Gary Lynn Olson turned 50 in July and decided to give the Bayer Select World Championship Show a try.
The Great Falls, Montana, resident is no stranger to the world show environment, but in the past, it’s been the AQHA World Championship Show in Oklahoma City. Matter of fact, she and her gray gelding, Justa Nutha Tucker, were the 2004 amateur world champions in working cow horse.
“This show is a little different but I was just as nervous before this class as any time in Oklahoma City,” Gary Lynn said. “That way it was still the same.”
She brought “Tucker” and Smart Little Scamp to Amarillo to try for a Bayer Select World title. But although Tucker made it back to the finals, Smart Little Scamp didn’t.
“I went off pattern on him in the prelims and I was pretty upset,” Gary Lynn said. “He’s such a fun horse to show and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to redeem myself.’”
Gary Lynn and Tucker were 11th in the draw for the working cow horse finals on September 2. With his head high and his ears perked, Tucker entered the Amarillo National Center arena and moved straight into his dry work.
“I thought it felt pretty good, so I guess I was right there,” she said. “He’s usually a little bit edgy because he knows the cow is coming. But I thought he was pretty respectful of the bridle in the circles and listened to me pretty good. The stops felt good. The spins were pretty good. I was pretty happy with it.”
With the rein work complete, Gary Lynn and Tucker moved toward the back gate for their cow.
“I was hoping for a fast cow because he gets mad if they don’t do much for him,” she said. “He likes them when he gets to run. I got my wish because he really was a fast one. It didn’t try to challenge me too hard in the end but then going down the fence, the two turns felt high speed and hard. It was kind of a blur. That was really a fast, fast cow. I was thankful for the little shot of Thoroughbred in him. We then circled up. I was pretty happy with it.”
Although she had to wait for the next run before the score was announced, Gary Lynn was fairly certain she and Tucker had scored high.
“When I saw the face of my trainer, Benny Guitron, I knew I’d done OK,” she said. “He’s pretty honest about that. If it’s bad, you know it. But if he gives you a smile or a thumbs up, you know you did good.”
And good they did. The rein work marked a 217.5 and the fence work was a 220, giving them a total score of 437.5, three-and-a-half points higher than their prelim score, and giving them the Bayer Select World championship.
“It was great. It was just a thrilling winning here as it was in Oklahoma City,” Gary Lynn said.
Gary Lynn will return to Oklahoma City again this year with a new horse, but hopes to get four horses qualified next year: two for the Bayer Select World and two for the AQHA World Championship Show.
“I really like this show here in Amarillo,” she said. “This is really fun. It’s more relaxed and more time to enjoy some stuff and not go, go, go. Hopefully I’ll get four horses qualified next year. That would be good.”
