Three World Championships earned by Canadians

John Swales and Maximum Echo

  NRCHA Open Bridle World Champions  

 

John Swales, Millarville, Alberta, worked first in the draw in the open bridle finals February 20, 2015 at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Celebration of Champions held in Fort Worth, Texas. (Although the event took place in February 2015, it was held to determine the 2014 Champions.)   

Sliding hard and turning fast on Maximum Echo, John earned a 220 in the reined work and a 232 in the cow work for a monster 452 that left all the other exhibitors struggling to catch up.

"In the circles, I tried to run him as hard as I could," John said. "He slowed down really good for me and stopped as good as he can stop. He got turned around OK one way and pretty good the other way. In the cow work, I had a really great cow, and he rated really good. We got a long run both ways (down the fence) and he circled up pretty good." The horse took a good hit from the cow both times, John said, but the horse shut down the run anyway.

"He's very aggressive," John said. "Everything he does, he tries 110 percent all the time, and he's easy to show, especially for as much as he has been shown." Click here for the link to their winning run on YouTube.

It took John 30 hours to drive from his home in Alberta, to Fort Worth, Texas, but he said the trip was well worth it. "Max" has $25,748 in NRCHA earnings, and the win in open bridle added $7,912.50 to that total.

Maximum Echo is a 2004 sorrel stallion by Playboys Remedy and out of Dry Sans Echo by Dry San. He was bred by Twisted L Ranch of Greenville, Texas, and is owned by Flo Houlton of Caroline, Alberta.      

Photo, content and interview by: Larri Jo Starkey/AQHA Journal