Hoar was also prepared for the high-stakes mental game because it had been such an unusual season overall. First, Stuart shattered his shoulder in April, an injury that required surgery including a plate and seven screws. Then around the time of Cheyenne, her top horse, Vicki, who also serves as the main mount for Stuart in tie-down roping, got injured, so she had to throw a younger horse, Bandit into the deep end. “His first run was at Cheyenne with me!” she laughed. “But he did amazing, handled it so well.” Then Stuart developed a bad infection in his shoulder and ended up going through a second surgery when doctors removed the hardware and put him on IV antibiotics until September. He served as Hoar’s driver, since that was about all he could do. She’d had to find others for several months to push calves for her. It all added up to a lot of mental drain – but in the end, she persevered with a lot of toughness too. One of her 2022 goals had been to make the circuit finals, so with that accomplished, winning and earning a berth to the NFR Open was an added bonus. She’ll represent the circuit along with Erin Johnson, the year-end winner.
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them – which isn’t true! So changing how I looked at myself and my roping, and doing breathing exercises to slow down my heart rate in the box, doing some visualization exercises, speaking positively … just believing in myself.” Working hard on all of that for the past year helped prepare Hoar for that last round at the Mountain States Circuit Finals. She said when she caught her third calf and stopped the clock she “was just so relieved! “No matter what, I knew I’d finish (no worse than) second in the average and that was great. I knew I had to sweat out Taya because she was right behind me, and in my mind there was no doubt that she would catch because she’s just such an amazing roper and competitor. So when she missed, I cried. I did not see it coming.” Hoar finished atop the average in 19.9 seconds on three runs, while Johnson was runner-up in 4.9 seconds on two, and McAdow was 5.1 for third place.
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another check for third, running the course in 15.32. Gartner snuck in for a share of fourth with a run of 15.36. The third barrel was the issue this time, but the cause was the same. Mercedes was feeling herself, and this normally honest horse needed some help from mom to get back on track. “She was a little strong on my first two runs,” Gartner confessed. “I don’t ever have to ride her as much, but she can be overly confident sometimes to where I need to help her. I knew I needed to do something different, so I put a different bit in that I knew I could maneuver her a little bit more. Looking back at the nearly perfect 14.92-second run the duo laid down in the final round, it’s easy to say it was the right call. It won them the go and the average, and set the quick time of the event by over a tenth. But don’t think she didn’t agonize over her decision. “My husband, [Chance], has always told me don’t change things on game day,” said Gartner of the bit switch. “That’s kind of haunting you in the back of your mind, but I knew I had to make a change if I wanted to really go make the run I would love to make, and that I knew that my mare is capable of doing. It definitely did work out.” Looking at her vision board, the goal of winning the Pendleton Round-Up has finally been realized. Her other goal of winning her circuit’s year-end title eluded her, but she takes satisfaction in her closest finish yet. Each season has shown more and more progress, and she hopes to continue that trend in 2023. Their future together looks brighter than ever.
A 3.0 and a 5.3 in the first two rounds earned Annie a pair of third place checks, and put her in prime position to take the average title. Riding a horse she calls “Catness” (DSR Sweet Smokin Cat), the soft- spoken 21-year-old and future vet tech from Ellensburg, Washington, had more than just the average on her mind when she backed into the box. “I wanted to place in the round,” said Minor. “I was last out and I had the fastest calf in the pen. I knew I didn’t draw a good one. I was mainly thinking about the average. But I just treated it like any other calf. I kind of ignore it’s not the best and go make the best run I can make on it.” Altogether, Minor and Catness collected a cool $3,772 between their round checks and the average. No word yet on whether the Minors will haul together to Colorado Springs for the NFR Open, but with so much roping talent between Jordan and Annie, it’s not hard to imagine them both hauling together with Riley to Las Vegas together sometime in the very near future.
28 WPRA NEWS DECEMBER 2022
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