Andy Holcomb won the Pre-Futurity heading and $20,543 at the 2026 Old West Futurity on Shes A Bossy Rebel, and by his own account, he won it the way he wins most things: by not trying to win.

“We’re really good at placing,” Holcomb said. “I tend to be conservative. If I win, it’s usually because I come in third, people bobble and I bump up. I probably haven’t been high call at one of these futurities in two or three years.”

It’s a deliberate approach, and Holcomb said it’s built around the people who own his horses as much as the checks.

“A lot of my owners are going to ride these horses afterward,” Holcomb said. “If I come to these shows and max them out every time to win first, they’re not going to be able to ride them when they get home. I think they appreciate the conservancy a little bit—it’s for the better of the horse.”

Holcomb is no newcomer. The Salinas, California, horseman is one of the most consistent hands in the business and a 2019 American Rope Horse Futurity Association Open Heading World Champion, a title he won aboard Blue Berry Please, and he won the Old West in 2024 in the heeling on Pale Liberty. He came up under California reined-cow-horse and rope-horse trainer Les Oswald, whose program ran on a single rule: catch every steer. “A horse cannot be trained when you’re missing,” Oswald has said—a lesson that still shows up every time Holcomb ropes to place rather than reach.

In the short round, with a lead to protect, Holcomb nearly talked himself out of it.

“I almost took a big swing—I was going to throw two swings before I did, and I caught myself,” Holcomb said. “She just kept running to the cow and let me get my composure back, rope him sharp, stand him up and handle him.”

The mare finished with a 906.97.

Shes A Bossy Rebel is by Metallic Rebel out of Hello Kitty Hawk, owned by Red Arrow Ranch LLC and bred by Laure Woods and Lexi Kastanis. She came to Holcomb from Red Arrow’s cow-horse program—Brendan and Lizzy Clark’s—as a mid-to-late 3-year-old, after the discipline decided it was done with her.

“I think she had a short attention span,” Holcomb said. “She likes the seven-, eight-second attention instead of a five-minute attention span.”

The cow background was the raw material; the work was getting a reactive mare quiet.

“She’s cowy and wants to go to them good, but she’s real reactive,” he said. “I spent a lot of time getting her quiet in the box, over the chute, all that. She’s athletic and wants to do everything right, so once we got through that, everything was kind of easy for her.”

The Pre-Futurity heading short round carried extra weight this year, with Rhen Richard’s sale-graduate contender in the same bunch, at third call, and the Old West’s $1 million bonus on the line. Holcomb said the pressure broke once the runs ahead of him shook out. Richard went to the lead, but at second call, Robbie Boyce and Shes Foxy N Sweet jumped ahead of Richard, taking the million-dollar bonus out of play.

“It turned into a normal futurity, not a million-dollar run,” Holcomb said.

With Shes A Bossy Rebel, the conservative play was the winning one—because she was just that good.

Pre-Futurity Heading — Full Results

2026 Old West Futurity, Heber City, Utah. Average (aggregate) standings by division, plus go-rounds and the heading Graduate Sale side pot. Divisions are nested; a horse may appear in more than one. Full-week total = average money + go-round money.

Open (average)

Intermediate (average)

Limited (average)

Heading Graduate Sale side pot

Go-rounds

• Round 1: Shes A Bossy Rebel (Andy Holcomb) $4,000 · Kryptoniite (Trevor Brazile) $2,000
• Round 2: Honor The Wind (Tate Kirchenschlager) $4,000 · Fendiii (Miles Baker) $2,000