LIMITED NON PRO BRIDLE, YOUTH COW HORSE

Landri Lisac & Cat Walks Into A Bar

RCHN: What was your most memorable NRCHA show moment in 2022?

Landri Lisac: The DT Horses Western Derby—we had a lot of success there. We ended up winning the Youth Cow Horse Spectacular and the Non Pro Bridle Spectacular, so it was a really good show.

RCHN: What was the biggest challenge you faced during the show season?

LL: Probably just me learning how to go down the fence and not being very familiar with it, not making the best decisions and him having to deal with it.

RCHN: What is your horse’s most special physical talent?

LL: His best physical trait is definitely going down the fence. He’s a big horse and he’s so athletic. He is also really patient. We just kind of clicked. He was way different from my previous horse, and I really liked that. He is always there for me, and he never gives up.

Landri Lisac originally purchased Cat Walks Into A Bar (WR This Cats Smart x Sue C Shiner x Shining Spark) with the intention of going down the fence. The 2014 gelding had been shown in the cow work with his previous owner, so he seemed like he could be a good teacher. Cat Walks Into A Bar took his mission seriously, carrying Lisac to two year-end titles in 2022.

“We’ve been trying to still get to know each other a little bit, especially because I’m still kind of new going down the fence. We’ve just been trying to get everything lined out, and it finally happened,” Lisac said. “I’ve never really won anything big in the NRCHA, so it really does mean a lot—just dreams coming true.”

Lisac, 15, is setting the bar even higher next year. In addition to hopefully adding more National titles to their record together, she hopes to compete with the gelding in the World’s Greatest Youth Horseman, presented by MARS Equestrian™.

“I just want to thank my parents, siblings and all my family, along with Todd Crawford Performance Horses for everything they do for us,” she said.

Open Hackamore

Tee Boone & Jay McLaughlin for JT “Trey” & Sandra Neal

It took a year for Jay McLaughlin to put Tee Boone (Once In A Blu Boon x Skeets My Bro x Docs Curious Cat) in the hackamore from the 2020 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity®, presented by Metallic Cat, to the 2021 NRCHA Hackamore Classic, presented by Oswood Stallion Station. However, during the 2022 show season the duo showed in nothing else. The pair landed the 2022 NRCHA Hackamore Classic Open Championship, and their Open Hackamore National title was the icing on the cake.

“He was in the hackamore at every horse show,” McLaughlin said. “I didn’t school him in the snaffle in one class and put him in a bridle somewhere else; we’ve been in the hackamore the whole time. That means quite a bit to me because the hackamore is an art, and I have not mastered it yet. I learn something new every day.”

Owned by Trey and Sandra Neal, Tee Boone will continue juggling his breeding career with showing as he moves up into the two rein and bridle. His first foal crop is due this year.

“This horse, honestly, should have already won twice, three times as much as he already has, but it took us a little bit to figure out that he wasn’t feeling the best,” McLaughlin said. “Once we figured it out, he was great and good to go.”

RCHN: What was your most memorable NRCHA show moment in 2022?

Jay McLaughlin: The Hackamore Classic was pretty special to us, but pretty much everywhere he went this year he shined in the hackamore.

RCHN: What was the biggest challenge you faced during the show season?

JM: Juggling the breeding and showing was a little difficult at some points, but he handled it really well. I think I didn’t handle it as good as he did. It seemed like all during the spring breeding season last year, every day we showed was a breeding day, so we’d have to juggle all that and try to get it figured out. It’s a job, but it’s worth it to get those babies on the ground.

RCHN: What is your horse’s most special physical talent?

JM: He’s known for his stop—he’s a big stopper—but he does every event really above [average]. He can cut, rein and go down the fence, and we’ve roped on him a little bit here and there.

Limited Open Hackamore

Home Creek Twilight Cat & Craig Cowley

Last year, Craig Cowley ended up Reserve in the Limited Open Hackamore National standings on his mare, Hickorys Lucky Time. He wanted to do one better this year, and Home Creek Twilight Cat (Metallic Cat x Homecreek Dusk x Brooksipep), a horse registered through the Australian Quarter Horse Association, rose to the occasion. The homebred 2017 stallion began to outperform Cowley’s mare throughout 2022, and by the time the World Show rolled around, they had about a 48-point lead.

“Even though it was a big class, I still thought that I had to make the Finals to seal the deal,” Cowley said. “I didn’t finish that great in the Finals, but it still got me an extra few points to make sure I stayed in the lead.”

As the stallion mature, Cowley hopes to eventually make him a bridle horse. Since he was born during Australia’s breeding season, which is during the fall in the U.S., he’s underaged compared to horses born in the U.S. the same year.

“When I brought him over, I didn’t really know where we were going to go with him,” Cowley said. “He’s always kind of been behind everything else, but now he’s starting to mature a little bit and catch up mentally.

RCHN: What was your most memorable NRCHA show moment in 2022?

Craig Cowley: I won the Limited Open Hackamore at the [Snaffle Bit] Futurity, that was probably the best moment for him. He’s been pretty consistent. I think he really kind of stepped up. He just started getting better toward the latter end of that hackamore year.

RCHN: What was the biggest challenge you faced during the show season?

CC: Managing the business and then getting to the shows where we could actually do well. We own those horses, so footing the bill for showing ourselves has probably been the biggest challenge, and making sure everything was still going along at home. My wife basically had to take care of a lot of stuff at home while I went and showed.

RCHN: What is your horse’s most special physical talent?

CC: Probably his lead changes, and his speed and speed control. He can be out of position on a cow and just somehow get back to a cow. He’s an incredibly fast horse; he can lengthen his stride and in two strides be back in control of the cow when he’s circling.