ncha western national championships - National Cutting Horse ...

CHEVY TRUCKS\NCHA WESTERN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Daily Chatter
May 4, 2002
AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL CUTTING HORSE ASSOCIATION
TODAY’S ACTION
Cracked ribs can’t
keep Curts down
Competing in the $2,000
Limited Rider proved more
of a challenge than Julie
Curts had bargained for when she
entered the Western Nationals.
The weekend before she left
home for Ogden, Curts was sent
flying by a gate that had been
rammed by a cow and suffered
three cracked ribs on her left
side.
“Hitting those stops was kind
of hard,” said Curts, who accepted
the offers from friends to prepare
her horse, but had to show up her-
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Beginning at 8:00 am
Non-Pro - 1st go
$10,000 Novice/Non-Pro - FINALS
7:00 pm to 11:00 pm
Party sponsored by
PCCHA & San Diego CHA
Dinner & Live Band
Historic Ben Lomond Hotel
SOONER TRAILER DRAWING
TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE
8:00 am to 10:00 am
Breakfast sponsored by
Weber County Commission
Beginning at 9:00 am
$50,000 Amateur - FINALS
Non-Pro - FINALS
Open FINALS
Lundgren wins over
Ellwain in workoff
Lutz claims $10,000 Amateur title
Bob Lundgren and Tracy Ellwein share a sigh of relief after their workoff in
the $20,000 Non-Pro division. Lundgren won the workoff with 221 points.
Tracy Ellwein’s scrappy, little
mare, Stylish Lil Cowgirl,
went six rounds between
this past Sunday and Thursday.
The week is not over, but Stylish
Lil Playgirl has already earned the
$3,000 Novice championship, the
$20,000 Non-Pro reserve title, and
two championship workoffs.
Lawson Hadlock rode Ellwein’s
five-year-old Docs Stylish
Oak daughter to a 221-point draw
with Caught Me Lookin, ridden
by Gerry Hansma, on Monday, in
the $3,000 Novice, and won the
workoff with 225 points. Ellwein
took the first go-round of the
$20,000 Non-Pro on Wednesday
with 223 points, then tied Bob
Lundgren in the Finals.
“It was a marathon,” said
Ellwein, who rode in the first set
and had sent her mare home with
Hadlock during the cattle change.
An adjusted score put Ellwein in
contention with Ludgren’s 215point
high mark and luckily, she
was able to get hold of Hadlock,
who was preparing for a big
roping event and party for cutters
at his ranch that evening.
“It looked like maybe I was
going to win by default,” said
Lundgren, who knew that Stylish
Lil Cowgirl had left the premises.
Continued on page 2

Left, Dianne Lutz, of Cedar MN, receives her trophy as $10,000 Amateur champion. Teddy Johnson presents the trophy saddle pad. Right:
Gary Martin presents $10,000 Amateur reserve champion Harry Rogers, of Poway, CA, with his champion’s buckle.
Workoff, continued from page 1
Hadlock made it back as the last horse
was being worked and Ellwein was
scrambling to find her hat and boots.
Lundgren drew first in the workoff,
in the same herd that had begrudged
any of the 13 riders more than 215
points. “I just rode in there and went
to cutting in the middle of the pen,” said
Lundgren, who was mounted on PCR
Clarks Dual Pep. “We did it three times
and they scored me a 221. My wife said
it was the best run of my life.”
It was the first National Championship
for Lundgren, 66, a ranch and
feedlot administrator from Eltopia, WA.
Lundgren and his wife, Nina, began
showing in 1998; Nina, was reserve
champion of the $50,000 Amateur in
1999, aboard Dirty Dually.
The Lundgrens acquired PCR Clarks
Dual Pep, a seven-year-old gelded son
of Dual Pep, this past December at
the Downtown Futurity Sale in Fort
Worth. “He’s nice to be around and we
get along great,” said Lundgren of his
mount. “He’s very correct and has lots
of style.”
Ellwein, a civil engineer from Boise,
ID, showed at the Western National
Championships in 1997, the first year
that she began cutting. “It was the
$2,000 Limited Rider and I was stiff
as a board and didn’t do a thing,” she
remembered.
Stylish Lil Cowgirl was trained by
Greg Smith for Tom Olson. Ellwein
purchased her from Olson last August
with the idea of showing her in limited
age events and put her in the hands of
Hadlock. “She was kind of fragile and
wild,” said Ellwein. “It just took time
for her to grow up.”
Hadlock qualified Stylish Lil Playgirl
for the finals of the NCHA Super
Stakes Classic and finished eighth.
Ellwein qualified for the second round
in the Non-Pro, but as in Ogden, almost
missed her opportunity to cut.
“It was my first time,” she explained.
“I had an adjusted score and I never
went back to check. It was the next
morning and I realized I was showing
in the second go-round.”
Jeanette Blewitt ................Columbus, NC
Susan Boyd .....................Bakersfi eld, CA
Leonard Brooks .............. Jamestown, CA
Don Chalmers.....................Santa Fe, NM
Timothy Shawn Crews ........ Clermont, FL
Eugenie Daniel .................... Truscott, TX
Jose Debesa............................ Miami, FL
Debbie De Cordova ...........Groesbeck, TX
Roy Gene Evans...................... Dallas, TX
Tony Garrett .....................Springville, AL
Don Hagglund ....................Gold Hill, OR
Gary Janacek......................... Crosby, TX
Terri Kahla ........................... Stowell, TX
Curts, continued from page 1
self for curtain call. “Basically what I
did was climb on just before my run and
fake it. After everybody’s help, I didn’t
want to let anyone down. So I just had
to cowboy up.”
Curts and her 11-year-old gelding
Customized Playboy scored 212.5 points
in the first go-round, then came back
to win the division with 216 points.
Shelley Bird, of Cave Creek, AZ, and
Ty Cunningham, of Tulsa, OK, tied for
reserve with 214 on Ill Be A Cowboy and
Playboys Powder Puff, respectively.
You say it’s
your birthday!
These NCHA members
are celebrating their birthday today.
Kelsey Karanges............... Fort Worth, TX
Kendal Kern ........................ Waterloo, IL
Tony Langdon..........................Plano, TX
Scott Ledoux ......................... Vinton, LA
Christian Mengis................... Switzerland
Linda Molenaar .................Bluff Dale, TX
Bronson Ostic .........................Jerome, ID
Nadrea Pilster..................... Blackfoot, ID
Charles Swingley ............... Ridgeville, IN
Ken Vickers ............................. Cisco, TX
Gary Wedekind.................Stanwood, WA
Douglas Wheat ...................Gonzales, LA

Left to right: Julie Curts, of Morgan Hill, CA, won the $2,000 Limited Rider on Customized Playgirl; Shelley Bird, of Cave Creek, AZ,
claimed reserve in the $2,000 Limited Rider aboard Ill Be A Cowboy; Lawson and Heidi Hadlock hosted Thursday’s cutter’s team roping,
dinner and dance at their ranch and Hadlock Arena in Ogden.
Former penner
now a cutting champ
Dianne Lutz, an accountant from
Cedar, MN, scored 217 to win
the $10,000 Amateur division
by one point over Harry Rogers of
Poway, CA.
“This is my first time to show at
Ogden and my first time to make the
finals in an NCHA event,” said Lutz,
who rode eight-year-old Haidas Ditto,
by Haidas Little Pep.
A team penning competitor, until
she discovered a horse she had purchased
was trained to cut, Lutz tried
cutting and was soon hooked on the
sport. To her surprise, her biggest
challenge has been finding cattle for
practice in Minnesota.
“This was probably the first time
(Haidas Ditto) has seen a cow in about
a month,” she noted. “I was kind of
nervous about that and not having the
practice. But she seems pretty solid and
really doing well.”
For several months in the winter,
Lutz sends her mare to trainer Teddy
Johnson in Gainesville, Texas. Johnson
does some tuning and keeps Haidas
Ditto legged up for her owner, who
does not have daily access to an indoor
arena.
“You can’t lope them very well in
the snow,” pointed out Lutz, who keeps
the mare at home during show season in
the Midwest. The closest show to Lutz’s
home is three hours distance, the rest
are six hours or more. When she does
Hadlock Ranch prepares for last Thursday’s guests. (No, John Mitchell’s turnback horse
Clyde is not part of this well-matched team)
show, she rarely misses Friday night
practice sessions.
“I feel that I’m at such a disadvantage
because I don’t have cattle,” she
said. For someone who just practices at
shows, I wasn’t expecting this (win).
“I was so happy that this check paid
for my trip,” she added. “We don’t have
a lot of money. My husband is a Ford
mechanic and we have a hobby farm.
That’s one thing about this mare. She
keeps me able to cut. If I was just paying
entry fees, I couldn’t afford to cut.”
“If you don’t say anything,
you won’t be called on
to repeat it.”
Calvin Coolidge

Cartoonist Jerry McAdams, “that cow art guy,” is publisher of the Hico News Review and a nationally recognized artist whose favorite
subjects are horses and cattle.
The American Quarter Horse Association, located in
Amarillo, Texas, is the world’s largest equine breed
registry.
Through their Strategic Marketing Alliance, NCHA
will be acknowledged as the authority for cutting
competitions and the AQHA will be acknowledged as
the foundation breed which provides the bloodlines
for the majority of horses used in NCHA competition.
Both Associations will work together to actively promote
the sport of cutting.
For more information on AQHA’s programs and
events contact AQHA at 806-376-4811 or visit
AQHA’s Web site at www.aqha.com.
★ Daily Chatter ★
Editor: Sally Harrison
Contributors: Danette McGuire, Clay Murray
Contributions, comments, and suggestions welcome:
sallyharrison@hotmail.com
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