INCENTIVES: Gold Buckle Futurities, Royal Crown

Starlight Oak 017 is proving that it doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you finish. While his contemporaries were prepping and showing as 3- and 4-year-olds for the lucrative roping futurity schedule, the 2017 son of Starlights Gypsy was busy on the ranch with owner Tyler Schaffner.

“I don’t even think Tyler started roping on this horse until he was almost 5 years old,” Tate Kirchenschlager said after the stallion claimed the 2024 AQHA Senior Heading World title. 

“He just kind of used him as a ranch horse. Then the futurity deal was here and he thought, well, we better get to roping on him. He didn’t have a fair shake at being a futurity horse.”

Starlight Oak 017, aka Pocket, definitely has the genetics to easily move to the roping pen as a full sibling to Lari Dee Guy and Trevor Brazile’s American Greed and Parker County Oak, who took Jake Cooper to the NFR and his sister Jill Tanner to an American Rodeo title in the breakaway.

Despite the late start, Pocket claimed plenty of accolades during his short show career, including the 2023 Intermediate Heeling title at the Royal Crown Rock Springs with Schaffner. To date, his lifetime earnings are pushing $90,000.

Further displaying the disposition and ability that will pass on to his offspring, Starlight Oak 017 has also shined as a help horse for major events like the ARHFA Championships while continuing his day job on the ranch.