Before the futurity industry exploded, Billie Jack Saebens was a heeler scrolling Facebook for a deal. He found one in Macho Man Whiz.
A Facebook Find Turns Into a Futurity Champion
Saebens—the Nowata, Oklahoma, heeler and head trainer at Dixon Flowers Rope Horses—found the bay gelding on Facebook and had ridden him since he was a 2-year-old. In October 2017, coming off his first National Finals Rodeo qualification, Saebens rode Macho Man Whiz to the heeling title at the inaugural American Rope Horse Futurity Association World Championship in Fort Worth, heeling behind header Chad Masters. The 4-year-old by Whizlet out of Miss Hollywood Dunit banked $22,500 at the $100,000-added event, run in conjunction with the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s Snaffle Bit Futurity. It was the first World Championship in ARHFA history.
“The industry is getting good enough to where it makes sense to raise and train rope horses today,” Saebens told The Team Roping Journal after the win. “We’re getting to the point where it’s financially feasible to take the time and money to do that. Horses are everything. If you’re very serious about your roping, you better be on something that won’t cost you anything. You might not be able to afford the very best one out there, but you need one you can count on.”
Making ARHFA History
The win put Saebens in the history books as the first-ever ARHFA World Champion on the heel side.
“Anybody who trains horses for a living will tell you that by the hour we probably don’t make minimum wage,” Saebens said. “But training horses has helped me understand horses better and appreciate them more. So many people handle their rope good. There has to be something that separates the good from the great, and that’s the horse you ride.”
A Growing Career
Macho Man Whiz’s career didn’t end in the futurity pen. Alabama’s Kyle Lawrence—the 2016 George Strait Team Roping Classic champion—bought the gelding and turned him into one of the most dependable money horses at the richest ropings in the world. Lawrence placed at the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale aboard Macho Man Whiz three years running and won the USTRC Cinch National Finals of Team Roping on him. Lawrence has a younger horse now and Macho Man gets fewer reps, but he’s still a dang good horse, Lawrence said.
—TRJ—