Mike Major and Smart Whiskey Doc of Fowler, Colorado, won the 2010 versatility ranch horse world championship.

Mike Major of Fowler, Colorado, uses “phenomenal” to describe two things.

First – his horse, Smart Whiskey Doc. As of January 14, Mike’s longtime equine compadre carried him to a back-to-back world championship in versatility ranch horse at the 2010 Fort Dodge Versatility Ranch Horse World Championship Show in Denver.

“We were taking a chance because I won the world on him last year, and everybody said, man, you shouldn’t do it twice because if you lose, that’s not a good deal for this horse,” Mike said. “I thought, well, this is a great horse, and God’s been on my side. He’s just a phenomenal horse.”

To capture the title, Mike and “Whiskey” won the ranch riding, ranch horse conformation, ranch cutting, finished second in ranch trail and third in working ranch horse. Kris Wilson and Chic Packin took the overall reserve title.

A rancher from Fowler, Colorado, Mike and his wife, Holly, purchased the 1999 son of Paddys Irish Whiskey as a yearling from the S Ranch Ltd. In addition to the 2009 versatility ranch horse title, Whiskey’s list of accomplishments includes the 2008 reserve versatility ranch horse world championship, several high-point awards, and the 2006 Select world championship in working cow horse.

“We’re going to retire him from the (Fort Dodge) Versatility World,” Mike said. “Holly might show him (in the amateur), but in the open, he’s probably going to be retired. We might show in Fort Worth because that’s where it all started, and we’ve never showed him in Fort Worth.”

The Majors have been especially pleased with Whiskey’s colts; they don’t sell many, but “sure like the ones we raise.” Mike is a 40-year breeder of American Quarter Horses. On January 12, he won the National Western Versatility Ranch Horse Classic on Black Hope Stik, a daughter of Whiskey’s and a fourth-generation home-bred mare named Hope Stik.

“She comes from the beginning of our breeding program,” Mike said with a smile. “I raised her from the first mare I traded for (named Sly Gal) when I just a kid from my dad, that’s where her (tail female) bloodlines go back to.”

He plans to return to next year’s Fort Dodge Versatility World on Black Hope Stik. And it looks like Whiskey might move to the roping box or the cutting pen.

“He’s just been a phenomenal horse,” Mike said. “Actually, in my opinion, he’s the perfect versatility horse. He’s got the looks; he moves really good; and is just an all around good horse.”

What’s the other thing he calls “phenomenal?” The people he competes against in the versatility.

“They are absolutely phenomenal,” he said. “In the lineup out there, everybody is congratulating everybody else,” he shook his head. “It’s just a great bunch of people. I’ve competed in quite a few other competitions, but I’ve never had quite as much fun as with the people I compete with in the versatility ranch horse. They are all from a ranch background, you know, and just really great people.”

The first thing on Mike’s mind as he rode Whiskey out of the Equine Event Center arena was to get some good rest for himself and his horse.

“It’s a long show,” he said. Holly showed their stallion Chica Shine to a fourth-place finish overall in the amateur competition.

“It’s hard on your horses. Every time you go to show them, with every competition, it’s like going to the gallows or the hanging noose,” he said and laughed. “You get nervous in your stomach, you know, you get worried.

“Boy, it feels great right now, though.”