///////// MEMBER ROUNDUP
NOTABLE NON PRO Polly Bremel rarely buys her cow horses. Instead, she breeds what she rides, one generation at a time. By Abigail Boatwright
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the 1978 Snaffle Bit Futurity®, and that was a catalyst for her getting into cow horse. “I’ve been hooked ever since,” Polly said. “But my first one I competed in wasn’t until 1999. So, it took me 20 years from wanting to do it, to actually doing it. “I love the people,” Polly said. “I love how open all the trainers are with everyone. They’re so helpful. The Non Pros are supportive of each other. The horses are amazing—there’s no better horses anywhere. They’re phenomenal creatures. We’re so blessed.”
KELSEY HELLMANN
atching her homebred cow horses compete at the 2021 National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity®, Paula “Polly” Bremel of Kingsburg, California, was as proud as can be. Slowly breeding one generation and then another, Polly has elevated the quality of horses she owns, rides and sells. Although she’s taken the long way to get there, that suits her just fine. Polly’s parents weren’t involved with horses, but she and her sister, Laura Norman, were crazy about horses since they were children. They rode bareback everywhere and competed in every class at the local horse shows and playdays. While attending high school at a boarding school in Arizona, she was introduced to cow horse legends such as Al Dunning and Shorty Freeman, and experienced working horses on ranches in the area. “I developed a really big interest in cow horse then, and I bought my first horse that was really reined cow horsebred,” Polly said. “It was a Vandy II
58 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | REINED COW HORSE NEWS
BREEDING TO RIDE
Polly’s homebred gelding, Shiney Little Rock, earned two Open Division Futurity titles in 2021.
mare, and she was bred to Bueno Chex. I raised her baby. That was my first colt that I started.” When Polly went to college at University of California, Davis, she worked for Jim and Wendy Vaughan, who had stock horses and trained youth riders. Polly went with them to watch
After college, Polly worked as a CPA, and, on the side, became successful in marketing and sales. She married her husband, Dave, and they had two daughters, Alana and Amarie. Lacking the funds to buy a trained horse, Polly worked her way up, learning from each horse she rode on a determined trajectory that taught her how to improve her horsemanship. As Polly bred more horses, she improved her program.
