Open Box Rafter Ranch Annual Production Sale and Weanling Presentation
My mom received a call from Brandon at the American Quarter Horse Association on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 telling her I had been selected to take part in the Young Horse Development Program. She was a bit overwhelmed because she didn't think I'd be selected! After rearranging our weekend schedule, my parents and I set out for South Dakota on Friday morning. We arrived in Rapid City on Friday night and checked into our hotel.
On Saturday morning we drove to the fairgrounds to see the horses. Once we got to the fairgrounds we went and found the weanlings that were in the program. I had chose the bay filly before we got there but once I got there I liked the bald faced red dun stallion the best. It was really hard to chose between the weanlings but I had to make a decision. Mr. Hunt called out each weanling's number to see who was interested in that weanling. When the dun colt's number was called out both my hand and another girl's shot up. She won the coin toss and got the red dun. My second choice was the bay filly and since it was my turn next after the coin toss I chose her. Once everyone had chosen their weanling (five of us were on hand), Mr. Treadway congratulated us on our achievement. Right before the sale started, Mr. Hunt talked about how the program started and all of the weanlings were led into the ring. Mr. Treadway called each of us into the ring and read a short bio on us. He then pointed out the weanling we had chosen. After we were all introduced we were given some gifts and pictures were taken. My family and I hung out at the sale and I spent time with my filly. I decided to name her Faith after the town that the Open Box Rafter Ranch is in and because I had a lot of faith that I would be selected. On Sunday morning we went to the fairgrounds to pick up Faith. As we were getting ready to load her Mr. Hunt got a phone call in the middle of our conversation and he walked off. We loaded Faith and my dad pulled the trailer off to the side. Then Mr. Hunt came back and started to talk to us and the next thing I know he's pulling out another weanling and telling me she's mine also. We were all really surprised and it happened really quickly. Before I knew it we were on our way home with TWO fillies! It took us about eleven hours to get home that day. My mom kept suggesting names for the second filly and nothing seemed right. She finally said, "Dakota" and I knew that was the right name for the second filly. I am so grateful for this opportunity. My goal is to train my fillies to be used in timed events, showmanship, roping, reining, trail, ranch horse pleasure and working cow horse - true all around horses. I also plan to use them as the foundation mares for a future breeding program after I have shown them. |
Gifts from the Hunts, AQHA and Professional's Choice
We also received a lifetime membership to the AQHYA (I already had one) and a year subscription to "Today's Horse" magazine.