Dakotas earn both National High School Rodeo Association horse of the year honors
Wagoner Wins 2024 AQHA Horse of the Year Award in the NHSRA
Zoey Wagoner rides a stolen horse – she stole it from her mother! The 2024 National High School Rodeo Association Girls’ American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Horse of the Year, “Lil Joe Whiz,” is ridden by Zoey and owned by her parents, Andy and Annalisa Wagoner of Arnegard, North Dakota.
Zoey and Lil Joe are the 2024 National High School Rodeo Association Pole Bending champions. En route to the AQHA award the duo racked up 790 points at the National High School Finals Rodeo, just 10 points ahead of the AQHA Horse of the Year Reserve Champion: Frenchmans Aces, “Ace,” a barrel racing horse owned and ridden by Abagail Olson of Sheridan, Wyoming. Zoey and her mount won the first and second go-rounds in pole bending, placed second in the short go and won the average.
Horses and riders nominated for the AQHA award earn points based on placing in events at the NHSFR, with a first place finish in a go-round or the average worth 200 points and a 20th place finish worth 10 points. Points earned may also vary according the number of total contestants in a given event. The award was a Tod Slone breast collar and $1,750, both sponsored by the AQHA.
Lil Joe is 16 years old. He is palomino stallion by Gee Whiz It Shines, out of Pocket Fulla Tricks, a Scooters Pace dam. Darrel and Bridget Guatafson, Oak Ridge Ranch, Souris, N.D., bred him. The horse was patterned on barrels and started on poles by Alyssa Nelson, Bottineau, N.D.
The Wagoner Family found him on Facebook and acquired him in 2017. “I went to a clinic and was riding a little pony. She (renowned barrel racing instructor Judy Myllymaki) told me I needed a step-up horse, so I got on Lil Joe and kind of just stole him from mom,” Wagoner said, laughing. She and her brother, Zane, rode him at youth rodeos. “That probably helped him a lot, just starting off slow with us little kids on him,” Zoey added.
“He’s just a chill horse,” Zoey said. Her mom, Annalisa, added that he’s not always been. “Early on, we couldn’t get him into the indoor arena when the kids were at Little Wranglers (a summer youth series in Watford City, N.D.), but I think Zoey just hanging off of him made the difference.” Zoey adds that she takes good care of Lil Joe by graining him, keeping him legged up and getting him quality vet care.
Breeder Darrel Gustafson noted that from the beginning, Lil Joe had a lot of go and was a super nice horse. He added, “Lil Joe has a lot of career left and I wish them all the luck with him.”
Of the Oak Ridge Ranch breeding program, Gustafson said, “We’ve probably got 30 daughters of ‘Scooter’ and we cross quite a few of them on ‘Whiz It.’ They’ve worked really, really well for us. The two really compliment each other and (their offspring) are very good athletes. A lot of them excel in the roping end.” He added that the cross makes for extremely trainable colts and Whiz It ranks among the best in the business in reining.
After Whiz It’s reining career, barrel racer Cassi Dunford, now of Killdeer, N.D., was working for Gustafson and needed a barrel horse to replace her own. He suggested that she try Whiz It because “he’s fast and he’s broke.”
Recollecting back more than ten years, Dunford said, “He was a phenomenal horse that went to winning within two months of barrel training. He loved to run and never gave less than 110 percent. We had a very special bond and he was my ‘heart’ horse.”
Whiz It was the 2014 Roughrider Rodeo Association Barrel Racing Reserve Champion. Dunford added, “This bloodline is super athletic with tons of try. They are so easy to put in the speed events; I would take a pen of them any day!” Whiz It stands at only 14.2 hands and Gustafson added, “The horse just did excellent. His colts are all-around arena horses, very easy to ride. And his colts all have a willingness to work with you.”
Gustafson said they have a nice bunch of two-year-olds by Whiz It, including two that are really excelling as reined cow horses. “We’re planning on taking both of them to the Snaffle Bit Futurity next year,” he said, a National Reined Cow Horse Association event for three-year-old cow horses held each October in Fort Worth, Texas. Oak Ridge Ranch has a good crop of Whiz It colts and he ran with 18 mares this summer.
Yet another North Dakota competitor with accolades for Lil Joe’s sire, Whiz It, is Katelyn Fredrickson, Upham, N.D., who has ridden the stud. “Every one of his colts are so versatile,” she said. “These horses can do whatever you ask.” Noting that Dunford and Whiz It excelled in the RRA one year, Fredrickson added, “Another year I borrowed him for the RRA Finals and placed in a round after just pulling him out of the pasture.”
The Fredrickson family currently rides another Whiz It colt, Maniacal Shineca, owned by Katelyn’s mom, Stephanie Fitzgerald. That mare was started as a heeling horse at age five. Katelyn’s husband, Jesse Fredrickson, won the North Dakota Rodeo Association and RRA team roping heeler year-end championships each three times, and the Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara team roping heeler year-end championship twice, while also competing in barrel racing at the same rodeos. She was voted NDRA Horse of the Year in heeling in 2022. Katelyn added, “I won some money on her at a breakaway jackpot and now my daughter shows her in 4-H. She does everything. The Whiz It colts are all that way. They are not afraid to work and love to win. They have big personalities and love people. Whiz It is definitely a hidden gem and we are so happy that he is getting the recognition he deserves.”
In addition to the AQHA Horse of the Year award, Lil Joe and Zoey earned an AQHA-sponsored horse statue trophy as the 2024 NHSFR Horse of the Year in pole bending, thanks to most-points-earned in that rodeo event at the NHSFR.
Zoey has been homeschooling but plans to attend Watford City High School as a sophomore later this month. Along with pole bending, she competes in breakaway roping, barrel racing and team roping in high school rodeo. Reflecting on this past rodeo season she said, “I want to thank my family for supporting me. They’re they ones that took me (to Rock Springs, Wyo.) and took me to all the rodeos before that. I thank them and all of my friends for supporting me.” Given a chance to say what Lil Joe means to her, Zoey concluded, “Everything. He’s the best horse I could ever have.”
Glines wins 2024 AQHA Horse of the Year Award in the NHSRA
South Dakota cowboy Gabe Glines had his eyes on a state high school all-around title; he claimed two, thanks in part to a cutting horse named “Cali.” Then, Cali became the 2024 National High School Rodeo Association Boys’ American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Horse of the Year.
“Pepto Two A Tee,” A.K.A. “Cali,” was ridden by Gabe and is owned by his parents, Chris and Nicole Glines who ranch near Smithwick, S.D. The horse and rider tallied up 215 points at the National High School Finals Rodeo (NHSFR), which kept them 20 points ahead of the AQHA Horse of the Year Reserve Champion, Metallicexpectations or “Spec,” ridden by Justin Anaya of New Mexico.
Horses and riders nominated for the award earn points based on placing in events at the NHSFR, with a first place finish in a go-round or the average worth 200 points and a 20th place finish worth 10 points. Points earned may also vary according the number of total contestants in a given event. The award was a Tod Slone breast collar and $1,750, both sponsored by the AQHA.
Glines and Cali won both of their performances at the NHSFR, scoring a 145 to tie for 13th in the first go round and had the fifth highest score, a 146, in the second go round. “I came into the short-go sitting eighth in the cutting,” Gabe Glines said. “I didn’t have the best run ever and ended up 20th overall in the world standings.”
Cali is a 17-year-old bay roan mare. She was bred by John A. Harrah, Reno, Nev., and foaled in Texas in 2008, a daughter of Sweet Lil Pepto out of Billie Two A Tee. She’s a granddaughter of Peptoboonsmal who was a winner of $180,487 in American Cutting Horse Association (ACHA) earnings and a producer of over $27 million in earnings. Other notable names in Cali’s pedigree include Sweet Lil Lena, Freckles Playboy, Peppy San Badger and Royal Blue Boon, a cornerstone mare in the cutting horse industry.
Glines’ acquired Cali two years ago when Gabe decided to add cow cutting to his high school rodeo repertoire. They found her on Facebook. She was previously owned by Steve and Tresa Bass, Brewster, Neb., and ridden by their sons, Ty and Cooper.
Years ago, the Bass Family teamed up with cutting horse trainer Don Troyer, Lexington, Neb., to get connected with Cali. “He sent her down south for a while and brought her back when she was a six-year-old,” Steve Bass said. “Our oldest boy, Ty, tried her and got along great, so once he learned how to ride her it was nothing but up.” Though the mare had a bit of a reputation for being hard to get along with, Bass said, “Our sons both learned how to ride her and we pretty much brought her home, kicked her out and let her be a horse and that helped her mind a lot. She’s kind of a boss mare, but she took care of the boys. I mean, they weren’t even good about practicing – they’d get her legged up a little bit and go show.”
Cali was shown a bit in the ACHA when she was young, but most of her experience has been in high school cutting. “She took both our boys to nationals,” Steve added. Ty competed at the NHSFR his sophomore and junior years and Cooper competed on her at nationals his sophomore through senior years. Ty placed in the top 20 his junior year. Cooper was seventh going into the short go and ended up 12th overall his sophomore year and placed 22nd overall his senior year.
“She’s got a mind that’s one of a kind,” Steve said. “I mean, she can go in the cutting pen however many times that you want to cut, then you kick her out. Then you go back and get her in, lope her a few times and go do the same thing. A lot of horses you would need to keep trained up, but at least for us, that’s the way she was.”
Recalling Ty and Cooper’s cutting accolades, Steve said, “They had good success. She pretty much carried them, once they figured out just stay out of her way and let her go. Some days they probably should have got her in and worked her just so they could have learned more, but, she taught them a lot.” He chuckled, “They’re still mad at me for selling her but she went on and did good things, so, you have to take advantage of opportunities like that.”
Don Troyer helped the Bass boys with their cow cutting skills, including turning back for them at the NHSFR. “If you wanted to show up and listen he’d take you under his wing,” Tresa said, adding with a grin, “He has a lot of patience to put up with the high school kids who don’t always listen very good.” Now that Gabe Glines is done cutting in high school, Cooper Bass dropped a hint to his parents that perhaps they could buy Cali back for a brood mare. Tresa noted, “She was just a great horse.”
When the Bass’ sold Cali to Glines’, Gabe – who started cutting his junior year of high school – also initially worked with Troyer to learn cutting. Glines has always been a multi-event cowboy, but it was when he added cutting that he was able to take a solid leap into the South Dakota High School Rodeo Association all-around race, winning it in 2023 in a tie with Easton West, New Underwood, S.D., and was the state’s solo all-around champion in 2024. “That mare, she was a game changer when it came to winning the all-around titles,” Gabe said. “She’s solid and did her job right every single time. I could always count on getting points from her.”
He calls Cali a down-to-earth, solid mare that doesn’t take a lot of extra care. “Just some green grass and water is all she needs,” Gabe said. “She’s a good mare, she knows her job and it’s dang sure a lot of fun.”
Besides cow cutting, Gabe competed in calf roping, steer wrestling and team roping in the South Dakota High School Rodeo Association. In 2024 he ended the year second in cow cutting and he was the state’s steer wrestling champion. He credits his parents with keeping him mounted on good horses and his older brothers, Levi and Garrett, for pushing him in the practice pen. Gabe attended two years of high school in Nebraska and finished up through homeschooling, graduating this past spring. This fall he plans to attend Black Hills State University, Spearfish, S.D., where he will pursue a business degree and compete in calf roping, steer wrestling and team roping in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.
