I am switching from what I call my "foo foo show pony" life (I showed the all around at QH and APHA shows) to the ranch horse events. I am not going to make showing my priority. I just want a good using horse I can have fun with and learn some new "tricks" in my old age (I'm in my 50's). I would love to try the boxing classes and low level reining though! My daughter will be attending Feather River College and they have an annual sale of 3 and 4 yos that are born and raised at the college and trained by the students. I would love to support their program and buy one at the sale in a few weeks. They are largely cutting/foundation bred by the looks of it. I would love it if those of you more experienced in the ranch horse/cutting/reining world would take a look at the list of sale horses and give me your opinion on the breeding and potential. Horse Sale 2016
No videos are up yet and not all have a conformation pic, but the pedigrees are all there. I saw some of them worked last week and they are green, but most have a pretty good handle on them for being student trained and they were all quiet. I'm experienced enough to finish them some more and smart enough to get help if I need it! Let me know what you think!
I'm not at all what I would considered "experienced" in the cutting and reining world, but I know a little about the "ranch horse world" as it pertains to ranch horse shows, not actual ranch horses. You already said what you needed. You just need a good working horse.I think you can make any of these horses into that. If you would like to get into any of the ranch cutting or boxing, I would suggest a horse with a smaller stature, they just seem to be more agile, and you will need your horse to move out at the trot and lope (not that their size matters there.)
Honestly, I don't really see a bad horse on the list. I think any of them could be trained into being successful ranch show horses. There are a few though that caught my eye. Number 7, LilDiamond and number 8, Jet N To A Date- I like their pedigrees and they all look nice under saddle. But I think my favorite is number 11, Playin Riddles- Lots of cowiness there and she is CUTE!
I would love to haul a few of these guys to Indiana! Please keep us updated on what you decide to do. I would love to follow along! Good luck with anything you choose.
I'm partial to the Playgun line they have because he is known to pass on a lot of his winning abilities (cutting, penning, reining) onto his offspring.
The one thing I will say about the Playgun line horse I have (Retired Roper) is he is POWERFUL. He is like riding a shock wave after an explosion. So if that is something that is attractive to you, then take a look at the Playguns.
Feather River College's horse sale & horses are well known and well thought of. The kids do a great job with starting the horses and putting a nice foundation on them and the horses are good using horses.
A friend of mine bought a NICE filly from one of their sales a few years ago, but she did not get along with the horse. The horse was fine; it was with one of my trainers until sold from my friend and the trainer said my friend just needed a little less horse. I think the horse went on to do barrel racing, but that's all I know.
For what you want to do, I think one of their horses would fit the bill nicely.
Thanks for all the replies. Great to get some feedback on the bloodlines. And I agree with jencat86 on her choices! One of the students we talked to, not the rider of this horse, told us that #14 Sundance is a nice colt. He's got Shining Spark on the bottom which I know is a reining line. How does the blend of cowhorse and reining usually play out? I know he's a little tall for the cow stuff, but she said he's pretty cowy for all that. That video of Playgun was amazing! It's funny, in my life I have had a plethora of sorrel mares and god knows, I am so over cleaning up white parts from my APHA days. Just the cost of the purple shampoo alone . I told myself, next one will be a buckskin or a roan and definitely a gelding. At FRC, it's a veritable sea of grays and the ones I like are mares. Hmph. My daughter wondered why I didn't want a gray so I showed her the Shooting From Memory stud who is of course not that nice dark, steel gray anymore like the youngins, but all white- and green from manure stains. Lol. We'll see how they look ridden. They do a versatility "competition" the day before the sale. That should narrow down the choices. I've never bought at an auction before so this should be interesting. Let's see if I can stay in my budget under pressure!
Goes horse by horse as usual, LOL. My AQHA mare is Shining Spark on the top and cowhorse on the bottom. She does just fine - can do the reining and the cow great (only problem is me getting into the swing, LOL).
He should be find. I did cowhorse and ranch horse shows (won a buckle at a versatility ranch horse show) on my 1/2 Arab mare. She's 15.1. The Sundance colt should be even better as his build is better for cow work. For what you want to do, I think he'd be just fine.
LOL, when I was casually looking for a new cowhorse project, I wanted a red/bay roan, mare about 4-5 yo broke, had been showing, with adequate breeding. What I ended up with was a 2 yo sorrel mare w/30 rides on her but fantastic breeding at a bargain basement clearance price. I knew her older full sister (who was a flashy palomino) and the breeding was spot on for what I wanted to do so I bit the bullet and bought her. Have never regretted it and am so happy with her. I'm sure any one of the FRC colts would be perfect for you too! You'll have to let us know if you get one ... or even if you don't, how the experience was (have always wanted to go to their sale!).
What you are looking to do is SO fun! You will love it, and you are definitely on the right track with bloodlines,IMO. I will have to go back and look at the horses ar the sale. I have just started to do reined cow horse and it is great! We did just reining for a while and it, IMO, gets a bit boring for horse and owner. The horses, from what I have seen are much more apt to get burned out. Ad cows to the mix, as well as just a good working horse who can do ranch, and you can trail ride, and you have a great combo that I think makes horse and rider better for it.
AND 2 are sorrels! I hadn't seen the conformation pics on those 2. I DO love the neck on #10. Oh well, I do have a successful history with sorrel mares
LOL, yea, before I got my AQHA mare I was dead.set.against sorrels - was NOT going to have one. So what do I end up with - yea a sorrel, LOL. But, as my one trainer says, more sorrels have won the SBF than any other color ... :rofl: And since having my mare, sorrel has kind of grown on me.
I had to come back and post whether I got a horse at the sale or not. Of course I did and he's working out to be possibly the best horse I have ever owned. Jencat86 called it, I bought FRC Playin Riddles, Riddle for short. 3yo grey gelding by Shooting From Memory (Playgun) and out of Especially Shirley (Colonel Freckles). The versatility competitions on Fri and Sat morning before the sale were key in making my decision. The weather could not have been worse. Sideways rain, a little snow and altogether miserable. The arenas were literally flooded, but they worked in them anyway. They did cutting, roping, boxing, fencing, reining, ranch trail and ranch pleasure. Riddle was reserve champ in the cow horse work and champion in the trail! All the horses were amazing in the conditions. I would never have ridden any horse of mine in that weather. There were A LOT of people there for the sale and it was being live streamed for phone bids. I had 4 horses picked out and a $5000 budget. Last year's avg sale price was $3250 with the top seller at $7500 so I thought I was right in there. I knew my top 2 picks would go for more than I could spend based on the interested buyers and I was right! My top pick went for $16,500 and second pick for $11,350. They went towards the beginning and I about crapped my pants. No horse went for less than $4000 as it turned out. Yes, I went over budget to get Riddle and spent $6000, but he is worth every penny. He is so calm and willing and has such a good handle on him already. I have some work to do to catch up to what he knows. I know Playguns are supposed to be explosive, but he must take after his mom because he's on the lazy side (which I like) and I've never seen a horse take a nap any time he isn't moving. Literally, closes his eyes and cocks a leg every chance he can. In retrospect, and after talking to the students after the sale, I am glad I didn't get the top seller as he tended to be nervous doing arena work. He went to a ranch to be a working horse so that worked out for him. I want to show so I picked well with Riddle. My 2nd pick was a very small mare. She was super broke and nearly finished in the reining, but had a long back and I'm not a small person so in the long run probably not the best choice anyway. Riddle is only 14.3 but he's stocky and short backed and very cute. All in all, if you ever get the chance to go to this sale, do it! They really put out a super nice group of horses and the students are awesome. Just hope for better weather! Here's pic of him in the sale arena wearing his champion ribbon
and one with my dog
I'm super excited for you! Congratulations! He looks like a gem
So you talk about him being really quiet and that is really great considering right now, he's at his most athletic stage. With horses bred like him you tend to get A LOT of horse when they are in shape and it can be hard to handle for someone wanting a quieter horse. So I look at that like a home run. I'm super happy for you (and a little envious!)
Enjoy him and please keep us in the loop as you two progress.
I'm SOOO excited for and am glad you came back to tell us. Looks like great match and I'm so looking forward to seeing more pix and your progress with him! Again, Congrats!!!
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