Page 64 - May 2017

turning and burning
Longtime friends and horsewomen Kathy Donegan and Norma Alvarez merged the bloodlines of their respective breeding programs for a $100,000 barrel racing payday. When Kathy’s daughter, Lacey Harmon, and Flashin Flitter took the $100,000 payday at the 2016 Barrel Futurities of America’s Super Stakes, the 2 longtime friends watched their worlds collide in spectacular fashion. Donegan and Alvarez grew up in Anthony, New Mexico. They both enjoyed riding their horses and competing in local barrel races. Al- though life took them in different directions in the horse industry, they remained close friends. Adulthood saw Donegan relocate to Bluff Dale, Texas, and become entrenched in the barrel racing industry through her children’s involvement in youth rodeo, and later through her daughter Lac- ey’s training and campaigning of futurity horses. Meanwhile, Alvarez followed her passion for horses into Quarter Horse racing. She’s cam- paigned a few of her own racehorses over the years, including All American Futurity-G1 win- ner Handsome Jack Flash, whom she co-owned with her sister-in-law Brenda Alvarez and friend Debra Laney, who bred the horse. Alvarez also found her niche in the yearling sales market.
It wasn’t until Flashin Flitter came along that the women were able to see a combination of their two programs come to life.
by Tanya Randall
The Turners
Donegan found the cornerstone of her bar- rel horse breeding program at Split Bone Ranch in the mares she purchased for her daughters Courtney and Lacey. One of those horses was Mamies Leavin, a daughter of This Jets Leavin out of Mamie Ryon by Windy Ryon. She picked out the mare at a jackpot.
“I thought, ‘Man, is that mare fast,’” Do- negan recalled. “She was really hard to ride be- cause she could rate just as fast. Courtney never really rode her much, but Lacey did. I remem- ber someone talking about when you should rate your horse, and Lacey asked, ‘What’s that?’ They said, ‘It’s where you start slowing your horse down to turn.’ Lacey says, ‘Oh, I don’t do that. I just kick.’ We all laughed.”
When Mamies Leavin had to take some time off due to an injury, Vickie Adams asked Do- negan if she wanted to breed the mare to her leg- endary stallion Fire Water Flit. The resulting foal was Miss Firewater Ryon (“Lucy”), who ended up being one of Harmon’s first futurity horses.
“She was super fractious,” Harmon said of Lucy. “I think we went through two trainers to get her broke. She was really broncy. I ended up futuritying her as a five year old. She did really good and placed, but she never really got consistent.”
After her futurity year, Harmon and her friends took the mare to rodeos.
“She was really a fun, easy horse to get on and go run,” said Harmon. “My friends actually ran her more than I did.”
The Burners
At the same time in New Mexico, Alvarez was building a strong stakes-producing program.
Once she decided to make a living with horses in the Quarter Horse racing business, Alvarez went to studying.
“I started attending yearling sales and I was amazed by how much they were bringing,” Al- varez said. “So, I started studying pedigrees and going to every sale I could to figure out what makes them that valuable.”
Ironically, it was a bargain purchase that helped put her program on the map. She and her husband Dosi went to W.L. Mooring’s breeding farm to have a mare bred to The Ad- amas. While there, Mooring showed the couple several Quarter Horses belonging to Fred Van Winkle, who was getting out of Quarter Horses to put his focus on Thoroughbreds.
“He wanted $1,200 for a three-in-one package that included the mare, the foal at her side, and the one she was carrying,” Alvarez
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