NON PRO HACKAMORE

Even though Cutter McLaughlin only showed SCR King Of The Road (Sannman x SCR Crackin Light x Boonlight Dancer) a handful of times this year, the pair managed to land the Non Pro Hackamore year-end title thanks to their performances at those shows. McLaughlin and the 2017 gelding made the Finals at every major event in 2022, finishing the year ahead by 14 points.

“He’s really good in the hackamore,” said 19-yearold McLaughlin. “We had to work on it pretty hard his 4-year-old year, just to let him be comfortable in it and get the feel of it for him and I. After he figured it out, he was pretty simple in it.”

McLaughlin and the gelding will be moving into the two rein and the bridle this year, and McLaughlin said he’s excited for the next stage with the horse. Like last year, he won’t specifically try to run for a year-end title, but he will be happy if it works out again.

“We just kind of pick and choose where we show them, especially as they get older,” McLaughlin said. “That’s why it was so special to win the Hackamore this year. I showed him quite a few times in the hackamore, but not at every single horse show.”

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

Cutter McLaughlin: There were a lot of them, especially on him. I won the prelims rein work on him at the Teton Ridge Stallion Stakes, and I won it on him at the DT Horses Western Derby the last two years. It was pretty cool to be able to be pretty consistent with that on him.

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

CM: Just trying to get him more broke our way, let him figure out how he wanted to do stuff his style versus making him a certain style.

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

CM: He stops really, really huge, and he loves to go down the fence. He’s a very good fence horse.

Open Two Rein

SJR Smooth Lil Oak & Kyle Noyce for Janie Dvorak-Compton

After winning several Open Hackamore World and National titles, SJR Smooth Lil Oak (Smooth As A Cat x Shiners Little Oak x Shining Spark) and Kyle Noyce moved up into the two rein and kept right on going. The pair landed the 2022 Open Two Rein National Championship and made Finals appearances at prestigious events like The Run For A Million Cow Horse Challenge.

“He’s just been one of those that keeps winning,” Noyce said. “He’s definitely at the top of the string, there’s no doubt. Pretty much, as long as something bad doesn’t happen on a cow, give or take he’s either going to be a [2]21 or a [2]22 in the reining and down the fence on an average day, and he can definitely do better than that.”

SJR Smooth Lil Oak had some exciting opportunities before him as of February of 2022. Lee Deacon had chosen the 2016 gelding to be his mount for the American Performance Horseman, and Noyce also planned to go back to The Run For A Million qualifier. He said his long-term goal was to compete in the World’s Greatest Horseman with the gelding.

“A big thank you to the owner,” he said. “We appreciate what she’s done for us. Her support and belief in that horse has allowed him to go win.”

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

Kyle Noyce: The No. 1, best moment was when we cracked out of the gate and made the first stop during the Cow Horse Challenge at The Run For A Million.

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

KN: He’s so easy—the biggest challenge is making sure I keep myself in check and not get greedy and want to go show him too much, to take care of him because he does show up every time. Just preserve him, keep him sound and not overdo it. We’ve been really good about it—we work hard at only going to certain shows and being selective and making sure we take him places that fit him best.

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

KN: His best physical ability would probably be neck and neck between if he can turn around better than he can stop or stop better than he can turnaround. He’s definitely one of the biggest stopping and turning around horses in the NRCHA right now, I would say.

$1,500

$500

Considerations for approved mares

LTE: $80,000+ (Still Showing) METALLIC x SPOTS HOT SHOT ( Spots Hot)

TO: NCHA Super Stakes, NRCHA Stakes, & Breeders Invitational

Red Hot Metal has two money earners in his first (2019) foal crop with $10,000 in earnings so far! See his profile in AQHA QStallions for current updates.

Non Pro Two Rein

Randi McCook & Son Of A Sweet Shine

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

Randi McCook: It would be the World Show prelims. He really felt like he was there the whole time, which was the first time in his whole life that he felt like he was there every step of the way. He did everything he was supposed to do. When we had to show the next day in the Finals, at that point I didn’t care. I had already won. He was really good in the Finals as well, and it was the first time in our whole year that he put two backto-back runs together without a major bobble or having a wreck. That totally capped off our 2022 season.

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

Randi McCook never thought she and Son Of A Sweet Shine (KR Sweet Shine x Shining Echo Of TC x Shiney Men Can Jump) would be in the running for a year-end title, much less win one together. The 2015 gelding had some quirks that made him difficult to show, and he was slated to compete with Clint Swales in the Open Two Rein. But when McCook’s other horse developed an abscess the week before the first show of the season, Swales told her to take “Shiner” instead.

McCook kept showing the gelding through the rest of the year, working through his challenges along the way. It was a long road, but when the end of the year rolled around, all the hard work was worth it.

“We were not even bringing him to the World Show this year,” McCook said of Shiner. “We said it was too far and too much cost to bring him for as inconsistent as he had been. But when our season was over, I had moved into first, and Clint said ‘Well, I guess we'll take him to Texas because you may never get that chance to try again.’

“It's crazy,” she added. “We never planned on it. We never even thought it would be remotely possible, yet here he is.”

RM: He is very sensitive, and you can’t tell him to do anything. He’s extremely quirky. It took a long time to talk him into doing it. He’d run up the wall, or he’d have a meltdown in the show pen. Clint always told me, ‘Don’t ever give him trouble, just send him back to the cow, no matter what.’ That was hard, especially for a Non Pro. It took a lot mentally for me to let that go.

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

RM: He is extremely athletic. None of it is hard for him, so that makes it all very easy. He can run fast and run slow, and now that he’s slowing his mind down, he’s quite cowy. He’s just cowy enough that you can help him where he needs help. But I think it’s his athleticism that makes him really good in the cow horse.