Marco RicottaThe Derby Open proved to be an exciting event as 93 riders gave it their all to lay down the best runs possible during the Cactus Reining Classic Derby Open.
Butch Shaver and Lasso My Colors take on a cowButch Shaver, 74, a real estate businessman based in Parkersburg, W. Va., a cancer survivor and a longtime cutting horse owner, had owned champions before. He had never guided one to a big win in the arena on his own until his $15,000 Amateur victory Friday aboard 11-year-old mare Lasso My Colors. 
Mandy McCutcheon This year at the Cactus Reining Classic, held March 5-10 in Scottsdale, Ariz., horse and rider teams have come from all over to prove they have what it takes to walk out of the show pen winners.
Steve Colclasure receives a hug from his wife HeidiWinning a title at the National Cutting Horse Association Eastern National Championships had always ranked high on Steve Colclasure’s “bucket list” of things to accomplish before his life ends. “I’d been second here twice, and I’d always wanted to win it,” he said. Thursday in Jackson, Miss., the 38-year-old Cushing, Okla., trainer won the Open and the $3,000 Novice Open titles within a few hours of each other while riding two geldings sired by Smart Little Lena. 
Tarin and Katie RiceThe 2012 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity Open Co-Champions He Bea Cat (High Brow Cat x Mae Bea Marie x Freckles Playboy), owned by Jim Crawford, and Tarin Rice took the Cattlemen's Derby & Classic 4-Year-Old Open Championship and Gelding Open Championship Thurs., March 7, in Graham, Texas, with a score of 224.
James and Nadine Payne, and Jill FreemanFresh off a victory in the 5/6-Year-Old Open at the Arbuckle Mountain Futurity nearly two weeks earlier, Once In A Blu Boon kept the ball rolling at the Cattlemen's Derby & Classic in Graham, Texas.
Reyn Storm & Gabe ReynoldsA final-round 225 by Gabe Reynolds and 10-year-old stallion Reyn Storm claimed the $10,000 Novice Open title at the annual National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Eastern National Championships Wednesday in Jackson, Miss.
It will cost less to enter - and you could win more money - at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Stakes, Hackamore Classic, Derby and Snaffle Bit Futurity.
