Jackie Miller won the Intermediate Non Pro Bridle Reserve World Championship on her horse, Pepinics Fancy, with a 427. Miller, of Okotoks, Alberta, won $2,607. The Reserve Championship garnered a Gist Silversmiths buckle sponsored by Smart Boons, custom spurs from Tom Balding Bits & Spurs, Rios of Mercedes boots from Rios of Mercedes, a tool notebook from Classic Equine, a vest sponsored by Gist Silversmiths, and a CR Morrison commemorative medallion. Pepinics Fancy is by Pepinics Master and out of Docs Fancy Dudette. The NRCHA World Championship Show presented by John Deere is held as part of the NRCHA Celebration of Champions, held January 28-February 5 at the First Community Credit Union Spur Arena in San Angelo, Texas. The Celebration of Champions also features the Circle Y Ranch Derby and the World’s Greatest Horseman competition. The National Reined Cow Horse Association, now in its 62nd year, is the governing body of cow horse competition, is responsible for promoting the sport, insuring high standards of competition and educating members and the public about the history and tradition of the cow horse. Through the support of a Corporate Partner family that includes Bob’s Custom Saddles, Cinch, Classic Equine, Gist Silversmiths, John Deere, Markel Insurance Company, Platinum Performance, Quarter Horse News, Rios of Mercedes, the Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino, and Merial products UlcerGard and EQUIOXX, the association works to keep the vaquero tradition alive in today’s equine industry. For information on the National Reined Cow Horse Association, call 580-759-4949 or visit the NRCHA Official Web Site at www.nrcha.com.

Well, it’s that time of year again, the Alberta Reined Cow horse Association is about to kick off another great show season.

Thanks to each and every one of our ARCHA Members and our 40 plus sponsors, we are getting ready for our first show on April 8 at the Silver Slate Arena.  Here we’ll get the first opportunity to see our future champions’ horsemanship skills as each of our members’ chase the year-end awards.

The ARCHA tour will hit numerous towns across Alberta this summer including Claresholm, Ponoka, Silver Slate, Edmonton and Okotoks; on the road to the ARCHA championships held in Claresholm in September which will be lined with our biggest prize purse ever.

As the ARCHA approaches another season, we are proud to say that the sport of cutting, working cow horse, and reining have never enjoyed such tremendous sponsor support as the year 2011.  We’d like to take this opportunity to thank each of our members and sponsors for their support.

Sponsorship is a challenge for almost every non-profit organization in the country.  Finding the contacts that can make decisions, convincing them of the value of the sponsorship rewards, and then retaining them, as long time supporters of our ARCHA organization, is the true test of value for these corporate supporters.

With the help of our sponsors we have been able to develop a number of high point aggregate weekends adding prizes and payouts to several events, continue our year end rewards, and expand our purse, prize list and promotion of this year’s Snaffle Bit Futurity.

The ARCHA would like to encourage and challenge each one of our members to provide our ARCHA Sponsorship committee with the names of companies or individuals that we can approach for ARCHA sponsorship. The goal of the ARCHA Sponsorship Committee is to develop long term synergies with our sponsors.  With some of our sponsors celebrating 20 years of support, its clear the ARCHA and our sponsors have benefited from a long standing relationship. It is essential that our ARCHA members endeavor to support our partner sponsors business or products.

If you have a new sponsor for the ARCHA, please provide contact information of these potential sponsors to any member of the sponsorship committee – Donna Shapka, Darlene Gartner, Don Edey or Mel Mabbott or any other ARCHA Executive member. It is our desire that new sponsors will find that our association is built on a strong foundation of camaraderie, with relationships that extend well beyond the show ring to the world of business.  If you are a returning sponsor, we hope that we’ll continue to provide value to your organization as we build support for both your business and our future.

As we move forward, we’ll do our best to keep our membership and sponsors in the loop on ARCHA events and keep the sponsor company name at the forefront of our membership, to encourage support of each of your businesses throughout the year.

Thanks to the overwhelming support of sponsors and members like you across Western Canada, the ARCHA is set for a record breaking year with bigger things yet to come.

Here’s to another great Season of Cow Horse

Thanks from the ARCHA Board of Directors

The big news of the NRCHA Circle Y Ranch Derby Non Pro divisions was an un-assuming 18-year-old named John Murphy. He and his family traveled more than 40 hours from his home in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, to the West Texas town of San Angelo to claim the Non Pro, Intermediate Non Pro, Novice Non Pro, and Amateur Championships!

“He was a good boy,” Murphy modestly said of his horse, Pepto Pepermint, after the awards ceremony. Murphy took home four Gist Silversmiths buckles, four monogrammed jackets from Circle Y Ranch, and a $50 product gift certificate from Santa Cruz Biotechnologies. He also won $5,652 from the Championships alone. He also won $3,094 from the go-rounds, including the high Amateur cow work score. “He was pretty much the best he’s ever been. He was solid and he worked like he does at home.”

Murphy and Pepto Pepermint, by Surely A Pepto and out of Haidas Pepermint, competed in 2011 at the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity, and were tied for the lead of the Amateur division going into the cow work. Unfortunately, a bad fence work took them out of contention. “We definitely had a screwup. I watched a lot of people while I was there and got some videos of different people – like Boyd Rice – and when I came home I worked to change his style and do an overhaul on him. It worked,” he said.

Murphy’s parents, Eugene and Maria Murphy, own Pepto Pepermint, and were on-hand to cheer him on. “I thank my parents for all their support. I’m lucky that they help me do this and I get to go to the big shows,” he said. “I also thank Boyd Rice, Robbie Boyce, John Swales, Brad Peterson, the people I came with, and everyone else who has helped me.”