Carol Rose put a lot of planning into the breeding that resulted in Rey A Shine. Rose is directly responsible for four generations on the bottom of the 4-year old stallion’s pedigree, but she never planned to be listed as her homebred’s owner at the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Derby in Paso Robles, California, June 15-20. Fate sometimes has its own plans.
Chris Dawson and Reys A Shine picked up the Novice Open title at the NRCHA Derby and earned a berth in the Open finals. Rose and Dawson both agree that the horse really earned the “novice” title.
“I’m just so proud because of all the circumstances that have happen around this horse,” Rose said. “I thank Chris so much for the outstanding job. If it wasn’t for Don Murphy and Guillermo Perez, this wouldn’t have happen.”
While most of the horses competing for a 3-year-old campaign, Reys A Shine’s ownership was being disputed through the court system in a lawsuit stemming from Rose’s dispersal sale. His competition is probably thankful that he spent a year making laps around the walker instead of chasing cows around the arena.
“For 15 months, this horse was tied up in litigation, and Don coached Guillermo to get him broke,” Rose said. “He was not ridden from the day after my sale until March, he just got on the walker and then from March until all his 3-year-old year to November, Guillermo rode him at least five or six times a week, and Don Murphy coached him. This is the horse’s third show.
“I think this is the first that I’ve owned – that I still owned – that won a major event,” Rose added. “I’m just so proud of Chris and Sarah and Chris’ help at home. The best part is that Gabriel Gonzalez, who worked for me for 27 years, helped drive me out here, and he flew back to help me drive back home and help us prepare this horse. Gabriel is here to help us, and it’s just thrilling to have him here.”
Rey A Shine’s maternal family goes back to Gay Bar’s Gen, the dam of Genuine Doc and the mare Rose rode to win the National Cutting Horse Association’s Non-Pro World Championship in 1967.
“It makes me very, very proud,” Rose said. “It proves that there were some great horses sold in my sale and I don’t know if it’s fortunately or unfortunately, I got to keep some of the greatest ones that I certainly didn’t plan on [keeping].”
“I know he’s an awful good horse, and we’ve just been trying to figure out how to get him at the shows as good as he’s been at home – he’s just so green,” Dawson said.
“We’ve been trying to work on that plan. He’s real quiet and a good-minded horse.”
Dawson showed the horse for the first time at the Sun Circuit in January, and he described him as an acting like a 3-year-old.
“He’s just gotten better every time,” Dawson said. “He wants to be a really good show horse.”
“He’s just a wonderful, wonderful young horse,” Rose said. “We are very excited about him – very excited. With the amount of training that he’s had, he should be going to the [NRCHA] Snaffle Bit Futurity this year. We discussed a lot about how much pressure we thought the he could stand, and we just thought that we would let him tell us.”
Reys A Shine can actually handle quite a bit of pressure and perform at the top of his class. The pieces fell into place at the Derby, and the stallion won the Open title with a composite score of 666.5 (219.5 herd/23.5 rein/223.5 cow).
Now Reys A Shine has a title, the winner’s share of $31,408 and he’s earned a vacation.
“Now he’s going to rest and get broke more and get ready for next year,” Rose said “I’m ecstatic.”
NRCHA DERBY
Paso Robles, CA – June 15-20, 2015
DERBY OPEN
Reys A Shine – Chris Dawson
66.5 (219.5/223.5/223.5)
$33,092
11S (Dual Rey Lil Miss Shiney x Shinning Spark)
Carol Rose
DERBY NOVICE HORSE OPEN
Reys A Shine – Chris Dawson
659.5 (214.5/219/226)
$3,498
11S (Dual Rey Lil Miss Shiney x Shinning Spark)
Carol Rose
