RBR Lady Belle
She was purchased over a year ago with a bay roan filly at her side by Peptoboonsmal and a foal she was carrying by Highbrow Cat, one of the leading cutting sires of our time. Her sire was Shorty Lena, another top cutting sire and had current earnings of more than $90,000. I thought she might be a good addition to my broodmare band because it was a bit limited where the cutting bloodlines were concerned.I bought her with recommendation from my cutting horse trainer, Morgan Cromer, who had shown her as a younger horse. The plan was to let her foal out the Highbrow Cat and when she had weaned him, send her back to Morgan’s to take her earnings higher than $100,000. She could then retire permanently to be a broodmare.
So the plan was carried out. She produced a spunky colt we nicknamed Lucas. As he grew up, he turned out to be quite a handful, even to his dam. I don’t think she was sorry to see him moved first to the next pen and eventually to the boys’ pen with the other yearling colts. So off Lady Belle went, back to the show pen.
Until this past weekend, I still had not seen her under saddle. I wondered if she had lost her maternity look and whether she was making a smooth transition back to showing. I got a call from Morgan on Thursday saying that she had shown her for the first time and she had scored a 76, a phenomenal score, and won the class. Wow! This was thrilling news!
I said to her, “I guess you’re not going to be sending her back anytime soon?” She laughed and replied that she would not be sending her home anytime soon. This past Sunday I finally got to see what all the excitement was about.
She was entered in the Open class for mature horses who had earned enough to be ineligible to show in anything but this class. These were the best. We drew about two-thirds of the way down the class, so there were probably still some good cows left. I hoped so, though there were a number of riders that “left the working area before time expired” due to lost cows, flushed cows or other fatal errors.
I hardly recognized her. She’s a very pretty bay with lots of mane, tail and a long forelock that falls over her eyes. She was svelte and looked to be in prime condition. As she walked to the herd, I had to stand up to see over the riders in front of us.
As she started up through the herd, they began to part as if the Red Sea and you could sense the control she had of them. They sensed it, too. She came out with one cow, and the most exquisite dance I had seen in a very long time began. Her head dropped to within inches of the cows head and she matched the moves, right to left, left to right, a little shake face to face until the cow gave up.
People in the audience cheered her on with every move. They appreciated what they were seeing. She worked another cow that was even more of a challenge than the first and, once again, she stuck her face in the cow’s face and tracked it back and forth across the arena.
There were 11 seconds left when Morgan and “Shorty” selected their final cow. This one, I think, had been watching and gave every bit of effort to outwit “Shorty” by ducking and diving, but that pretty little horse stuck like glue. Finally it was over and as Morgan rode out of the arena, I was struck by two thoughts: I had just watched one of the best runs I had ever seen and she was just rewarded with her second 76 of the week, winning the class.
As I left the grandstand to go down to congratulate Morgan, numerous people I didn’t know exclaimed what an extraordinary run they had just witnessed and congratulated me as the owner. It was really exciting and I am delighted to have such a talented, cowy, athletic mare in my mare band. She is a terrific asset and I am grateful to Morgan for, once again, steering me to a phenomenal horse. I am looking forward to future shows with Shorty and also await the debut this fall of her daughter we call Violet who, according to Morgan, is just like riding her mother.
Insanity
What exactly have we elected to public office, who then hires people even more insane than themselves? It is almost impossible to keep up with the outrageous proposals coming out these days. I just read about six Democratic Senators who are putting forth a bill that would confiscate all oil and gas company profits over what they consider to be “enough” of a profit. Please note that I said “all,” not some percentage. So who is going to pay all of the money owed to the investors? Many of those are retirement funds, 401(k)s and other investment funds that are dependent on those profits. How is that fair? How idiotic!Have you heard of the credit reduction on the tax form 940 or heard of the Futa Tax? I hadn’t either – but this year, as an employer, I was required to pay this tax for every business I have. It was a substantial amount of money, too. When I inquired as to what the reason was for this new tax, I was told something astounding: Apparently, some time ago the State of California borrowed money from the federal government in order to pay for the repeated Democratic-ordered extensions for unemployment benefits that the state could not afford. Because the state had not repaid that debt for more than two years, now the state was dumping the debt on the backs of small businesses.
Do you really think this is fair in this economy? I understand wanting to help out people who have lost their jobs but to keep paying when there is no more money and then to make small business pay for it, is outrageous and irresponsible. So when you hear politicians exclaim how they saved so many jobs or created new ones, they are simply lying to you to get you to vote for them. This new generation of politicians think nothing of blatantly deceiving you and they will do anything to get your support. It seems to be a part of their culture these days.
Have you noticed how many businesses have closed? There was a whole big grocery store in San Luis North County that had a fence around it and had been closed for some time. Did you know that one of our local television stations, KCOY, that advertises Central Coast News that used to broadcast out of Santa Maria is now being broadcast from Salinas? Is that the Central Coast? Did you wonder why all of the personalities suddenly disappeared and they rarely talk about the Santa Ynez Valley? That’s why.
So when the politicians, local, state and federal try to convince you how much they have done to help the economy, they are all telling lies. I have never been so disgusted to hear such falsehoods. How can they possibly think we haven’t noticed the devastation all around us and even in our own lives? Maybe we need to replace the majority of them. Recall, anyone?
Voter fraud
The issue is definitely gaining traction across the country and while the Republican primaries are in full swing, the prospect of full-fledged voter fraud, “the machine,” – being activated again as in 2008 – is less certain. These thieves are well aware that we know who, what and where of their operations so they are in full safety mode to attack yours truly, Steve Pappas and others who would dismantle their ability to steal our elections.You can pretty well assume that the vast majority of negatives you are hearing or will hear are from people who are part of the machine. You might be surprised as to how widespread this machine is, but it has been going on undetected for at least 25 years or even longer, and the tendrils of evil are spread pretty evenly throughout the county. As I continue to reveal who and what is involved, keep the thread of connections in mind. It will all tie together in the end.
There are publications that are determined to continue publishing misinformation because they simply don’t have the truth so they feel fine about their “approximations.” They continue to allow comments by unfortunate persons who have not been able to get over their own failures who prefer to blame others for their bad choices.
One also needs to be wary of those who claim to be out there to help the Valley residents but who are either hand in hand with the county or having made deals with the casino folk to their own benefit. There are, rarely, individuals in our community who cannot be bought by anyone and you must learn to identify them. It does no good for us or the majority of the community to be led down the proverbial garden path with those supposed community leaders who have only their own aggrandizement at heart. They each have been tainted by the deals they have made either with members of the county or the casino folk. I have proof of this in notes from meetings declaring that certain individuals will not be a hindrance to their expansion plans.
In fact, it has come to my attention that while public statements are being made as to the negative response of members of the Board of Supervisors to fee to trust designation for Camp 4, simultaneously, at Santa Barbara County Area Governments (SBCAG) serious consideration by at least two of the same supervisors are trying to develop some government-to-government agreement putting the casino on authority higher than the state.
What do you think about that? Pretty interesting for a group whose actual ancestry is in question and whose land has not been officially been taken into trust. How does this work? Is any of this legal?