Billie Jack Saebens gave DF N Fena more than a month off before bringing the 4-year-old mare back at the Texas Best Rope Horse Futurity in Decatur, Texas, where she responded by putting four runs together for a 914.84 score on four and the $8,520 4-&-Under Heeling championship.
DF N Fena started the day with a 226.55, then had a 228.04 in Round 2. By the time the short round was over, Saebens and the black mare had added a 228.76 and finished 4.76 points ahead of Trevor Brazile and This Star Is Special, who were second in the average with a 910.08.
For Saebens, there wasn’t much drama to the win.
“It was pretty simple,” Saebens said. “She made it easy. Chad (Masters) made it easy. Steers were good. Just kind of practice-pen-type runs really.”
That style is exactly what Saebens believes separates DF N Fena from the pack. She doesn’t have to make a big-time run to get noticed, but she has enough physical ability to give the judges something to reward.
“I think easy,” Saebens said of what makes her score. “She’s really pretty, but she’s easy. She stands perfect in the box. She doesn’t do too much, but she’s still physical enough to make it look fancy. So it’s easy to catch and then has a little look to it too—it makes it pretty consistent.”
Saebens has known the mare’s lineage longer than he has known her. DF N Fena was bred by Dixon Flowers Quarter Horses, and Saebens rode her dam, DT American Honey. Fena was raised through that program before, Saebens said, she sold to Brett Telford as a 3-year-old. She is now owned by Southwest Performance Horses.
“She’s been great the whole time,” Saebens said. “She’s done good for us.”
Texas Best was the mare’s first trip back to the show pen since the third week of June. Saebens gave her roughly a month or so and said there wasn’t much he felt compelled to tune on when she returned to work.
“Honestly for that mare at home, there’s not a whole lot to work on,” Saebens said. “So it’s good to come here and just have the confidence that it’s all still together and just give us more confidence going into the rest of it.”
There should be plenty of opportunities to test that confidence. Saebens said the plan is to show her at essentially every remaining major futurity event this fall, with the Riata Championships next on the schedule.
Longer term, her future may extend beyond the roping. Saebens said Telford and his team have discussed building a breeding program, with the mare’s potentially becoming part of it.
For now, though, the plan is considerably simpler.
“Just win as much as we can,” Saebens said.