# Doug Williamson made history this weekend at the NRCHA Derby!!



## lb27312

Wow what an AWESOME ride!! Thank you so much for sharing!


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## kewpalace

Not only is Doug still showing (and winning!) reined cowhorses at 77 (it is not a gentle sport as you can see from the video), he's also a cancer survivor (of the lymph node system):



> Williamson was forced to slow down when he was diagnosed with cancer in the 1980s. He pulled through and was back riding horses within seven months, according to the National Reined Cow Horse Association.


He Just Keeps Going 10/23/06 article

See this article from Quarter Horse News about Doug and his doctor saying he was going to die. And he's STILL riding cowhorses, *31 years later*! Amazing!


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## tinyliny

I don't know anything about how this sport is judged, but just to see this man ride, at his age and his health history, is really inspiring.


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## Avna

Some rider. And some horse! I would call that horse cowy.


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## kewpalace

tinyliny said:


> I don't know anything about how this sport is judged, but just to see this man ride, at his age and his health history, is really inspiring.


Just to give you a little context, scoring is on a 60-80 point system. The lowest score possible is 60 points and the highest score possible is 80. The average score for a typical work is 70 points. 

The show will choose if it will have one, 3 or 5 judges for the event. This show for this event had 5 judges - the high and low score are eliminated and the other three scores added together for the final score. For Fence Runs, "[t]he most controlled cow work, with the highest degree of difficulty, that exhibits good form throughout, should be marked the highest."

Open Riders typically score anywhere from 72's to 75's. Every once in a while you'll hear a rider getting a 76 from maybe one judge, but I've never heard of anyone getting a 77, let alone from ALL judges! Crazy! But it was a crazy good ride, too. :smile:

Sarah Dawson almost got it on Shiney Outlaw in the 2017 AQHA World Junior Working Cow Horse World show - they won that class (cow work at the end of the video).


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## tinyliny

Is it like the rider must make the cow do a certain 'pattern' of movement, like twice down the wall in each direction and a circle in each direction? Or is it just that horse/rider must stick close to the cow for a certain amount of time?


or is the move complicated you can make the movements of the cow, the more likely you are to win?


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## kewpalace

The entire purpose is to control the cow. You have to do certain movements and then they will whistle you off the cow. Everyone starts off with 70. Depending on the quality of your run, you'll get + or - on certain maneuvers which determines your score.

You have to "box" the cow on the one end of the area 1st - so move it back and forth and keep control and in position while working it (there is an optimum position you need to be in to control the cow - if you are out of position, the cow can get away from you).

Then you have to drive it around the corner to take it down the fence. You'll see the PERFECT position for doing this in Doug's Video - his horses shoulder is at the hip the cow. 

Once moving the cow down the fence, you must stay in position until you go to turn it - so keeping the horses shoulder about at the hip of the cow and you want to be close. If you are too wide, the cow can stop and turn before you do. Once you pass the center marker, you move up on the cow to cause it to turn. You want to be close so that you can come out of the turn and be right there to drive it down the fence the other way. You need to do at least two turns on the fence - one each way. 

driving down the fence:









(Tommy Thompson)








(not sure who this is)


Credit earning turn:








(Tommy Thompson)








(??)

Not a credit earning, maybe even a minus since he's far away from the cow on the turn (don't know who these are):

















After you turn the cow on the fence, you then have to take it off the fence and circle it both ways. You want your horses shoulder by the cow's shoulder so you can turn it in a small circle. 









(Monica Cataeno)

A little far away but not bad.








(John Ward)

Too wide:








(Monica)

(These are pix that I took, fyi)


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## SilverMaple

I saw Doug's ride on Facebook on Saturday, and was so thrilled for him. He's a legend, and it's good to see him still riding and winning at his age. Nobody takes a horse 'down the fence' like Doug 


If you haven't seen the documentary 'Down the Fence' about the reined cowhorse, it's worth watching.


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## kewpalace

SilverMaple said:


> Nobody takes a horse 'down the fence' like Doug
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> He IS the Master!
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> SilverMaple said:
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> If you haven't seen the documentary 'Down the Fence' about the reined cowhorse, it's worth watching.
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> I have seen it (duh, LOL), own it and was a contributor. It is a FABULOUS watch, even for those who know nothing about the discipline. And Doug is in it, of course. My trainer's son has seen it a few times, too, LOL:
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> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


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## SilverMaple

I bought it, too. It's beautifully filmed. I made my husband watch it, but he knows nothing about horses and cares not a whit about horses, so he didn't quite 'get it'. Right now a friend who rides dressage has borrowed it, and her daughter has watched it three times.


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## kewpalace

I have had non-horsey friends watch it; they didn't get the "reined cowhorse" stuff, but thought it was beautifully filmed and could feel the passion of the featured riders. 

Wonder if your daughter's friend will want to give RC a go ...:thumbsup:


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## SilverMaple

^ RC doesn't exist here, lol. But she wants to ride barrels and her dad isn't real keen on that, so I think I'm going to try to point her toward reining...


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## kewpalace

Reining would be excellent & is fun, if there is no RC. LOL ... Of course, playing with cows is way funner, but I'm prejudiced.


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## SilverMaple

^ oh, it is. About the closest we get here is team penning/sorting, but it's way more fun on a good horse that knows how to correctly work cattle than an average trail horse that doesn't spook at cattle, lol. Nothing more fun than taking a good horse down the fence. If I ever win the lottery, I will have a reined cow horse. I've been blessed to have ridden some nice ones when I lived in Montana. I'm probably too far behind to train one myself, but hey, I can pay someone else to do it, ride with them, and show in the Amateur/Non-Pro.... just dreaming, but you never know!


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## tinyliny

I think I've seen part of that.


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## kewpalace

SilverMaple said:


> Nothing more fun than taking a good horse down the fence.


Amen to that! I"ve not shown down the fence - but the late night runs for boxing has me thinking that I may have to start that - but I've done it in practice and had a blast. Pi could do it, but I'll be breeding her next year, so maybe after that we'll give it a try (if I'm still able to do it, LOL). 



SilverMaple said:


> If I ever win the lottery, I will have a reined cow horse. I've been blessed to have ridden some nice ones when I lived in Montana. I'm probably too far behind to train one myself, but hey, I can pay someone else to do it, ride with them, and show in the Amateur/Non-Pro.... just dreaming, but you never know!


I'll keep my fingers that you win the lottery! You NEED a good cow horse!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

You could probably still train one yourself. I (with TONS of help) trained Star and Pi - they were both started by someone else, but the actual cow horse training I did it. But that's because I was too cheap to get a trainer, LOL. Although they turned out OK, it was just a LONG LONG road. With Pi I did the whole process - snaffle, hackamore, two rein and then bridle. THAT was a ton of fun and I learned so much doing it. But when I got Scarlett the whole point was to have a trainer do the work. I've enjoyed that as well - still a ton of fun watching her develop and I'm still learning alot. Both ways have been great - but it tells me you could still do it. Heck I have friends who are in their late 50's just starting horses for the first (and probably only, LOL) time. Again, with tons of help. 

It's a fun discipline with great people and phenomenal horses. I'm very blessed to be able to participate in it.


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## lb27312

It's a lot of fun! I took my horse to one, more just to have fun and join the group I did some team penning with. My horse worked cows by going to round up the cows for the team penning events. Some of the team penners were talking about this show they were going to and told me I should go and do a run just for fun. My guy was just learning the stop and the lead changes but they were schooling me and since I wasn't going to be competitive anyway to just slow down when I go to do the lead change. Well when I went to change leads I started slowing down and they were yelling at me he had already changed.... I was sooo nervous that I didn't notice.... now for the cow. All the cows that day were rough, a few had even jumped out of the arena... they let the cow out and it came running straight for us, my guy wasn't use to that so I swear he jumped straight up. lol

Sorry for the book but also in this same group there was a cutting trainer, I took my younger guy to see how he would do and she was up front saying that he didn't have it in him. I was like huh?? What does that mean. She put me on one of her horses, she let the cow out, the horse dropped down went left and I went right. She freaked and apologized, I asked to try again. This time I was ready, I had NO idea that a horse could do that! It was better than ANY amusement park ride! What an athlete... but I agreed my guy wasn't going to cut it... 

Sorry for the book!! It was a fun time, I'm where there isn't much cow work now...


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## AndyTheCornbread

Holy smoke, that was an amazing ride! The control of that cow was insane!


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## kewpalace

lb27312 said:


> My guy was just learning the stop and the lead changes but they were schooling me and since I wasn't going to be competitive anyway to just slow down when I go to do the lead change. Well when I went to change leads I started slowing down and they were yelling at me he had already changed.... I was sooo nervous that I didn't notice.... now for the cow. All the cows that day were rough, a few had even jumped out of the arena... they let the cow out and it came running straight for us, my guy wasn't use to that so I swear he jumped straight up. lol


LOL, yea, that sounds like a 1st show! The one thing I love about cow horse is that your trainer & friends can all yell at you from the outside, LOL!! It really helps - a LOT! Especially when you are beginning! 



lb27312 said:


> She put me on one of her horses, she let the cow out, the horse dropped down went left and I went right. She freaked and apologized, I asked to try again. This time I was ready, I had NO idea that a horse could do that! It was better than ANY amusement park ride! What an athlete... but I agreed my guy wasn't going to cut it...


It makes a HUGE difference to feel the difference in a properly trained horse. But heck, I was told when I started on my 1/2 Arab that she wasn't cut out for it ... by the time I retired her, all those neigh-sayers were believers and we ended up 5th in the club standings for our class. Not too shabby for a horse that wasn't cut out for it! Of course, we worked our behinds off to get there, but had fun in the process. It looks so easy, but it is not easy (as my one trainer said, if it were easy everyone would do it!). To do reining, fence work AND herd work well and on the same horse - yea that's not easy. Glad you got a taste of it; hoping you can get back to it at some point!



AndyTheCornbread said:


> Holy smoke, that was an amazing ride! The control of that cow was insane!


Doug is THE MAN! LOL .... he really is amazing and brings it ON in the fence work. So fun to watch him!


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## kewpalace

FYI, for those interested, some Down the Fence trailers ... Doug, of course, is in both ...


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## AndyTheCornbread

I watched that on Netflix streaming a while back and I just went and checked and they still have it so if you have Netflix streaming you can watch it. At least US Netflix streaming has it, not sure about other countries? This is the link to it on US streaming: https://www.netflix.com/title/80216543


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## SilverMaple

I fell in love with Doc at Night when Doug was showing him, and have followed RCH ever since. It's not something anyone does in the midwest-- there are a few cutters and reiners, but no reined cow horse. I love the emphasis on a broke horse that can go any direction, the cow work, and how there seems to be more of an emphasis on producing a good horse that lasts than in other disciplines, even with the Futurities and Derbies. My favorite are the Open Bridle horses  I trained my old gelding in the bridle tradition and would love to do it again.


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## lb27312

AndyTheCornbread said:


> I watched that on Netflix streaming a while back and I just went and checked and they still have it so if you have Netflix streaming you can watch it. At least US Netflix streaming has it, not sure about other countries? This is the link to it on US streaming: https://www.netflix.com/title/80216543


YAY!! Thanks for the info, can't wait to watch it!


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## kewpalace

@SilverMaple, I wish I could LOVE your post ... Doc At Night & Doug were such a pair! Thanks for posting that.



SilverMaple said:


> I love the emphasis on a broke horse that can go any direction, the cow work, and how there seems to be more of an emphasis on producing a good horse that lasts than in other disciplines, even with the Futurities and Derbies.


:thumbsup::thumbsup:



SilverMaple said:


> My favorite are the Open Bridle horses


They are a thrill to watch, especially the ones like Doug has trained - on a loose rein, super responsive and gritty to the max. It seems that all the "real" horsemen I know like the Bridle horses the best.  It is a fun process, but the goal is to make a bridle horse - and I've sure enjoyed my bridle horses. 

Here's Doug on Hes Wright On ... he won a lot on this horse; and cried when he was sold at auction in Reno:


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## SilverMaple

The cow horses are always such nice movers-- free and easy and not loping around with their noses in the dirt like has now happened to reining :-(


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## kewpalace

The NRCHA posted a nice recap on Doug's run:



> The evening of Friday, June 14, at the 2019 NRCHA Derby, presented by Cats Picasso, was one for the history books.
> 
> NRCHA Hall of Fame Rider Doug Williamson collected his first CD Survivor Memorial Open Bridle Spectacular Championship aboard ARC Sparkin Chics (Chic Please x Sailing Spark x Shining Spark), owned by the Rocking J Ranch.
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> At 77 years young, the timeless horseman, from Bakersfield, California, piloted "Bucky" to a 231 down the fence. Each of the five judges credited the team with a score of 77!
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> Before Williamson's fence score was announced, he received a standing ovation from the crowd and a line of people formed to congruate him on the seamless fence run.
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> The 665 composite (216 herd/ 218 rein/ 231 cow) was accomapnied with $11,850 for the Open Bridle Spectacular win and $2,520 for the Internediate Open win.
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> Doug Williamson is living proof that age is in fact just a number. Congratulations to Doug and Carol Williamson, Rocking J Ranch, the beloved bridle horse, ARC Sparkin Chics, on your spectacular fence run and win!
> 
> #nrcha #nrchya #nrchaderby #nrchaderby2019 #catspicasso #reinedcowhorse #cowhorse #bridlehorse #horseman


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