Probably that’s the best she’s ever been. I felt like I had control of the cow the whole time. It was a great feeling.”

Michelle and her husband, Bill Cowan, bred and raised Ruby Red Pepto. The Cowans compete as cutters and cow horse contestants. Prominent cutting trainer Roger Wagner, Weatherford, Texas, actually rode Ruby Red Pepto last week. Wagner and three other cutters who competed in Saturday’s Celebrity Cow Horse event in Ardmore practiced a little bit first at Cowan Ranch.“It was kind of fun to watch him ride her,” Cowan said. “Roger was all worried he was going to mess her up for me. I don’t think he messed her up any.”

Boyd & Halee Rice

Boonie Tunes and Rice also earned an extra $966 by winning the $5,000 Novice Horse division, a slot the horse fit into easily since he had never competed as a cow horse before.

“I’m surprised we got it done, but the horse had the ability to do it,” Rice said. The horse has not retired from cutting, but will definitely compete at future cow horse events, too, following his successful debut. “I might even show him in the hackamore at the Snaffle Bit [next month's NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nev.], just to see what he does.”

Boonie Tunes (Peptoboonsmal x Shiney Tari x Shining Spark) and Rice followed a 150 herd-work start on Thursday with a 148.5 reining effort on Friday. They won the event by a solid 3.5 points with a 447.5 composite. They headed into the last of three rounds with a 2.5-point edge cliniched the title with a cow work score that was near the top, too. The stallion competed in reining and cow work for the first time in his career at the event.

“He’s green, but it’s just pretty natural for him,” Rice said of the horse’s winning effort, particularly in chasing a cow down the fence and around an arena for the first time at a competition, and for only the sixth or seventh time in his life. “He’s just now learning how to run, really. He was still a little unsure about it, but he’s doing good.”

Texline, Texas, non-pro cutter Danny Poole owns Boonie Tunes and gave Rice the green light to try him out as a cow horse competitor. Richard Bell, Van Alstyne, Texas, bred the champion horse. Boonie Toons, a No. 10 Derby Open finisher with Rice at the National Cutting Horse Association Super Stakes in early spring, and a finalist at a few other cuttings so far, will keep on cutting at high profile limited-age events, Rice said.

Solano Cat and Ron Ralls, Gainesville, Texas, a duo that has competed often and well at cow horse events in the past, finished as Derby Open Reserve Champions with a 444 to earn $5,152. CD Dee Vee Dee and Ralls finished third with a 442 to earn $3,584.

Shannon and Hershel Reid, Pilot Point, Texas, own Solano Cat (High Brow Cat x Smartest Solano x Smart Little Lena), a 2005 gelding bred by Mark A. Marek, Austin, Texas. CD Dee Vee Dee (CD Lights x Shiners Missy Jay x Shining Spark), another 2005 gelding owned by Shannon and Hershel Reid, won last year’s Derby Open at the same event while shown by Jay McLauglin and owned by Carol Rose, Gainesville, Texas.