STARS ALIGNED

Sarah Dawson led the winning team to be crowned champions at the inaugural The American Performance Horseman event.

Story by Abigail Boatwright

Competing

underneath the huge canopy of Arlington, Texas’ Globe Life Field stadium, 15 horsemen and -women showed the 18,000-strong crowd—and countless fans online—what the best Western performance horses in the United States can do on a big stage.

The top five money-earning riders from the National Reined Cow Horse Association, National Reining Horse Association and National Cutting Hose Association were placed on five three-person teams, each comprised of a cow horse rider, reiner and cutter. With $1 million purse up for grabs, the winning rider in each discipline took home $100,000, and the winning team took home $75,000 total, or $25,000 per contestant.

On March 10, Sarah Dawson was not only the high-scoring reined cow horse competitor, but she was also part of the winning team with cutter Adan Banuelos and reiner Fernando Salgado. Dawson took home $125,000 in one day.

The rein work portion of the reined cow horse event was held in the morning, while the cow work was held during the evening’s schedule. The American Performance Horseman event kicked off with an exciting round of cutting, and Banuelos

TEAM BLUE

Team Score: 905.5

Cutting Rider: Adan Banuelos

Horse: All Spice, 17M (Once In A Blu Boon x Show Biz Kitty x High

Brow Cat)

Owner: Teton Ridge

Score: 229

Reining

Rider: Fernando Salgado

Horse: Pale Dun Star

APHA 16S (Pale Face Dunnit x Get Ya Some

Stats x RR Star)

Owner: Ian & Kristen

Cantacuzene

Score: 224

Cow Horse

Rider: Sarah Dawson

Horse: Shine Smarter, 12M (WR This Cats Smart x Shiney Tari x Shining

Spark)

Owner: Linda Mars

Score: (R:226/C:226.5)

452.5

TEAM RED

Team Score: 894

Cutting

Rider: Lloyd Cox

Horse: Blackish, 14M (Hottish x SS Blacks

Lil Kitty x Blue Bayou

Boon)

Owner: Julie Jarma

Score: 224

Reining

Rider: Shawn Flarida

Horse: Alpha Jac Sparrow, 18S (Spooks

Gotta Whiz x Chexanicki x Bueno Chexinic)

Owner: Fritz Leeman

Score: 220.5

Cow Horse

Rider: Justin Wright

Horse: Scooter Kat, 15S (Kit Kat Sugar x

Scooters Daisy Dukes x Dual Smart Rey)

Owner: Eric Freitas

Score: (R:224.5/C:225)

449.5

TEAM GREEN

Team Score: 891.5

Cutting

Rider: Lindy Thorn

Horse: Lil Maddy Rey, 12M (Dual Smart Rey x Miss Madelines Cat x High Brow Cat)

Owner: Misty Greeson

Score: 217

Reining

Rider: Casey Deary

Horse: Down Right

Amazing, 17S (Colonels

Smoking Gun x Shesouttayourleague x Walla Walla Whiz)

Owner: DAG Ventures

LLC

Score: 231.5

Cow Horse

Rider: Chris Dawson

Horse: CSR Lay Down

Sally, 11M (Dual Spark x Look At Her Glo x CD O Cody)

Owner: Meredith

Garber

Score: (R:224/C:218.5)

443

TEAM PURPLE

Team Score: 878.0

Cutting

Rider: Wesley Galyean

Horse: Third Edge, 18S (Metallic Rebel x Lil Rattler x Dual Rey)

Owner: Teton Ridge

Score: 221

Reining

Rider: Andrea Fappani

Horse: Trash

Talkin Spook, 17S, (Gunnatrashya x I Spook x Smart Spook)

Owner: Marilyn

Overgaard

Score: 230.5

Cow Horse

Rider: Corey Cushing

Horse: Good Time, 11G (One Time Pepto x Dual Nurse x Dual Pep)

Owner: Kristen & Corey

Cushing

Score: (R:218/C: 208.5)

426.5

TEAM ORANGE

Team Score: 847.5

Cutting

Rider: Austin Shepard

Horse: Kittenish, 16M (Kit Kat Sugar x Sweet Lil Gal x Sweet Lil Pepto)

Owner: Billy Wolf

Score: 220

Reining

Rider: Matt Mills

Horse: Guns And Dynamite, 16S (Gunners Special Nite x Chic Olena Starbuck x Smart Starbuc)

Owner: Tim & Mary Beth Ruckman

Score: 221

Cow Horse

Rider: Lee Deacon

Horse: SJR Smooth Lil Oak, 16G (Smooth As A Cat x Shiners Little Oak x Shining Spark)

Owner: Janie DvorakCompton

Score: (R:188/C: 218.5)

406.5 topped the group with a score of 229 aboard All Spice (Once In A Blu Boon x Show Biz Kitty x High Brow Cat). Then, while the arena was dismantled and being set up for reining, singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow entertained the audience. Next, the reiners competed, and after the dust settled from the sliding stops, Casey Deary’s smoking run aboard Down Right Amazing (Colonels Smoking Gun x Shesouttayourleague x Walla Walla Whiz) was perfection, scoring a 231.5.

The event culminated with reined cow horse cow work and cheers as each horse went down the fence. Dawson had the final run on Linda Mars’ good mare Shine Smarter (WR This Cats Smart x Shiney Tari x Shining Spark). The pair topped the cow horse, scoring 226 in rein work and 226.5 in cow work for a composite score of 452.5

Before the awards, rock ‘n’ blues group Ghost Hounds played a set. When the interviews were done with the winners, champagne popped and winners sipped out of the trophy cup, and then three-time Grammy winner Darius Rucker closed out the show with his own concert.

Shine Smarter has been with Dawson since she became a trainer. The sorrel mare has amassed more than $214,000 in earnings according to NRCHA prior to this event. Shine Smarter’s daughter, Selvarey (by Dual Rey), carried the horsewoman to win the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity® Open Championship in 2020.

Bringing Shine Smarter to the event was an obvious choice for Dawson. The mare is well-suited to the dimensions of the pen built in Globe Life Field.

“She was the best horse I had in the barn for this particular situation,” Dawson said. “For how she shows and the type of mare she is, I thought that the smaller arena would fit her pretty well. In the rein work, she was fantastic. She just circled and was right with me the whole time and stopped huge. That’s her trick—that mare can run and drag her booty.”

Dawson’s husband, Chris Dawson, competed on Team Green, and the couple encouraged each other, as they often do, even though they were rivals.

“We talked about it before we walked down there to go down the fence; we talked about really just working the cow they turn out,” she said. “That’s all we can do. Both of us were just so excited about going and doing it and showing in front of that many people. So, it was just like we were going to go and have fun.”

With the cow work being the climax of the event, Dawson said the stage was set for the mare to excel.

“Walking down the tunnel and then into the atmosphere [of the stadium] just felt right,” she said. “She just felt so calm underneath me. You don’t really often get a good feeling like that, that the stars are aligning, before you actually go show. You’re just kind of hoping. It was a strange feeling. It felt like it was going to fit that night.”

The format of teaming up three riders from three different disciplines is unprecedented. Salgado said being part of a team was an extra element to being a good competitor.

“Once we got the draw, I mean, I’m a big fan of both of them [Adan and Sarah], when I watch them both showing, you don’t see the rider at all, you only pay attention to the horse,” he said. “To me, that’s our job as showmen, show our horses. So, I was really proud to be part of the team. That added a lot of pressure on me to not drop the ball. I was very happy I was able to do that.”

The competitors had high praise to produce the event, from the footing, that was quickly prepared to the needed specs for each event, to the opportunity to compete on such a big stage.

“We in our horse industry talk amongst ourselves, know that our sports are so cool, but the biggest problem we’ve had is they haven’t been big spectator sports,” Dawson said. “I think Teton Ridge has come in and proved we can turn this into a spectator sport. I’m excited to see what it’s going to turn into from here, because I think they’ve just opened a door that we didn’t know we could open.”