Bet Yer Blue Boons
Bet Yer Blue Boons (Royal Blue Boon x Freckles Playboy) has many claims to fame both in and out of the show pen. She is a NCHA Open World Champion and, according to EQUISTAT, her lifetime earnings totaled $350,615 and she produced a phenomenal 24 winning offspring, making her a $1 million producer.
She is the grand dam of Bettin Yer Smart, Long Pines Land and Livestock’s NRCHA champion. This 2007 red roan stallion out of Bet Yer Boons (Bet Yer Blue Boons x Peptoboonsmal) by Smart Little Lena, earned winnings in all NRCHA divisions (snaffle, hackamore, two-rein and bridle), and qualified for the NRCHA and AQHA world shows multiple times. Bettin Yer Smart was honored as NRCHA Supreme Working Cow Horse.
The Female Influence
The daughter of No. 1 cutting dam Royal Blue Boon and the great Freckles Playboy, Bet Yer Blue Boons was born in 1990 for breeder Larry Hall. She was owned for most of her life by Oxbow Ranch, where she was trained and shown by Lindy Burch, who purchased the mare as a 2-year-old. Burch had been doing well in competition with Bet Yer Blue Boons’ 5-year-old half-sister, Royal Red Boon.
“I thought Royal Blue Boon was the greatest mare that ever lived,” Lindy told EquiSearch. “So I called her owner, Larry Hall, to see if he had any offspring of hers that he would part with.” He happened to have a 2-year-old filly by Freckles Playboy, the 1976 NCHA Futurity reserve champion.
It was love at first sight.
Bet Yer Blue Boons showed promise, but lacked focus and consistency. Burch tapped her teaching ability and patience. At age 4, Bet Yer Blue Boons suffered a fractured sesamoid bone. After surgery, followed by months of rest and rehabilitation, she came back a different horse. “She never lacked focus again and never took another bad step,” said Burch.
The two were a formidable duo. They qualified for the NCHA World Finals in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. They won the 2000 NCHA Open World Championship, with her run on video, and scored a record-setting 233 in 1999. The duo finished in the top 10 Open standings four out of those five years, too.
“She was strong and she was tough,” said Burch, reflecting on Bet Yer Blue Boon’s courage and endurance. They are traits she passed down to her offspring, including Bettin Yer Smart. AQHA’s QData lists her offspring earnings at $1,270,602 as of November 2020. The line-up includes such notables as:
- NCHA Open World Champion Bet Hesa Cat
- AQHA World Senior Champion Bet Shes Smooth
- Bet Yer Boons (LTE of almost $74,000).
From 2006-2018, 16 mares out of the Bet Yer Blue Boons line passed through sale rings garnering an average $121,200.
Bet Yer Blue Boons retired in 2001. Upon her unexpected death in 2019 from colic complications, at the age of 29, Burch told NCHA: “She was an unabashed showman. Bet Yer Blue Boons loved the arena and the roar of the crowd. She loved to compete. The lights. The crowd. The tension in the air. She’d pick up on it and just seemed to say, ‘Lets go!’” Once focused on the cattle, she knew her job and executed it with moves that were described as smooth, like butter.
Bet Yer Blue Boons is a member of the NCHA Hall of Fame. Other titles include:
- AHQA Open Performance ROM (register of merit)
- NCHA World Champion Mare
- NCHA Open World Champion
- AQHA Reserve World Champion Senior Cutting Horse
- NCHA Open Finals Champion twice
- Bonanza Classic Open Champion
- 3rd NCHA Open Classic/Challenge
- NCHA Open Finals Co-Reserve Champion
In 2009, Breyer released a limited edition Bet Yer Blue Boons model with her distinct red roan coat and the Oxbow brand on her left hip. In 2010, the company made just 37 Bet Yer Blue Boons gloss-finished models as prizes at this BreyerFest. The models were sold out, but a few can be found on the secondary market.
For more information on Bet Yer Blue Boons
2000 NCHA Open World Finals Winning Run
https://youtu.be/6gO72p_kN9Y
EquiStat
https://equistat.com/
NCHA
https://nchacutting.com/news/2019/05/02/bet-yer-blue-boons-1990-2019
Equisearch
https://www.equisearch.com/discoverhorses/famous-cutting-horse-bet-yer-blue-boons
AQHA Qdata
https://www.aqha.com/
Quarter Horse News
https://www.quarterhorsenews.com/2019/05/legendary-mare-bet-yer-blue-boons-dies/
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