Laying down an electrifying run she wasn’t expecting, Gina Schumacher claimed the Level 4 Non Pro Classic championship at the National Reining Breeders Classic with a score of 222.5, on Gunin Addy Tude.
A new scoring format, where the riders total score isn’t announced and the rider must wait to find out until they exit the pen and see a monitor, kept Schumacher on her toes.
“I was just walking out and thinking ‘I hope that’s enough,” said Schumacher. “I knew he felt great so I thought he should have gotten a good score, but I wanted to know for sure.”
Having piloted CS Nifty Sailor, a horse she’s previously had great success with, earlier in the night to a score that hadn’t secured her the championship, Schumachers’ confidence was lower than normal as she took Gunin Addy Tude into the pen.
“To not do anything wrong on my side is what drives me to do it good,” explained Schumacher. “I just hadn’t clicked with this horse and I hadn’t done as good before so I was just less confident and wanted to go in and do good.”
Gunin Addy Tude, a 2018 stallion by NRHA Eleven Million Dollar Sire Gunnatrashya out of Miss Lil Addy Tude, is what Schumacher described as a ‘kid in school that’s kind of a nerd’ due his quick-to-please, and easily worried personality.
The stallion was bred by Toyon Ranch and is currently owned by XCS Ranch.
This win in the Level 4 Non Pro Classic at the NRBC earned the pair an impressive $50,000 to add to Schumachers’ lifetime earnings of over a million dollars.
Schumacher elected to just thank everyone, stating there are just too many people who made the win possible to risk forgetting anyone.
𝐍𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟑 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐲𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 & 𝐓𝐀 𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐭
In an impressive show of skill, 18-year-old Addisyn Schmersal claimed the title of the Level 3 Non Pro Classic champion at the NRBC with a score of 222.
Schmersal rode TA Dunit Redhot, a 2018 stallion, by Pale Face Dunnit out of Red Hot Walla. The stallion, who she describes as, “a stud who doesn’t act like it,” has been piloted by Schmersal since his three-year-old year.
“Every time I show, he gives it his all,” said Schmersal. “He is just a really special horse.”
Schmersal and TA Dunit Redhot are an impressive pair. Despite their young ages, Schmersal already has a lifetime earnings of over $230,000, and the stallion has more than $87,000. An additional $38,000 will be added to those numbers from winnings in the Non Pro Classic at the NRBC.
The stallion was bred by Tamarack Ranch and is owned by Hickory Creek Ranch.
𝐍𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟐 𝐂𝐨-𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩
𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 & 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐱𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜
Lauren Love and Chexi Chic tied for the Non Pro Level 2 title at the NRBC.
Love and Chexi Chic, a 2018 mare bred by Alpha Quarter Horses, by Wimpy Chic out of Chexanicki, aka ‘Nicki,’ scored a 218.5 for a $15,750 payout across all levels. Love said this win is even sweeter because she bought the mare as a yearling, sight unseen, in an online sale, just based on her pedigree. She selected Nicki because of her dam, Chexanicki, who foaled the first reiner Love ever owned–and because she was a bay.
“I love bay horses,” Love said. “And I just got super lucky. I started her myself. My fiancé, Arnaud Ferret, helped me with her and helped get her ready to show. She’s kind of like the family horse now. This is very special because I love this horse so much and I’m glad she gets the recognition of winning something big like this.”
Her long history with Nicki means that Love knows the mare pretty well, which is a benefit to them both in the show pen.
“She’s kind of like my baby,” Love gushed. “It’s actually kind of surreal that I bought a horse that I’d never seen as a yearling. And then she’s become such a great show horse for me and such a great partner. She’s the reason I want to go to the barn every morning.”
Love’s upcoming plans for the mare include her being shown again in the Open Classic in the second week of the NRBC, with Ferret at the reins. To Ferret, she has just one piece of advice: “Just don’t screw it up.”
𝐍𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟐 𝐂𝐨-𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐝 & 𝐆𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐁𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭
Jesse Boyd, riding Gunna Be First by ARC Gunnabeabigstar out of ARC Wallas First, tied for the Non Pro Level 2 Championship with a score of 218.5.
Gunna Be First, a 2018 stallion bred by William Newman, is nicknamed ‘Justin’ at the barn, after the singer Justin Bieber–although the horse may not have a pop singer personality.
“He’s so easy,” Boyd remarked. “Just laid back. He doesn’t care about much and he’s super easy to be around.”
Boyd owns Elite Equine with his wife, Sierra Litrell. He’s been working at the Elite Equine spa trailer at the NRBC when he isn’t riding horses–and it’s a good thing, because Boyd isn’t the type of person that likes to sit around.
“I’ve been working a little bit in the mornings to help fill in and been getting up early and riding, then riding in the evenings and trying to get some sleep,” he said.
He and Justin earned more than $21,000 across all the levels for their run–not bad for Boyd’s first-ever Level 4 finals.
𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟏 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢 & 𝐂𝐂 𝐆𝐮𝐧 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰
Eighteen-year-old Olivia Cardi slid into the Non Pro L1 Championship at the NRBC on CC Gun Show, a five-year-old gelding by Colonels Shining Gun out of Wimpys Eye Candy. Cardi calls this horse ‘Toffee.’
“He’s the sweetest in the barn,” she said. “He’s like a little puppy dog. We bought him at the Futurity from Cade [McCutcheon], so we’ve just spent time getting him together, and we had a bobble earlier this week, so it’s taken us a little bit of relearning our maneuvers. But it all came together in the end.”
She and Toffee put together a run worthy of a 217 score and a check for $5,000. For the 2019 gelding, bred by Sally Tipton, this win will push him over the $30,000 mark in lifetime earnings.
Cardi said the huge Ford Arena allowed her to properly show off her horse, noting “Having a big strided horse is great, so we could actually show off our circles and run them. It was so fun running down the pen and just letting him go.”
She thanked her family, as well as her trainer, Ben Beckett.
𝐍𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐇𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬-𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 & 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐳 𝐎𝐧 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞
Monica Hicks Mathison claimed the Non Pro Prime Time Championship and took reserve in the Non Pro L3 at the NRBC with a 219 for a $13,000 payday.
Of the PrimeTime division, Mathison said, “It’s great to have another division for us to be able to be champions in and to have something else to win.”
She called her mare, six-year-old Girlz On Fire by Inferno Sixty Six out of Gotta Git Ya Dun, a ‘unicorn’—a title the mare is all too aware of. The mare is homegrown, making it even more special.
“She’s the queen,” Mathison joked. “She is always happy, always very pleasant, very fun to be around. If somebody wants to come to the barn to ride, we put them on her. She’s so laid back, so easy.”
Reflecting the home-raised mare’s queen status, she’s called ‘Tyra’ at home.
“She’s very pretty, very model-esque,” Mathison explained. “She was named after Tyra Banks.”
Mathison thanked her husband, NRHA Professional Gunny Mathison, for his patient support all week, as well as her staff at Just Stitch It, who kept the booth running so she could show.
“I thank them very much,” she said. “All the crew at the barn, I mean, they’re great, they’re helpful. They keep everything going. So, all my friends, all the encouragement. I mean, this is fun to do. We’re like one big family, so it’s great.”
𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 & 𝐒𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐬
Aboard his homegrown gelding, Andre De Bellefeuille secured the Masters Non Pro Classic championship at the NRBC with a score of 219.
Snow Kiss, a 2018 gelding by Topsail Whiz out of Snow Gun, already had over $18,000 in lifetime earnings, but more importantly than the money to De Bellefeuille, was the gelding’s breeding.
Just days before leaving for the NRBC, De Bellefeuille lost Snow Gun, a horse he’d described as his pride, a gem, and a dream come true. For him, riding her offspring in the Non Pro Classic, just meant a lot to him.
“That mare really means something for me,” said De Bellefeuille, full of emotion. “She gave a lot of heart to all the horses she gave us, so riding these horses today from her meant a lot.”
This win in the Masters Non Pro Classic, along with their other top 7 placings, earned the pair just shy of $3,000 to add to their respective lifetime earnings. De Bellefeuille thanked his trainer, Mathieu Buton for helping him prepare for his runs and for keeping him positive, despite their teasing about differences in their French versus French Canadian cultures.