Ivy Hurst is hot off a win aboard a borrowed horse at the Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo, so she figured she’d carry that jump-ride energy to the $400,000 Riata Buckle #10.5 Handi-Lo All-Ages Championship with her husband Clay, banking $62,000 for a time of 34.07 seconds on four head.
After a less-than-ideal start to Ivy’s day riding green horses in the futurity roping, she rode Blake Hughes‘ rock-solid 7-year-old mare Streak Of Investment, a daughter of the prolific Riata sire A Streak Of Fling, out of the Investment Revenue daughter Silk Investments.
“I started the day on one of our 5-year-olds, and it just wasn’t my day,” Ivy said. “I fit that horse, and she just shows me my throw. I had to not be on my comfort horse to start the day, and I struggled. We went to the parking lot before the #10.5, and we roped the dummy, and he pointed me out some things I should do. I was off target. It was jacking with my mental game. I wanted to start my day on this mare, because then I could have gotten on our younger horses with $62,000 in my pocket and had more confidence. I would have probably felt more at home if I’d have gotten warmed up on her. When I screwed up, I wanted to go back and run another right away. That was hard for me. I was off my game and rattled, and this is an intimidating set up. But I roped my first steer on her, and I said, ‘Like putting on a glove!'”
The sorrel mare helped the Hursts take a 3-second lead on the second-place team, and the high-call team failed to connect, allowing the Hursts to take all the cash back to Springer, Oklahoma.
“I really wasn’t nervous in the short round,” Ivy said. “She did her job, and we made the run we’d been practicing for weeks to make. The cattle were good, and it worked.”
Clay rode his own, unnominated heel horse Spinners Little Step, by I Spin For Chics out of Megas Little Step by Wimpys Little Step for the win.
“Lee Deacon, who just won the Snaffle Bit Futurity, they started him,” Clay said. “And typical deal he wasn’t quite cowy enough. He had a year of cow horse, and I bought him and trained him myself. And then the the rope horse futurity fired up and I hired Joseph (Harrison) to ride him and he won second on him at the Red Bud. Then I got him, and it’s taken me about five years now to learn to ride him. He’s not a hard horse to ride, but he’s quicker footed, and I finally got him figured out. He’s 7 and he acts like he’s 12. Nothing bothers him.”
Stallion owner Lisa Fulton will also take home $10,362 for her role in the venture, while breeder Chris Hughes will receive $5,181.
(All payouts are unofficial and will be updated pending audit.)
