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ROPING HORSEMANSHIP? WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T TEACH A ROPE HORSE NEW TRICKS? Melinda Mays of Weatherford, Texas, wrote into the Journal to let us know how she’s getting along with turning her husband, Robbie’s, rope horse into her horsemanship mount. I am writing you this after reading the November Journal - another great job! I want to say that I love the new format. I ride hunt seat and western all-around and my husband ropes, so now we each have a section in the magazine to enjoy. I also wanted to drop you a line about a neat story that is unfolding in our horse world life. My husband, Robbie Kelly, has a rope horse named that was trained in reining and cow horse as a young horse by Al Dunning. Al bred, raised and trained “Little Al.” Little Al has multiple Superiors and almost $3,500 in National Reined Cow Horse Association earnings. We bought him as a 6-year-old and my husband has always just roped on him, but I enjoyed riding him for fun and playing with his reining buttons. Last year, I decided to try my hand at the reining. We were progressing quite well, when on a muddy day in April, Little Al suffered an injury. Luckily, it was not career ending, but he had to be confined to a stall for three months. We were given the OK to start riding him at the end of July. We were told to leg him up slowly and let him go as fast or as slow as he was comfortable. In late August, Little Al was coming along great, and I started to notice that he seemed to enjoy jogging slow and loping slow. Well, I showed all-around as a kid and always enjoyed the horsemanship. I started kicking around the idea that maybe Little Al could do horsemanship, too. We started working on the transitions and slowing everything down, including the spins. I had to wake up my horsemanship muscles that I had not used in 15 years and update my tack and wardrobe -- wow!! But, by the end of September, we were in the horsemanship and hanging in there just fine. I talked to my trainer, Brenda Jeter, about getting serious about this, and if we could be competitive. She said everything looked pretty good, but we had to get Al's head down. So, I started playing with different bridles and draw reins and martingales to see if he could keep his head down while doing maneuvers on light contact and stay slow. (Everybody makes fun of my bit collection now, but Al wakes up a little different every day). It took a good year of up's and down's (of his head mostly) but this fall, he has really come around. Now, mind you, in the meantime, my husband qualified Al for amateur heeling at the World Show, and we both showed him at several long circuits. He was such a trooper and always gave us his all. (By the last day of the Texas Classic and RedBud haul, he was exhausted.) After a good start this year, including a Regional Experience championship in novice amateur horsemanship and a reserve championship in amateur horsemanship, we decided I should work toward the (All American Quarter Horse) Congress. At the end of July, Al took a hiatus from roping and came home to concentrate on just horsemanship. The fall went great, and he was a champ at the Congress. We had one bobble in the novice horsemanship but still made the finals. Then as an extra class, we entered the amateur horsemanship, too. We were very clean and made the finals in very deep company. We even placed 8th under one judge out of 74 entries. It was so thrilling. He kept his head so good, and stayed so nice and soft. I didn't know how he would do on the rail in the Celeste with such deep company, but we hung in there really well! I just think that it is so neat that a horse can be so good-minded and so versatile for his owners. He did reining and cow horse as a 3- and 4-year-old, then learned the roping as a late 4-year-old, qualifying for the World Show in junior tie-down and heeling. Then my husband bought him as a 6-year-old after Michael McCool had showed him at the Ford Youth World. Robbie has shown him in tie-down, breakaway, heading and heeling with much success. At 9 years old, he is a two-time finalist at the Congress in novice and amateur horsemanship. Now, just two weeks later, we are headed to the World Show in amateur heeling. Robbie missed his dally in the heeling prelims, so they missed the finals, and this next year, I am going to try to qualify him for the World Show in amateur horsemanship. Wouldn't that just be so cool for a horse to be so versatile at the highest levels? We are also planning to start trail on him, because he is very sure-footed. I'm very proud of Almosta Boom. He will be in our family forever. He has a great jog, and we plan for him to be our walk-trot horse someday for our child. I was sick the day of his injury; I thought he was done forever He wore a splint for three months, and the only evidence today is a small bump on the front of his fetlock. Now, I am so grateful for his soundness and his heart, and his second show career. You know, God works in mysterious ways, because without that injury, I would have never thought to try the horsemanship – wow!!
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