ARHFA World Champion Andy Holcomb rode the 2020 Pale Face Dunnit daughter Pale Liberty to the first-ever Old West Futurity 4-&-Under Heeling Title, worth $50,000 for the win July 26.
The mare, owned by Arizona’s Jamie Walters, is out of Lil Miss Pepto by Peptos Stylish Oak, and has been in Holcomb’s program since her 3-year-old year.
Full Results: ARHFA’s Old West Futurity
“I’ve ridden a few horses for her owners, and they’ve been heel horses—not to show, just for the husband to jackpot on,” Holcomb said. “Jamie rides reiners over there in Arizona, and this one just wasn’t quite making a reiner. She wanted to make it in a heel horse for her husband. We kind of got it going, and she’s just real, kind of pretty classy mare and took to it pretty fast. So we decided to show her a little bit.”
The mare has a great stop, reads the corner well and has a lot of go, Holcomb said, helping her stand out. But did he think he’d win the futurity? The long-time head-horse trainer and 8.5 heeler wasn’t sold.
“I was trying to win like, sixth,” Holcomb laughed. “That’s what usually happens. But I was just trying to rope. I wanted to rope aggressive, but, you know, smart, and take smart shots but don’t second guess my shots either.”
Pale Face Dunnit isn’t in the rope horse incentives, so Holcomb has only taken the mare to a few shows. Her only QData earnings so far came at the pre-futurity in Scottsdale, Arizona, worth $7,578 for second at the Sun Circuit. This was Holcomb’s richest futurity win to date as a rider, though as of July 12, he’d won $296,998.90 in ARHFA competition.
Holcomb has been taking his heeling seriously as of late, getting help from so many of the best in the world. Driggers set Holcomb up with two-time World Champion Kollin VonAhn for the assist.
“I just kind of started talking, calling on the phone and sending some videos,” Holcomb said. “I’ll kind of pick his brain and, and he’s been great and, and it made it real simple for me. He just really tried to change one thing—getting me to break my rope over on the left side of my horse, and that was it. And it took me like a year and a half to get to that. I still don’t think I really got it. I had a bad habit of turning my rope over kind of like a header, I’d turn my rope over on the right side and I’d come across the feet right to left versus turning my rope over on the left side where my rope’s just gonna come through and set, and the bottom’s going to come through better.”
Holcomb’s also tapped Shay Carroll and Paul Eaves, piecing together a heeling game that’s now got him the biggest check to date in the futurity heeling business. (Though, $100,000 will be paid out in a single check to the winner of the 6-&-Under July 27.)
—TRJ—
