Good, another one comes in on this.

Hey Val, I E-mailed the woman who owns my studs daddy. She is in S. Carolina. I hope she comes over to read this and gives us some ideas.

Good, telling everyone we know is the best way to get the word out, hopefully we can get this off the ground and get it going.  I hope that it ends up being something that can benefit all the ages and all phases of the riders for many years.  Big pots and all that stuff.  Do you still have the big yella horse?

No, the big yella horse went back to Janie for his retirement. He is enjoying being a pasture ornament. He got a case of West Nile about a year ago and dropped a lot of weight but made it through it. The paint filly that I got from Janie (the same time I bought the yella horse) died about 4 years ago when she was 7. She got basterd strangles and then C.O.P.D. and died from a failing diaphram. I got one colt from her though. A paint mare that is exactly like her in every way except markings. That is my stud colts momma. [grin] You can see the family line in their faces. That is why he is called "Junior"

Any news on this lately?  Just bumping it up!

Ramsey

I am still trying to contact some people and stud owners to see how much interest there would be in this.  The other alternative would be to just try and do it very small and work up to being bigger.  There is some interest but most people are like well maybe but whats in it for me with no work or effort on my part.  I think it will go but going to be a long slow haul[confused]

Well, if it is any consolation, I am willing to put in the effort. I just can't afford much as far as money goes right now (just coming off the injured reserve list for work). If I can do anything to help let me know. I think it is a good plan and would love to be part of it.[grin]

Ditto on that Horsehappy.

I also think we should just Go for it and see how it evolves...

At any rate, anything I can do, just let me know... :)

Ramsey

Well Thanks Horsehappy and Admin, I am still wanting to go forward with this but it will be slow, have to come up wiht the $$ for the added and advertising, arena, timers, announcers, worker bees, insurance and all that type of stuff will have to be considered.  Of course I am so happy about all this stupid weather right now on top of it.  All ducks have to be in a row before you can make a go of it.  Need to know if people think, futurity like other people do or if the big idea of making it an open 4D or 5D with special pay for nominated stud offspring for the first couple of years.  Lots of stuff and most people don't really say what they would prefer.  I want something that is not just for the futurity horses but aged ones as well and the only way to have a large crowd is to make it divisional so that a person can pick up the entries from the general barrel horse population and not just trainers.  Well what do you all think?  OPTIONS PLEASE[eek]

I was typing with some people in the chat room yesterday and I asked them what they thought. Their reply was that they don't really do the futurities thing. One of the comments was that you have only a few good horses that can still run after the futurities are over but the majority of the horses that run, are used up by the time they are done. Not wanting to ruine their horse for later they don't even look further. This person has a very valid point.  Maybe we can focus on calling it something that is more in line with what we are trying to accomplish. Something to showcase the Midwest barrel stallions. The idea is to not limit it to certian age horse right?
Anyway, Thought I would share some of the comments I got from others.

Thats the kind of input I was looking for!  I really don't want to showcase any more futurity horses either.  I try and promote older horses and wanted to do something that the "average joe" could get in on also.  Stallions could still be showcased because we all hope that our studs will produce the BIG ONES, but people with older horses could nominate their horses sires also since a lot of the older ones are in the ground now.  I think this would be a win win situation.  With this type of format then I think there might be some real surprises as to what some horses bloodlines are.  I wish I could get some other input so I could tell what other people are looking at.[tongue]

I will keep asking around.[grin]

Okay, just to update everyone on this subject.  I have been asking around and there is some interest but due to some problems of another nature with these types of programs most are unwilling to commit anything.  They don't want to be a futurity type of thing.  At any rate I haven't given this up but am having to rethink how this would have to be presented and done.  To much going on with the big futurities right now and I think they are starting to leave a very sour taste in a lot of peoples mouths for things of this nature.  I do know that the SunRise Breeders Futurity, 5 State Breeders Futurity, Hawkeye Futurity and Valley Girls have all been successful with this but that is the problem they are futurites and I am having a very hard time finding people that want to go that route.  I would prefer to showcase the stallions on another venue.  I will go back to the think tank and try again and I would appreciate any input you might have.  [confused]