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Sourcing Good Sticks with Brenten Hall
Brenten Hall has his sights set on his fifth NFR, thanks to four standout horses.
Brenten Hall heading a steer to win Round 6 of the 2024 NFR.
Brenten Hall, Round 6 of the 2024 NFR. | Clay Guardipee Photo

Just over a month after roping his way to a six-figure NFR on his bay, former barrel horse, “Mikey,” Oklahoma header Brenten Hall is winning the world. He’s done all this thanks to four standout horses that, like Mikey, each came from female headers.

Registered as Flipped On Henry, 14-year-old Mikey was raised in Wyoming by Don Hamm and broke by Curt LaDuke before going to the cloverleaf pattern. Mikey’s dam, Henretta, was a Doc’s Oak granddaughter on top and double-bred Leo on the bottom. Out of her 13 colts, several are winners in roping and barrel racing, as well as in the Snaffle Bit pen and on the racetrack, according to Lexi Hamm Bauder. On top, Mikey’s sire is by a Colonel Freckles/Doc Olena grandson out of a race-bred Streakin Six/Rebs Policy mare.

Brenten Hall's Flipped On Henry

“He uses his hind end really good and is really heavy-made, so he doesn’t get pulled around,” Hall said. “When I hook up to one, I don’t run an ounce of rope. He’s quick to the steer, super forgiving and does a good job finishing the run.”

Hall bought him last spring from Lexi’s friend Callie Robinson, who had been barrel racing and roping on him. She’d tapped Hall’s sister-in-law, Brooke Howell Curuchet, to help her sell him. Hall had already ridden a partial brother to the gelding, also a barrel horse, and won jackpot money on that one, too. Last December, Hall hoped Mikey’s quick feet might help him score and finish well in the Thomas & Mack. But he’d only ever jackpotted on the horse.

“I knew the upside, but that horse had never been on that big a stage,” said Hall, who went to three straight NFRs in 2019-2021 and qualified in 2024 with Kaden Profili. “I was a little nervous for that first steer. But knocking that first one down in 3.9 was an incredible feeling after missing the Finals for a couple of years.”

The quick feet worked as planned. In a photo of Hall and Profili winning the sixth round, the clock shows 0.2 seconds as Hall is going to the horn. A high-numbered header had never been on that horse.

“Mikey can come down to whatever number you need,” Hall said. “He’s not a fire breather. A lot of good ones, you have to try to go slow and keep them chill, but I just have to keep him sharp. He’s complacent.”

In fact, Hall doesn’t intentionally ride only horses owned by girls, but he loves the fact that most girls’ horses have been slow-worked with plenty of monotonous fundamentals installed. All of his, he said, are laid back and happy to stay chill. Even better? They’ve never been ducked, and they’re not rodeo-smart.

“There’s been a lot of consistency shown to them, and they’re just on your team,” Hall said. “All of them are really good horses. They’ve had good hands on them.”

His others include the roan mare on which Hall won Lewiston last fall. RR Smoken Drift, “Felina,” came from Mary Ann Brown of Maryland, who roped at the First Frontier Circuit Finals with her husband Kenny. Felina was raised by Phil and Lynn Rose’s Roan Rose Ranch out of Missouri, and Hall had ridden and really liked some sisters to the mare. Thus, he has a yearling now out of Felina by Mr Sassy Frenchman.

Brenten Hall's RR Smoken Drift, aka Felina
RR Smoken Drift, aka “Felina.”

And girl-horse No. 3 is one that Hall borrows from his sister-in-law. Last season, he split Caldwell and won Ellensburg on the sorrel powerhouse named Cowboy Sangria, aka “B1.”

Brenten Hall's Cowboy Sangria, aka "B1," owned by his sister-in-law.
Cowboy Sangria, aka “B1.”

“Brooke came last fall to visit my wife Shayla (her sister), and I talked her into letting me run a few on him,” said Hall of the Myers-Ranch-raised gelding by the late Cowboys Cartel out of a daughter of A Smooth Guy. “Their dad, Guy, had ridden him at Cheyenne. He’s young but he’s a special horse. I’m going to pick him up and have him for Houston. Brooke won’t sell him. I’ve tried!”

And then, there’s Time Bomb. He came from tough header Courtney Small Crites. When Hall was just a teenager and his Paint horse was hurt, he borrowed the bay “Timmy” from his Oklahoma friend to win second in the 15.5 at the WSTR Finale. Then he made her sell him, he said. In his eighth year aboard the aging Timmy, who hasn’t lost a step, Hall clocked a couple of 3-second runs last fall to win Rosenburg and Dayton, Texas.

Brenten Hall's Baylite Buster, aka "Time Bomb," or "Timmy."
Baylite Buster, aka “Time Bomb.”

Hall, who roped with Paden Bray when they were teenagers, teamed again with him in 2023 and continues to outfit his good horses with Martin saddle and Classic Equine pads. Armed with those four horses and his young-gun heeler, Profili, Hall aims for another trip to Vegas in 2025 and is well on his way.

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