Gus Mosley never really had horse-show dreams, but his 6-year-old Rufs Gunner Man was just too good not to bring to Fort Worth for the 2023 American Rope Horse Futurity Association World Championship.
Mosley and the gelding by Not Ruf At All out of Gunners Snappy Chic by Colonels Smoking Gun were 685.93 coming into the roping at high call, and they finished the short round with $20,000 for the ARHFA Intermediate Heeling World Championship with the help of Madisonville, Texas’s Ty Arnold.
“I made the circuit finals on him and rode him at 45 ProRodeos,” Mosley , 18, of Millsap, Texas, said of Rufs Gunner Man. “He’s real gentle and he’s good in the box. He goes to the cow good, he stops good, he takes the jerk good, and he’s just a good horse.”
Mosley decided last-minute to come to Fort Worth at the prodding of his brother. Good thing, too, because the 7 heeler is also coming back in the top 25 of the Open short round at 5 p.m. Friday night, too.
“This horse comes from a buddy of ours, Gabriel Salgado, coming off his brother’s reining program,” Mosley , 18, said. “My brother bought him, and Gabriel showed him his 4-year-old year. Then I needed another horse, so I didn’t show him his 5-year-old year—I just jackpotted on him. This year, I took him with me all summer. He was pretty green at first, and I just kept riding him and he started to figure it out. He means a lot to us.”
The Mosleys picked the horse because he was easy to catch on from the start.
“I entered last minute,” Mosley said. “This just isn’t my deal. I think it’s cool, but I’m more of a jackpot guy. I like to go to the rodeos and the jackpots. I like it now, and good horses speak for themselves. And the judges like good horses.”
The stallion Not Ruf At All is an NRHA million-dollar sire, standing at Cedar Ridge Stallion Station.
