Page 131 - 2018 Barrel Stallion Register

Q. Your father-in-law is Dan Darling and has Darling Farms. Everyone who didn’t know of him, definitely knows of him now due to Hold Air Hostage. Are you and Cody involved much in the horse racing industry?
A. We aren’t that involved. We take some of Dan’s horses that don’t make it to the racetrack and retrain them as barrel horses, but we really don’t do much in the racing industry ourselves. We are just too busy with our own farm and promoting our own rodeo and barrel horses.
Q. Let’s talk about Morning Traffic, aka Martini. Tell me about that blonde bombshell mare!
A. Oh, Martini. I bought her out of the Myers Sale as a two year old. I wanted her
so bad and wasn’t sure I would be able to get it done. When they tapped the gavel and I had her bought, I was so relieved! A lot of people don’t realize it, but she’s a full sister to Traffic Guy, who I love as well. I started her and was aiming her at futurities, but I found I was pregnant with my daughter Demi. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to haul to the futurities. So, I sent her to Stevi Hillman and they got along really well, obviously. She’s not an easy horse to ride. She can be a brat, she’s just a really tough horse. She’ll really
Michelle Hoffman-Darling on her
good mare “Martini” at the Frontier Days Rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
try her rider, but when she lays down a run, she really nails it. She’s a mare that knows
her job and is super focused on it. She never really relaxes until she’s been in the arena and made her run. She loves her job though. She’s never refused to run and never refused the alley, and that’s important to me. She needs to want it as much as I do. She’s super sound and easy to haul, which helps a lot. She’s won over $187,000 now, and I have her qualified, along with another horse, to RFD-TVs The American this year.
Q. What is your maintenance and preparation for your rodeo horses, Martini in particular?
A. I keep her legged up during the week by ponying her or loping circles. I never work the pattern on her unless we’re having problems that I need to tune up, but that’s rare. I ice her 2-3 times a week as well, and I’m a big fan of the Icetight. I also use Sore No More and other poultices to rub her legs down and keep her tendons strong. She has a magnetic blanket and Back On Track (thera- peutic products). I switch out with both of those to help keep her warm and loose. After I run her every time, I ice her legs down. It’s so important.
Q. You made the Prairie Circuit Finals this year, are in the WPRA standings, and just set an arena record in Shawnee, Oklahoma. How do you feel?
A. My goal this year was to make the circuit finals and to make the top 50 in WPRA. I hit a bunch of rodeos in a short amount of time and thought I was going to be able to make it happen, but my kids went back to school and there went my short-lived rodeo career! It was just too tough to try
and keep hauling. Family is my number one priority and my kids come first, so, I rodeo when I can. I took my daughter Demi with me this year to Cheyenne, Wyoming. That was a lot of fun.
Shawnee was a complete surprise. I really needed to get her out before the circuit finals and get her in an arena because she’d been off since DOXA in August. Shawnee has always been a hard arena for me to run in because of the alley. The ground was slower the first day, and she wasn’t as good that day. Martini doesn’t like an indoor arena and I knew I had to get straighter to the first bar- rel to keep good timing. I did a huge holler when I came out of the arena, and she wasn’t even breathing hard. To beat out Kassie’s (Kassie Mowry) time by a whole tenth of a second was something I really didn’t expect to happen.
Q. When you are riding a young horse and considering it as a futurity prospect, what do you look at first?
A. I look at willingness. The ability if I show them something two or three times and they get it or if I have to keep showing them the same thing every day. That’s a red flag for me.
I want them to pick up on things fast. I want a smart, willing, overachiever type horse. I like a really soft and quiet eye, too. If they fight you every step of the way, they don’t like their job and you fight all the time. They won’t work.
Q. If you are going to the racetrack to look at potential barrel racing prospects, what do you look for?
A. I look for horses that are short backed
and long underneath and cinch up really deep. You can watch them work, and if they are pretty collected naturally and smooth, I like to see that in a potential barrel horse. I vet and x-ray all my prospects before I take them, though, to make sure they’re sound. Race training is grueling,
so if they are sound coming out of it, then they should be solid to go on with in the barrel arena.
Q. Which barrel race or rodeo is your favorite?
A. This sounds crazy, but Pretty Prairie, Kansas, has a great rodeo. For a small rodeo, it’s such a blast and the people who come to it make it a lot of fun. Cheyenne is also a really great rodeo. This year was my first year to go and it was so much fun, but it’s overwhelm- ing. It’s so big! My favorite barrel race would have to be The OKC Shootout or the Circle L Production jackpot. Those are both really well run and on point.
Q. What do you love most about training?
A. I love watching the horses I’ve trained grow as individuals and become trained and start winning. It’s so fun and fulfilling to me
to watch horses that I’ve trained and sold go
on with their new owners and be so successful. That’s what I love about my job and this busi- ness. I’ve gotten to train some nice horses, like One Lucky Fling, Rhinestone Cowgirl, Peppers Smoothie, and Frenchmans Sunny.
Q. What advice can you give someone who wants to become a trainer?
A. Do your homework. If you do your home- work and prepare, it will pay off. Try to learn from the best, but you can learn something from everyone. Work hard and take the advice you’re given. You can never learn too much. And, keep up with who is winning and take advantage of riding with them, if possible, and learn what
you can. No matter how good you are, you can always learn something new.
SPEEDHORSE 129
THE BACKSIDE