Page 25 - May 2017

Streakin Six is one of the few ex-racehorses whose offspring have everything it takes to star in rodeo. Two of his more famous geldings are
Cruisin On Six, aka Cruiser, and Sixth Vision, aka Stitch.
Charmayne James and Cruisin On Six Brittany Pozzi-Pharr and Sixth Vision compete in the 2002 National Finals Rodeo compete in the 2007 National Finals Rodeo
Oklahoma. “There was a time, in years past, when we scoured the countryside for the type of horse that could be an all-around horse. Horses that we could use in many different former AQHA President who is the general manager of Bob Moore Farms events and disciplines. Good-looking horses with just a moderate amount of muscle, but that were really pretty and really striking.”
“That type of horse doesn’t exist anymore,” Merrill continues. “We have become so disci- pline specific that it really has changed the phe- notype of our horses. In hunter under saddle, hunter hack, the driving classes and events under flat tack, for instance, the individual horse looks more like a Thoroughbred than he does a Quarter Horse. Conversely, the western horse itself has several different phenotypes, for cutting, roping, ranch work and everything else.
“And then we’ve got racing, which prob- ably is as sound a horse as we’re raising right now,” he says. “It’s form to function. A horse has to have good bone in order to stand up, go through the rigors of a racing campaign, and come out the other end in a sound way.”
COWBOY UP
Quite a few ex-racehorses have everything it takes to be a star in rodeo. Two of the more famous are Streakin Six geldings. Charmayne James rode Cruisin On Six (Streakin Six- Moon Cruisin), aka Cruiser, to the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Championship at the 2002 National Finals Rodeo. Brittany Pozzi-Pharr won the WPRA World on Sixth Vision (Streakin Six-Dream N Win), aka Stitch, at the 2007 National Finals Rodeo.
“Cruiser was at the Clovis (New Mexico) sale yard and I was just looking for a prospect,” says James, who lives on her ranch at Boerne, Texas, and bought Cruisin On Six as a four year old. “A friend told me there was a Streakin Six colt out back in a pen with some other horses. I really like the Streakin Six line, so I went to look at him. He was in a pen with eight or nine other horses, so I stepped over the fence and walked in there, and he pinned his ears and ran me out of the pen. I kind of thought, ‘Well, he’s a horse that’s probably pretty tough, and he can take the road and the rodeo life.’
“I liked his conformation,” she continues. “Cruiser wasn’t too big and he wasn’t too little. He looked like he had a lot of life to him. Then, I looked at his papers and saw how well he was bred. I loved the Lady Bug’s Moon- Master Hand on the bottom side.
“That horse had so much life and so much energy. Cruiser was never bronky, but he could switch directions in an instant. Before you ever knew it, he could be going in the other direction fast and was one of those horses that, if you were a novice rider, probably could have just jumped out from underneath you. He was
“Good trainers make good horses, and good horses make good horsemen.”
one of those horses that was literally chomping at the bit and always ready to go. While he had a really good mouth and was very responsive, he just needed riding to get him to settle down and focus. So, when I started with him, I rode him out on ranches. We roped off of him and that really seemed to make a big difference. He wasn’t silly about the rope and it was like he’d been doing it his whole life.”
Another result of the Streakin Six breed- ings was KR Montana Shake Em (Royal
Shake Em-RR Miss Saigon). Ty Erickson
rode “Shakem” to become the 2015 AQHA/ PRCA Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year. Bred by Ed and Mary Kyler of Cascade, Montana, “Shakem” is a bay gelding and was foaled in 2002 out of the winning mare RR Miss Saigon that traces to the Thoroughbreds Beduino and Reb’s Policy.
“Shakem is a great horse,” Mary says. “Ed did the training and Shakem has a heart as big as Texas. Every time he went in the start- ing gate, he tried his hardest. Shakem wasn’t always completely sound in the knee, so he was only lightly raced. Ed was always so cau- tious with anything like that, so Shakem got lots of time between races and he sure treated us well.”
KR Montana Shake Em became a four-time stakes winner that won seven of 15 races and earned $65,663 in four seasons on the track. The gelding set a 220-yard New Track Record in the Alberta QHRA Aged Series Stampede Park Classic at Calgary in 2006 and returned
to break the record in 2007. Then, he got his chance in rodeo.
“Ed was an old bulldogger, and the way that horse could break we knew he would be a good bulldogging horse,” recalls Mary of her late hus- band. “Ty Erickson was still in high school and his father was a good friend of Ed’s. Ty and his dad came and got Shakem and Ty trained him. Shakem has certainly been successful there.”
Mary continues about KR Montana Shake Em’s racing history, “Shakem still holds the track record for 220 yards at Calgary – and always will, because they don’t run there anymore.” she says. “He ran AAA at every distance from 250 to 440 yards and defeated Snowy Flyer ($169,847) in the Canada Cup Derby-RG3 by a nose.
“That’s how he was,” Mary said. “Shakem tried his guts out every time and he does that in bulldogging, too. He steals the show and
is a king and he knows it. My husband was really good at getting horses to feel good about themselves, and Shakem was pretty darn proud of himself wherever he went.”
Mary continues about his current bulldog- ging rider Ty Erickson, “Ty and his wonderful girlfriend, Cierra Kunesh, do the same with him, so he’s pretty well taken care of. They love him dearly and they do everything for him. When Shakem retires, he’s coming back to me. I certainly thank the dear Lord for allowing my husband and I to follow our dreams with horses for over 50 years, and Shakem was one of the biggest blessings we ever had.”
SPEEDHORSE, May 2017 23
© Bedonna’s Stallion Station
© Bedonna’s Stallion Station