September 25, 2002 – In the first day of competition of the 2002 National
Reined Cow Horse Association’s World Championship Snaffle Bit Futurity,
Shawn Renshaw won the herd work on Starlights Slipper, scoring 220.5.
Renshaw, a former NRCHA Derby Champion from Nipomo,
California, purchased the daughter of Gallo Del Cielo out of Docs Slipper
from his friends, Curt & Sandy Blakeway, of Bellingham, Washington.
He remembers, "Curt called about a mare he had picked
out for me and asked if I wanted to come look at her."
Renshaw replied in the affirmative and asked the
Blakeways to send him a video. Watching the mare on the small screen
convinced him that he should try her so he called his best friend, Jeff
Wenig. "We drove to Washington overnight from Nipomo, California. That was
24 hours in the truck. We got there, rode the mare, then went to the hotel
and slept a while. We woke up, came back and rode her one more time, then
wrote the check and brought her home."
For someone who specialized in reined cow horses, this
might have been considered a risky decision. It was April and the
three-year-old had never been worked on a cow!"
"It was panic time," Renshaw laughs. "But by the second
time I worked her on a cow I was feeling better. She's just so cowy."
Considering the top finish in the cutting in Wednesday's round, that would
be an understatement.
Renshaw, along with the rest of the 105 entries, is
hoping to earn a slot in the Non Pro finals. Those finals, scheduled for
Friday, October 4, will pay $40,000 to the first place winner and riders
qualify for them by their total scores in herd, rein and cow work.
The action continues at the World Championship Snaffle
Bit Futurity on Thursday with the Non Pro Rein Work slated to begin at 8 am.
The Non Pro Hackamore Class will follow after the completion of the futurity
round.
