Kingston barrel racer Tana Renick wins national circuit title

Tana Renicks’s goal at the start of the rodeo season was just to make the Prairie Circuit Finals.

  Anything beyond that, she said, would just be icing on the cake. After Sunday, Renick must really have a sweet tooth.

Not only did the Kingston barrel racer win the Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo last fall and qualify for her first National Circuit Finals Rodeo, she captured the national circuit title as well.

Riding her 14-year-old mare, XV Wildchild, Renick’s run of 15.3 seconds Sunday in the championship round at State Fair Arena edged Sherry Cervi of Marana, Ariz., who had a time of 15.41.

Jessi Eagleberger of Stringtown was third in the championship round with a time of 15.46.

“It’s awesome,” Renick said of her national championship. “Honestly, I am most proud that it gets my mare some recognition. She has been a really good horse for a really long time. I am proud for her.”

Renick, 36, bought the quarter horse eight years ago from a friend, who finally agreed to sell the mare after it had bucked her off one day. The quarter horse had bucked off another rider before and was difficult to handle at times.

Still, Renick fell in love with the mare the first time she saw her and was persistent in her efforts to buy her.

“I just loved the way she moved. I had to have her,” Renick said. “She’s been a lot of work, but she’s been worth it.” (read more)

Tana Poppino checks in from the road…

March 25, 2011 – I am so excited. I’m going to tour Cal Farley’s Boys Ranchon my way to Lubbock’s rodeo next week. I will be touring the campus andmeeting with some of the kids. You can learn more about it atwww.calfarley.org. I am taking this weekend off. Might even go to a ropingwith Marty.

March 21, 2011 – WooHoooo! Houston finally pays off! I’ve been running atHouston since ’03, and have never done any good (Goose did win his firstrun last year, then got hurt), but we made up for it yesterday.(Invitational Champions Rodeo) Congrats to Sherri Cervi who won it and toall the girls who competed. Even tho the $10,000 doesn’t count, it willhelp pay the bills. You know they keep piling up even if you aren’twinning. We (Amigo, Goose, & I) have been working hard to get back intopeak performance, but haven’t won much yet. I knew it was coming. Bothhorses look better than they have in a year. Amigo is really muscling up,and feeling good. Goose, I think, is finally sound again. I’m going tostart working him on barrels this week. “Those who wait on the Lord willrenew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles!”Look out. I’ve given everyone a good head start, but I have a feeling thatwe will be having a great spring and an awesome summer this year!

March 20, 2011 – Today we get another chance. Houston has invited thebarrel racing champions from the top 10 richest rodeos to compete for$50,000. I will be representing the Greeley Independence Stampede. Ten ofus will run, fastest 4 come back for a finals. Winner gets $25K, second,$10K, and on down. We are guaranteed $1600, thanks to RodeoHouston andCinch. It will be televised on FOX Sports. Amigo worked good during theregular rodeo, finally turning the first barrel. Dang that ugly blue fenceand the forklift behind it! (Amigo spooked the first run and took us out ofthe average.)

Brandenburg Equine Therapy Tip of the Month

Today I would like to talk about tack. It’s equally important to have the right and clean tack. So often I see people that have been out riding in the mud go to a show and never clean the mud of their tack. Their cinch and saddle pads are hard and covered in sweat and horse hair. This will just rub and irritate the horse and make him sore.

Every one loves BLING! The other day I saw a horse with big BLING conchos on the breast collar. So big that the conchos were digging in to the horse’s chest. The horse had a lot of scar tissue from were it was pushing in to the muscle. For this reason, he was having trouble extending his shoulders forward. I think its great to have the horse look nice, but there can be too much. Remember! This is a speed event and you don’t see the racehorse’s carrying any bling.

I have a BIG problem with neoprene. I see this as one of the worst problems out there. So many people use the neoprene cinch and saddle pad. Why? Think of it this way. We put the neoprene boots on the horse just BEFORE they run. Then we take them off straight after the run. WHY? Because they hold heat in and can damage the muscle’s and tendon’s. So why do we think its ok to have a pad or cinch on the horse for a hour or more with no ill effect.

Saddle fit is our next problem. Have you ever seen a horse walking around and the back of the saddle is sitting way up off the horse’s back? If it’s sitting up from the back its digging in the front. No amount of padding can or will fix that.

Something else to look at. Stand your saddle on its horn. Stand behind the cantle of the saddle. And see if the underside is even. By that I mean, one side of the saddle should be the same as the other. If its not that means the saddle is uneven and would be sitting uneven on your horse. This could be causing or lead to some back issues. 

Stay tuned next month for more from Brandenburg Equine Therapy! To learn more about Troy please visit their website:  www.brandenburgequinetherapy.com

Rodeo Houston Super Shootout Winners Announced

HOUSTON, TX – A fantastic end to RodeoHouston, the inaugural Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout: North America’s Champions provided ample excitement in true Rodeo fashion. The winner of each event took home a check for $25,000 and a custom buckle.

Will Lowe had a great ride in bareback riding and won with a score of 89.5.

Lowe’s wife and son were both present to watch his win. He plans to save the money he won and put it toward his son’s college fund.

In barrel racing, Sherry Cervi won with a time of 14.45. She was one of two in the final round to not hit a barrel. Her horse, Stingray, is 9 years old and has given Cervi several great runs while in Houston.

“Rodeo is a big family,” Cervi said. “I appreciate Houston giving us this opportunity.”

For the second night in a row, Cort Scheer won saddle bronc riding. He won the 2011 RodeoHouston BP Super Series Championship and said it was unbelievable that he was able to win again in the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout. He said this is the most money he has won in one rodeo, excluding the National Finals Rodeo. His total RodeoHouston paycheck was $85,350.

“It’s a lifestyle, not a competition,” Scheer said. “I really appreciate all Houston does for all the cowboys.”

Douglas Duncan won the bull riding with a score of 88. He was the only one to ride the full 8 seconds in the final round.

“It always feels good to win,” Duncan said. “I love my job.” Duncan claims RodeoHouston as his hometown rodeo, since he is from Alvin, Texas. He said he had a lot of family and friends watching him and that it meant so much to him to be able to win in Houston. For more information visit: www.rodeohouston.com

Stran Smith…It is getting harder and harder to leave home..

For the better part of two decades, RodeoHouston held nothing but frustration for Childress’ Stran Smith.

Now it seems there’s always something special in store for him here.

“I got to win the $50,000 on (wife) Jennifer’s birthday last year,” said Smith, the reigning Houston tie-down roping champion and 2008 world champ.

“This year, actually, her due date was (Sunday) to have our first little girl (Faleh), but she always delivers early, so she’s almost two weeks old now.”

Smith’s stay in Super Series V, which features three defending champs, ends tonight with the third go-round at Reliant Stadium.

The other returning Houston winners are Shawn Hogg in bull riding and Ryan Gray in bareback.

Not an ideal situation

Advancing won’t be easy after Smith failed to win any money in the opening round. He did it last year, finishing second in his series after posting a no-time in his first run, but this year is different.

With the baby — his first girl after two boys, Stone, 7, and Scout, 5 – still so young, Smith’s wife and kids stayed home, leaving him to compete in Houston without their support for the first time.

That’s not a situation the 40-year-old veteran cares for.

“It’s getting harder and harder to leave home. That’s for sure,” Smith said. “And this year is really hard for us since they didn’t come down because the baby’s 13 days old. It’s hard for me to rodeo like that.

“If I have to rodeo like that, I’ll be done in less than a year.”

Smith says he doesn’t see that happening. He’s planning to rodeo for at least a couple more years. But competing here without family isn’t the only thing that’s different this time around.

He’s coming off recent surgery to clean out an ailing shoulder, and he’s competing on a new horse. But Reliant’s vast space suits him, and he’s feeling good after winning here last year.

“(Merel’s) really good, and I feel pretty confident, even though I haven’t been anywhere in a while and my shoulder’s still pretty sore and pretty tight,” Smith said.

“The good thing about it is it’s not a real fast setup. That’s where I’m struggling to get back to the top of my game.” (read more)

Cancer doesnt keep team roper Gabe Gwaltney down…

Team roper Gabe Gwaltney has a busy schedule next week.

He’s set to compete in the Super Series semifinals Thursday at Reliant Stadium — two days after a third round of chemotherapy for a rare form of sinus cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Gwaltney and partner Aaron Tsinigine were the top earners in Super Series IV, finishing with the best three-head time of 25.2 seconds on Saturday and moving on with $10,000 in their pockets.

“It’s a pretty neat deal to be able to come down here to one of the largest rodeos of the year and compete,” Gwaltney said. “When I first found out about this deal, and I knew coming into this I was up in this series, I told the doctor ‘Hey, whatever we do, I want to be here for RodeoHouston.’

“I don’t know if they actually worked my schedule around it, but it worked out pretty good.”

Doctors discovered the cancer in January after Gwaltney, 34, went in for sinus surgery related to problems he’s had breathing his whole life. He’s scheduled for a checkup in April to see where he’s at.

“When anybody says the word cancer, it really scares you,” Gwaltney said. “I’m a pretty big, stout guy (6-4, 240), and you don’t think that stuff will happen to you, and it goes to show that there’s no discrimination with cancer.

“You’ve just got to be positive.”

‘Just keep going’

The first thing he asked his doctor after his diagnosis was whether he’d be able to compete in Denver.

Missing RodeoHouston wasn’t even an option.

“A lot of people want to slow up and quit going, but I’ve taken the opposite approach — just keep going, enjoy life and have fun,” Gwaltney said.

Last year was the Missouri native’s first competing in Houston. He didn’t advance out of his series. (read more)

Rodeo Houston ….

There were five former RodeoHouston steer wrestling champions in Super Series III — and Stockton Graves wasn’t one of them.

Perhaps he’ll be the next.

Coming off a title at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, Graves was the hottest bulldogger in the series, winning two go-rounds and finishing as the top money earner Wednesday at Reliant Stadium.

“I thought I’d been bulldogging pretty well,” Graves said. “I won San Antonio a couple weeks ago and that was a big win for me, so I’ve got things rolling a little bit and hopefully I can keep them rolling.”

Stockton was 4.7 seconds or better in all three rounds. He won the first go-round with a 4.5, posted a three-day time of 13.9 seconds and left with $7,750.

And he had to be good just to survive.

Brothers Cody Cassidy and Curtis Cassidy, the last two Houston champions, were in his bracket, along with former champs Wade Sumpter (2008), Jule Hazen (2007) and Ronnie Fields (2005).

Of the five champs in the series, only two moved on: Sumpter and Curtis Cassidy, the 2009 Houston winner. Cody Cassidy became the second defending champ eliminated before the semifinals.

Sumpter shared the win in the third go-round with Graves and finished second in the aggregate with $4,750.

Team roping header Turtle Powell, who won Houston last year with Cory Petska, joined barrel racer Sherry Cervi, who qualified in Super Series II, as the only reigning champs who’ve already advanced. (read more)

Miranda Lambert Training to Become a Barrel Racer

Country star Miranda Lambert is in training to become a rodeo rider.

The singer/songwriter, who will wed fiance Blake Shelton in May (11), has revealed she’s obsessed with barrel racing, a rodeo event in which a horse and rider attempt to complete an obstacle course in the fastest time.

She tells Cowboys & Indians magazine, “It’s kind of my new hobby. I’ve already done one range rodeo where I did barrels, but I didn’t do that great. But that’s kind of what my new dream is.

“I used to sing at rodeos all the time, and I thought, ‘Yeah, I want to be one of those girls who ride in with their hair flying behind them.'”

Jerrad Hofstetter advances to semis at RodeoHouston

Tie-down roper Jerrad Hofstetter stayed at the RodeoHouston fan zone far longer than required Thursday, signing autographs for a never-ending line of fans.

In fact, he put pen to paper – and hat, boots and just about anything else — for about 200 times longer than the total of his three days of competition in Super Series I, and still he called it the easy part.

“I love our sport and I remember being a kid,” Hofstetter said. “I always wanted an autograph, so I don’t want to leave anybody behind I guess.”

Making fans happy also helps him stay even-keeled.

Hofstetter was in good spirits after advancing to the Super Series semifinals in second place in the aggregate with $2,750. But he was down a day earlier after a no-time in the second of three go-rounds.

Then a little cowboy moseyed up, reminding the Lubbock native what’s important.

“(Wednesday) night I was a little upset about missing one and a 7-year-old kid came and got an autograph, and he was going into open heart surgery (Thursday) morning,” Hofstetter said.

“That makes you realize this doesn’t even matter.”

Hofstetter won the third go-round in 8.7 seconds, matching the low time posted in the first Super Series by Cody Ohl in his first go. Ohl won the aggregate, advancing with $6,500 in winnings. (read more)

Brittany Pozzi Runs Home with the Cash

Big Congrats to Brittany Pozzi and Duke for winning the average at  the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo and La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in Tuscon, AZ winning over 19,000 for the weekend!!! Way to go!