A strong performance by Toni Hagen Heath and Ima One Time Wonder earned them the NRCHA Stallion Stakes Intermediate Non-Pro Championship. • Photo by Primo Morales.

Heath Rides Homebred To NRCHA Stakes Victory

Many riders scour the sales for the perfect Western performance horse prospect. Lately, Toni Hagen Heath seems to raise all of her good ones.

Heath, of La Grande, Oregon, rode homebred Ima One Time Wonder to the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Stallion Stakes Intermediate Non-Pro Championship and Non-Pro Reserve Championship.

“The last few years, actually, that’s all I’ve ridden is home-raised horses and we’ve had good success, but it’s been awhile for us to have a big championship, I guess, and so it’s pretty neat,” she said.

She and Ima One Time Wonder took the title with a composite of 637.5 (210 rein/212 herd/215.5 cow). Heath was pleased with how the mare fared, especially given the spunky cow they drew in the cow work finals.

“I really wanted to just go make a nice fence run, give the cow room to turn and let her work, because she wants to work a cow,” she said, thanking her family, help and trainer Shadd Parkinson for their support. “And, I knew when the cow came out, it was pretty hot and it challenged, and I was really glad I was on her, because she works a cow, gets down and she handled it really well.”

The 2013 daughter of One Time Pepto was one of two foals Heath rode in the Non-Pro finals out of My Legend Del Cielo, a Gallo Del Cielo mare bred by Heath’s husband, Daniel Heath. Her second mount, Legend De Lena (by Smart Peppy Doc) finished fourth in the Intermediate Non-Pro and tenth in the Non-Pro.

The win pushed Ima One Time Wonder’s Equi-Stat record to more than $30,000. Legend De Lena now has roughly $7,000 in earnings, bumping their dam’s produce record to approximately $37,000 with two performers.

Heath wants to keep the maternal line going. She and her husband plan to try to harvest an embryo from Ima One Time Wonder this year. They’ve already bought a breeding to a stallion they like.

“She’s got a lot of energy at the shows, but she’s really neat in that like at home,” she said. “She’s one that’s real easy to go ride: You can go out on a trail, you can go gather cattle, you can sort cattle.”

Heath now has earnings of approximately $160,000. Some of her biggest wins include sweeping the Non-Pro championships at the NRCHA Hackamore Classic and NRCHA Derby with homebred Smokums Dream (Smokums Prize x I Dream Olena x Mr Badger Lena) and the NRCHA Derby Amateur Championship aboard Just Ask Me Nice (Captain Nice x Missy Dual Master x Dual Peppy).

For more news and information from the Western performance horse industry, subscribe to Quarter Horse News.