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Rumerz
They’re All True
by Brittany Bevis
If you happen to be driving through West Texas and glance out across the open expanse of ranch land, you might catch a glimpse of a striking stallion, slick and seal brown, who looks a little out of place among the rangy cattle and miles of fence line. You’re not mistaken. That is in fact the most recently crowned Open Grand Champion Halter Stallion and Amateur Grand Champion Halter Stallion from the 2015 All American Quarter Horse Congress.
Rumerz, a 2 year-old AQHA stallion by Secretz and out of Kids Keeping Cool, is not only a multiple World and Congress Champion, he’s right at home on trainer Ross Roark’s ranch in Monahans, Texas, regularly working cattle and checking miles of fence line on a daily basis. Owners Steve and Kathy Headley completely endorse Ross’s approach to preparing their stallion, saying, “Ross works extremely hard, and he’s always been straight up with us on everything. He said he thought this would keep his mind occupied, and he also thinks we could later rope off him or do Ranch Horse Riding.”
“Tommy Manion once told me, years ago, that just because you have a Halter horse, doesn’t mean it can’t ride,” Steve says. “That’s how it was back in the day. You showed the same horse in Halter that you showed in Western Pleasure all day long. He is proof there are horses that can still do that.”
Rumerz was not only the unanimous Congress Open Grand Champion Stallion with Roark at the lead; he was the unanimous 2 Year-Old Open Stallion, unanimous 2 Year-Old Amateur Stallion, and unanimous Amateur Grand Champion Stallion with Sarah Headley. For a two year-old stallion to have this level of success at such an early point in his career is almost unimaginable for the Headley family.
“We’d been at the Congress almost a week, and I’d seen Rumerz every day. Kathy’s brother and wife had come to the show, and they wanted to see him. Ross pulled him out at five o’clock in the evening. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. That’s our horse.’ It’s beyond our wildest dreams that we could have the opportunity to own a horse like this,” Steve says.
He continues, “His sire is a World and Congress Champion, his dam is a World and Congress Champion, and now he is too. We’re amazed at how this horse looks and that he’s so good-minded. We’re happy beyond our wildest dreams.”
If this horse’s striking color, impressive musculature, and correct conformation doesn’t impress right off the bat, there’s also his peaceful demeanor to consider. “Ross can pull this stallion out of his stall with just a halter on and no lead rope. He will set him up, and he won’t move a muscle and he doesn’t try to bite. We’d like for him to show people that Halter horses can behave like that; it just takes a lot of work and Ross is one of the hardest working trainers I know,” Steve says.
Looking forward to next year, the Headley family is excited that Rumerz will be standing at stud at Griffey Equine Center in Ohio. “We’re taking things one step at a time,” Steve says. “He will probably have a limited book for the first couple of years. It was amazing to win at the World Show last year and then to win at the Congress is more than we ever dreamed could happen. Now we’re moving into the next phase.”
