They Not Like Us and Bud Lyon win Inaugural $35,000 Ranch Riding at WEC
On Friday, September 6th at The Championship Show 2024, the first Three Year Old NSBA $35,000 Ranch Riding class was held, much to the delight of ranch discipline fans!
After 13 tough entries completed the pattern, They Not Like Us with Bud Lyon for Kimberly Lyon won the top spot!
When asked about “Canuck,” Bud explains they bought him as a long yearling. “So I’m responsible for all the good and bad stuff and can’t blame anybody else for it,” he jokes. “We’ve had him in training at my house in Whitesboro, Texas, since he was a two-year-old, and I actually bought him as an investment. Unfortunately, my wife, Kim, has claimed him, so I don’t know if I’m going to get to make any money off that one. I think it’s just going to cost me money from here on out!” he laughingly says. “I’m grateful we were able to win a little to offset what my wife is going to cost me going forward.”
All kidding aside, he explains that Canuck fits this class wonderfully because of his quality of movement, his self-carriage, and his expression, as well as his ears, “which are all things we obviously look for in the ranch classes and they tend to be rewarded. So he’s a perfect candidate from that standpoint. He has those intangibles that they either have or they don’t.”
Bud adds that Canuck already had those characteristics as a baseline, and he has been very trainable and has quite a bit of athleticism on top of that. “So that’s the combination that I think we’re all searching for when we pick out prospects for these ranch classes.”
As far as the switch to Arena 5 due to forecasted weather, he says they’re grateful. “You know, we came from Texas, and we were expecting to show outside, but with the weather and the heat and the humidity, it was a nice reprieve to be inside.”
He admits that when he first saw the pattern, he thought it might be too challenging for their young three-year-olds, but at the end of the day, it was probably just right. “It offered some challenge, but not too much,” Bud says. “It allowed the judges to weed through the exhibitors and place the horses according to their performance, and that’s always what you want. In my opinion, you don’t want to leave it to a contest of subjectivity. You want the best horses to rise to the top and I think this pattern allowed them to do so.”
The news of the opportunities offered at this show for Ranch exhibitors was truly exciting for Bud Lyon Performance Horses. So much so, the barn has 33 stalls and four or five trailers of horses at the show. Bud says, “I can’t thank the World Equestrian Center and Mrs. Roberts enough for the opportunities she’s been able to provide for our ranch horses. I’m so grateful to have our discipline recognized as becoming the most popular western discipline right now. It’s really growing and evolving and these types of events and added money were a first for us – we haven’t seen that before in our ranch classes and this sets the standard and gives us the platform to move forward.”
More results from the class:
2nd: SS Walk The Line with Jordan Taylor Martin
3rd: ChecClearsAtMidnight with Budy Lyon for Katie Fellio
4th: Bet Boon Gone Blue with John Roberts for Marion Valerio
5th: Cookies and Dream with Steve Meadows for Kathryne Zachrich
