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C.J.’S WORLD AN ALL-AROUND COWBOY AT THE WORLD SHOW. C.J. won the 2005 Sooner Trailer All-Around Amateur Award, riding Nelle’s horse, Bald N Shiney. The award is now the Featherlite All-Around Amateur Award. C.J.’s going for it again this year, but this time aboard his own horse, Lookin To Travel, aka “Wilbur the Wonder Pony.” He loves Quarter Horses and Quarter Horse people, and we thought you’d enjoy hearing him tell his 2008 World Show experience. Friday, November 14 -- I'll Be Back Ok folks, it’s time for the Gus update. He’s been having fun torturing Nelle’s corgi, and he did learn a new trick to annoy Nelle. He’s decided that her hay bales are his personal bathroom. She keeps sending me text messages threatening to choke me if it happens again. I’m really becoming a smart dog owner. I just make Nelle babysit while I’m busy and then come pick him up when it’s time to go. I think I’ve got it all figured out. With one final to go, we all loaded up and headed out to the practice arena. Wilbur is starting to get a little worn down with all of the events we have competed in so we didn’t do too much on him. I made a couple of practice runs and he was solid. I got back to the fairgrounds and gave Willy a bath. I put him in his stall and threw him a little extra hay and let him relax until it was time to get ready for the finals. I really wanted to do well in the tie-down so I was a little tight. I haven’t competed very much in the event so I haven’t quite learned how to mentally prepare myself. I think with a little time, I’ll become more solid with that part of it. I drew up fifth, and I was ready for my run. I backed in the box and called for my calf. He broke well and I hustled Wilbur to get to my spot. The only problem was I forgot rule No. 1 about roping: you have to rope aggressively! I was thinking about getting off well and hustling to my calf, and this caused me not to rope sharp. Without the speed on my rope, Wilbur didn’t receive a good cue when I roped and didn’t stop hard like he normally does. The rest of the run went pretty well and Wilbur worked the rope strong. I ended up with a 211.5 but the blame falls completely on my shoulders. My trainers had my horse and myself as prepared as possible. I just didn’t execute. I ended up ninth and was really happy to finally break into the top 10 in an event. I roped really well this year but just didn’t have any luck. It’s kind of amusing that my best finish was in the event where I usually land on the back of my head. Even with the less-than-stellar results, I still enjoyed myself. I love the competition and the camaraderie of the AQHA. The best thing to always remember when you win or lose is that there is going to be another World Show the next year. That way you never get too high and never get too down on yourself. I’ve really had fun writing this blog and if you ever run into me at a show come up and say “hi.” One of the best things about showing in the AQHA is meeting new people and making some great friends. Thanks for letting me tell you about my experiences. --C. J. Murphy Thursday, November 13 – Plans and Cattle Since I always start out with an update on Gus, I’m going to have to tell you that my dog is becoming more wild the longer we stay in Oklahoma City. It must be something in the water. My sister came up with the idea of putting him in a stall with her dog. He has terrorized her poor Welsh corgi for two days straight. Since I last wrote, I’ve been very busy. I had the tie-down and breakaway prelims immediately followed by the heading and heeling finals. I’ll be honest, I’m one of those people who very rarely gets nervous. I’m a firm believer that if you let your nerves affect you it takes away from your ability to concentrate on the task at hand. However, whenever I ride in the tie-down, I can’t help but think “How bad is this going to hurt?” I bet I have more trainers for the tie-down roping than most all-around competitors have all together. Gary Wells, James Barton, and J. D. Yates have to make a combined effort to get me prepared. I was up early in the class and Wilbur felt good. I backed in the box and called for my calf. I got a good start and roped my calf well. Wilbur stopped hard, and I managed to stay on my feet and get my calf tied. I almost jumped off Wilbur and did a dance when I heard the score. I marked a 218.5 to finish third in the prelims. Next up was the breakaway. I had a solid game plan to stay off of the barrier and rope my calf aggressively. It all went according to plan until my curl came around and caught the calf’s tail. You have to rope the calf cleanly around the neck, so I received a big zero for all my effort. I really needed to make all four roping finals to have a legitimate shot at the all-around title. Now, I’m shooting for three world championships. Once the breakaway ended, I was able to give Willy about an hour to rest before the evening finals performance started, the heading and heeling. I just relaxed myself and started to mentally prepare for the team roping. The heading was first, and I was up towards the end of the class. I really love drawing late in the finals of the team roping. I’ve been lucky enough to win while going first in the finals as well as last in the finals, but I prefer being towards the end. I like to know what I’ve got to beat when I ride in the box. There were a few big scores in the heading before I went, but I was confident that I was mounted well enough to step up and win the class. I backed into the box with one of the greatest team ropers of all time, J. D. Yates, heeling for me. I called for my steer and got out well. As I roped the steer, it slowed up and the curl of my rope came around and hooked on the tip of the right horn. This is an illegal head catch in the team roping. When this happens, the only thing you can do is ride as hard as you can to the end of the rope when you face and hope it pops off. I had Willy rolling as fast as I could but to no avail. I ended up with a zero and a finalist ribbon. Once the heading was over, I was bound and determined that I was not going to miss my heel shot. I’ve been most successful with the heeling class throughout the years. I’ve won four world titles in the event. With the steers not running hard, J.D. came to me with a game plan. He said we were going to give the steer a big head start and then he would rope and have the steer moving fast so I could rope and get a big stop. One thing I like about J.D. is that he always tries to win first and thinks of ways to do it. We rode into the box and J.D. called for the steer. We really got rolling, and J.D. took his throw. The steer slowed up on him, which caused his head rope to pop off the horns. I went ahead and drove the steer back up the wall and J.D. darn sure didn’t miss his second loop. The steer tried to hide from me by moving under my horse, but I roped him well and Wilbur worked excellent. Unfortunately, when your header misses you receive a penalty and this kept me out of the top 10. Sometimes, in cattle events, you can do everything possible and things still don’t work out. Those cattle can just make you want to pull your hair out. Well, I’m down to one last final, and I’m going to go out and practice in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed that once again I don’t injure myself while competing in the tie-down roping. --C.J. Wednesday, November 12 – I Fought the Cow and the Cow Won Great news!!! Two days since I last wrote and there haven’t been any accidents in the hotel room. I’m really starting to get the hang of this dog owner thing. However, I did learn another lesson yesterday. I was kind of in a hurry to make it up to the arena to watch my sister, Nelle, compete in the cutting so I just threw Gus into her tackroom with her dog. Once she got done, we headed back to the tackroom and good ol’ Gus managed to destroy everything he could get a hold of. He tore up the program, chewed on Nelle’s exhibitor’s pass and even pulled every item out of the makeup bag. Once we got Nelle’s horse unsaddled and taken care of, I started getting prepared for the working cow horse, my first event. I went over to Dad’s tackroom and once again borrowed a saddle, saddle pad, boots, and reins. I loped Wilbur around for a little while, and once the class started Nelle came out and sat on him so I could watch the cow horse works. The reining pattern was one in which you run in and stop on the far end. This is not a good thing when showing Wilbur. Once he gets to going fast, he likes to keep going fast. If they gave awards for getting the rein work done the quickest, I would’ve won it going away. My cow came out and really wouldn’t pay too much attention to me. I boxed it a little and set it up to go down the fence. As we came around the corner, the cow pushed us out into the middle of the pen. It kind of went downhill from there. I ended up missing the finals. I was a little disappointed with myself on the fence work, but I still had two events to go and started preparing myself for that. I’m much more confident with the team roping. I’ve actually done these two events the longest so I really look forward to them. Plus, I once heard someone say, “Team roping: three animals, two idiots, sign me up!” and that pretty much fits me. I drew up towards the end of the heading class and made a solid run. I scored a 218.5 which put me into the finals comfortably. I was up early in the heeling class. The steers we are roping here this year are really good, but they don’t move away from the heeler very quickly when turned. One of my bad habits in the heeling is rushing my throw and not letting the steer move away from me, so I really concentrated on making myself be patient. J. D. turned a great steer, and I took an extra swing and roped him really well. Once again, I scored a 218.5 which put me in the finals. I’ve got the tie down roping and breakaway roping today, so I went out to the practice pen this morning and roped a few calves to make sure Wilbur is ready. He was really good, and I think I’m as prepared as I can be. Keep your fingers crossed that the tie-down gods are with me and I don’t end up landing on my head as I get off! Until next time, keep smiling -- C.J. Monday, November 10 – Accidents and Practice I learned a valuable lesson my first night staying in Oklahoma City this year. When you have a pup, the first thing you have to do when you wake up is go straight outside. I, on the other hand, thought Gus would be patient enough for me to take a quick shower. I won’t say where I’m staying, but I’m hoping that I at least get a little of my security deposit back. I headed out to the fairgrounds and Wilbur was waiting for me. Once I got him fed, I faced the task of putting stall curtains up for James Barton. Thankfully, a friend of mine came to help and basically took control. With that finished, I was ready to go and get some practice time in. When you compete in events that involve cattle, it’s very difficult to get any practice in while at the fairgrounds. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to go and practice with J.D. Yates each year. I’ve spent several summers living at J.D.’s ranch in Pueblo, Colorado, and he and his family have always taken good care of me. Each year, J.D. finds a place for all of his amateurs to go and prepare. This year ,J.D. had a place lined out for us to practice out in Tuttle. I got Wilbur saddled, loaded and headed to the arena. The amateurs that go out and practice with J.D. are almost like a family. We’ve been together so much over the years that we really enjoy hanging out and helping each other get ready to compete. I always look forward to the time in the practice pen. Let me tell you one thing though, you don’t want to stub your toe around this group. They will give you grief for anything they can find! I had a very good practice, and Wilbur was solid like always. For me, the time in the practice pen up here is more for my mental preparation. I want to know what I need to concentrate on, and I’m able to think about it and get myself prepared. We loaded up and headed back to the fairgrounds. Once I got Wilbur settled in for the night, I grabbed Gus and made a run to the pet store for some puppy training pads. Hopefully, this will keep me from getting booted out of my hotel! Sunday, November 9 – Broken Tack and New Pups Preparing for five events at the AQHA World Championship Show can be very challenging, especially when all five events include a bovine partner. Qualifying can be a trick in its own right. I compete in the working cow horse, dally team roping heading and heeling, tie-down roping and breakaway roping. This year, I was lucky enough to qualify in the working cow horse at the very first show I went to in January. Once done, I usually put that event on the back burner and concentrate on the others. Once I got qualified for all my events this year, I gave my horse, Lookin To Travel, some well-deserved time off. I travel quite a bit in the fall for work so usually when October rolls around, I start really pushing myself to get prepared for the World Show. This year was no different. I returned from the (National Reined Cow Horse Association) Snaffle Bit Futurity in early October and started working on sharpening up my tie-down skills. Unfortunately, even when sharp, my tie-down roping is not very impressive. At times, it’s almost comical. When you’re a 6-foot-4-inch, 240-pound guy, getting completely dominated by a 180-pound calf is kind of embarrassing. I live in Granbury, Texas, near Fort Worth, and am lucky enough to have some very good rope horse trainers nearby that are always willing to help me out. I started hauling Lookin To Travel, better known as “Wilbur the Wonder Pony,” over to James Barton’s ranch in Stephenville to work on the tie-down roping a couple of days a week. I was able to practice the team roping at Clay Logan’s ranch, which is only two miles from my house. My father, Don Murphy, is a cow horse trainer, and he came down for a show in Stephenville around mid-October. He decided that since I hadn’t shown my horse in that event since January it was time to make a run so we knew what to work on at home. I went over to the show and entered up. Let me say one thing, if you are the son of a cow horse trainer, you don’t really worry about owning any of that kind of equipment because there is always a good place to borrow everything you need. I led Wilbur over to Dad’s trailer and borrowed a saddle, saddle pad, boots and reins. I did have my own bit. I rode into the pen and ran my rein work pattern. I just wanted Wilbur to go slow and relax in the pen because during the World Show last year, we set a land speed record in the rein work of the amateur cow horse finals. He stayed very relaxed through the whole thing, and I was happy with that. I then called for my cow. Wilbur, for all of his shortcomings in the reining, is an excellent fence horse. My cow came out and I boxed it on the end. I then pushed it around the corner to head down the fence. This is where my problems started. As I was coming around the corner of the pen I was kind of standing in my right stirrup to keep Wilbur from leaning. All of a sudden, the right fender of the saddle broke. I kind of slid down the side of Wilbur before my hand caught the saddle horn. I also managed to lose my left stirrup in the process. I’m now heading down the fence at a high rate of speed with no stirrups, realizing I’m going to have to make a fence turn. For anyone who has never done the working cow horse, there is a lot of whiplash that can occur on a fence turn. I started to pull up, and then realized that if I did, I would never hear the end of it from all of my friends at the show. So, I grabbed the saddle horn with a death grip and hung on. I managed to survive the run, but I basically felt like that little monkey that rides a Border collie that you see at all the rodeos! With my preparation just about complete, I sent Wilbur up to my dad’s place is Marietta, Oklahoma, to get tuned up for the cow horse. Another great rope horse trainer, Gary Wells, lives about 20 minutes from my dad, so they kept trading Wilbur back and forth. Dad would tune him for the working cow horse and Gary would train him for the team roping and tie-down events. I left home Saturday (November 8) to head up to the World Show. This was the first real trip for my new chocolate lab pup, Gus. We drove up to Gary’s and practiced in the tie-down, then loaded up and headed to Oklahoma City. About halfway there, Gus started whining. He really hasn’t gotten used to trips in the truck yet, so I just petted him, and he quieted down. A few minutes later, he had an accident on the passenger seat! I have a very weak stomach when it comes to things like that! So there I was, driving 70 miles per hour up Interstate 35 with my head out the truck window gagging. I finally got to an off-ramp, plugged my nose and threw out the sweatshirt that was sacrificed for Gus’ benefit. I finally made it to the fairgrounds, got everything and everybody unloaded, and got to take a deep breath. Until next time – C.J.
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Stories seem to gather in C.J. Murphy’s wake. The son of AQHA Pro Horseman Don Murphy and his late wife, Melene, C.J. and his sister, Nelle, were raised showing Quarter Horses in cattle events from California to Oklahoma.
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