Things were hot in the short round of the Heartland Derby. Sierra Stoney and 7 year old gelding Honor Before Fame (Flame) made a run most of us will only dream of making. On a standard/regulation pattern the duo ran a smoking time of 16.970, leaving the rest of the 17 second club in the dust. The Heartland Futurity format was one long go and a short go with the champion being the fastest of the combined (average) times. Sierra and Flame who was bred by and is owned by Cheryl Daines jumped into the lead with their amazing run. Sierra took the time to tell us about Flame and her run in Stettler, AB.
Honor Before Fame aka Flame
How old is your horse?
Flame is 7
I’ve been running barrels on Flame off and on since his futurity year.
Not sure who started Flame. But Cheryl Daines (his owner) started him on the barrels.
For training style, he is very strong and extremely fast. So I try to keep him in my hands and really focused. I always try to make things perfect on him with out picking at him or boring him. As for riding style, once I have him tuned up how I like, I just hold on.
He has unbelievable strength and speed.
My first run was really nice, he ran a 17.3. Just nice and smooth. But didn’t run as hard as he could. He got alittle scared from some slick ground so he was still unsure. Then in the short I was going for it. I really just had to keep the barrels up and have a smooth run But I decided to go for it. When we took off he kinda took his pocket away to the first, so I kept him out as much as I could then he inhaled it. And after that he worked amazing!! When I left the third I knew we would be fast but didn’t think 16.9 fast! And it was really amazing we were so fast cause the ground was a little deeper that day and we were at the bottom of the ground on both runs. So I was pretty pleased to say the least!!
Just a plain old warm up trot and lope. Just try and keep him quiet. Nothing to fancy.
Bob marshall treeless
Saddle right saddle pad
Its a LW bit, short shank with a slow square twist with a little chain in the center
Just long trot in the pasture and sprinting.
My only goal for myself on him is to keep him working good, because that is a task in itself!
My mom got me into barrel racing
The way I became a better rider/barrel racer is by putting butt in the saddle! And don’t always ride the good ones. I’ve learn’t way more from the difficult horses, because you really have to think and step out of box to figure out what’s going to work for them.
Here is that winning run so you can have a look and see what you’ve got to do to be a 16.970 on an outdoor standard pattern!
Complete results from the Heartland Futurity and Derby that was held at Stettler, AB (Diamond N Ranch) can be seen on the Canadian Barrel Futurities website
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