Barrel Blessings: ND cowgirl loves breeding, raising, running barrel horses

Renae Smith has put a lot of time and energy into her babies – her carefully selected, barrel racing mares.

The Trotters, North Dakota woman is a horse breeder and trainer, on a part-time basis, choosing mares and studs that will cross well to make prospects for the futurity and derby worlds and to compete on herself.

Twelve years ago, she and her husband, Cody, bought mares that she said she felt would be good barrel futurity picks.

She purchased Okay Katy in 2012 and Bold and Famous in 2013. Both are from Amy Schimke and daughters of Dash Ta Fame.

Smith said they were just what she was looking for, “(Dash Ta Fame) was one of the more popular breeds at the time, for mares, and you could cross them pretty much on anything and get the running (trait).”

Smith said she also wanted something that she could futurity on in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska. “I wanted something that I knew later on I could breed to raise babies.”

In 2013, Smith purchased Miss Savannah Seis, a daughter of Tres Seis, for breeding and raised two foals out of her: A Smooth Knight, a gelding by Smooth Guy who was purchased by Craig Strizke, and a filly, Just Seis So by French Streakin Jess, who was purchased by Jill Hinze, who plans to campaign Just Seis So next year in the futurities.

A Smooth Knight, ridden by Craig Strizke at the 2023 Ruby Buckle. A Smooth Knight is by A Smooth Guy and out of Miss Savanna Seis. [Photo: submitted]

In 2015, Smith added another mare, IknowSheknowsIknow, another daughter of Treis Seis, that she purchased from Schimke as well.

The mares Smith started with have proven themselves.

Bold And Famous, aka “Milo”, has done best, with more than $20,000 in futurity winnings with Sam Flannery at the helm. In 2014, they placed at the Diamonds and Dirt Classic, the Fizz Bomb, The Cornhusker, and the Better Barrel Racing Finals Open, and won the Dash and Dance Futurity. Milo’s lifetime earnings are approximately $35,000.

Bold And Famous with rider Sam Flannery at the 2014 Diamonds and Dirty Futurity. The mare won $20,000 with Flannery with a lifetime earnings of $35,000. [Photo: Pixel Works]

Flannery also futuritied IknowSheknowsIknow in 2016, once the horse was five-years-old, winning $9,000 on her at the northern futurities. Three years later, Smith rode her, adding another $11,000 to her lifetime earnings with placings at the Pink Buckle in the Open 4D.

Smith competed Okay Katy in 2013, winning the 2D Red, White and Run Futurity in Spearfish, S.D., and placing at numerous amateur side pots at the futurities that year. “She was easy to run and really fun and hunted the barrels,” Smith said.

With their futurity careers over, it was time to breed the mares for the next generation.

Smith said she was choosy when she looked for the stallions to breed her mares. She said she looks for up and coming stallions, reviewing what their progeny did before them. Stallions enrolled in the incentives are a strong part of her consideration. “So the purchaser has the option of running them at large amounts of money, even after their futurity and derby years,” she said. “I enjoyed being able to see most of the stallions in person that I have bred to.”

Their conformation is also inportant to Smith. “How they’re built, their hip and bone structure, and how they’ll cross with each mare individually.”

She did an embryo transfer on Iknow at age four and bred her to Blazin Jetolena. The Smiths sold her colts as three-year-olds; one of them, I Know Im Blazin Hot, belongs to Layna Kight in Florida, who has won money at the Pink and Ruby Buckle Incentives.

The other one, I Know Im Blazin Fast, aka “Otis”, is owned by Devon Brown in Oklahoma. Otis’ current lifetime earnings are $57,000. Otis and Brown won the 2023 Barrel Futurities of America (BFA) Finals Amateur Derby and were money earners the last two years at the Pink Buckle Derby and many other large open races.

Devon Brown, Ada, Okla., at the 2023 Pink Buckle Classic, on Iknow Im Blazin Fast, aka “Otis”, out of IknowSheKnowsIknow and by Blazin Jetolena. Otis has a lifetime earnings of $57,000. [Photo: Lexi Smith Media]

Iknow has a five-year-old filly, Simply Iknow U Know, aka “Lox.” She is by Simply Famous, the Dash Ta Fame son owned by Nick Erickson of Williston, N.D. Smith and Erickson say they look forward to her competing at futurities and races this year, with her owner, Becca Fellman, of Nebraska, who purchased her as a yearling from the Smiths.

Smith kept another Iknow baby, a four-year-old filly by Irish Pay named Irish Iknow What Uknow. “She’s really nice to ride, and she’s smooth. She reminds me a lot of Iknow.”

Smith said she chose to breed Okay Katy to Frenchman Fabulous, who is by Frenchmans Guy. Frenchman Fabulous and Dash Ta Fame daughters are a “magic cross” she said. The result is a six-year-old colt, Okay Im Fabulous, aka “Sass Willert,” who was purchased by Christy and Jamie Willert as a yearling and futuried by Emilee Pauley last year.

Pauley rode Sass Willert at two pro rodeos, one at Baker, Montana and the other in the mud at Ashley, N.D. The horse carried Pauley to the Northern Rodeo Cowboys Association Finals in 2023, where she placed at the finals and won the year-end saddle. “That’s a big accomplishment for a five-year-old that hasn’t been a lot of places,” Smith said.

Ok Im Fabulous with Emilee Pauley at the 2023 Ashley, N.D. pro rodeo. The six-year-old gelding out of Okay Katy and by Frenchman Fabulous placed fourth in the mud at Ashley and helped Emilee to an NRCA year-end barrel title last year. [Photo: Chuck Miner]

Okay Katy’s 2020 foal, Ok Ima Luminous Haze, aka “Paleface,” is by Smoke N Sunrise, who is owned by Joey Williams. Paleface is owned and being shown by Ashley Day, and Day says she will compete on her at the futurities this coming year.

“I always enjoyed watching Smoke N Sunrise run,” Smith said, “and I was able to look at him in person and thought he had really great conformation and bone structure to cross with Katy.”

Okay Katy’s 2021 foal is Ok Im Dash of Irish by Irish Pay, a stallion Smith chose in part because he is paid into numerous incentives including the Buckles, Royal Crown, Five-States, and more. “He’s more cow bred, yet he’s known for his agility, mind, and versatility in the barrel and rope pen. I thought they would cross well with her speed genetics,” Smith said.

Bold And Famous, one of the original mares Smith started with, is the one she got to run the longest. “We clicked,” she said. “After Sam futuritied her, I got to compete on her at many derbies and futurities, placing at them. She helped me win money on my WPRA permit.”

She bred Bold And Famous to Firewaterontherocks, thinking it would be a good cross.

Bold And Famous with colt Bold Fiery Embers by Heza Fiery Fling [Photo: submitted]

The result of that cross is Bold Intoxication, a current six-year-old mare, who wasn’t futuried. “She just wasn’t quite mature enough to futurity this last year,” Smith said. “We took it slow, and now she handles everything great. She’s great to ride and gather cattle on. She just needed that year of maturity. I hope to compete in derbies, open jackpots, and rodeos with her and keep her for our breeding program.”

Bold And Famous has another colt, a three-year-old named Bold Jesster, by French Streaking Jess. He’s at home on the ranch, eligible for a lot of the incentives, and for sale. “We like to get a lot of these young ones sold to people who will go on and show them,” Smith said. Bold And Famous is expecting a foal this spring by RF Back In The Cash.

Once the babies are born on the ranch, the Smiths give them time and space.

“We let them be horses and grow up,” she said. “I go out and grain them, but they get to run in a section pasture, and they’re not handled a whole lot till weaning.”

After weaning, Smith’s husband, Cody, halter breaks them and handles them a bit, then turns them back out in the spring, while the Smiths calve.

Mares in the pasture at the Smith ranch. [Photo: submitted]

“They get till they’re almost two years old out in the pasture. We think that’s great for their feet, their legs, and their joints. They’re out there just being a horse out in the hills.”

Smith and her husband, who is a team roper, have bred horses for years, but it has only been in the last ten years that they have been able to get their mares showcased. Cody is a third-generation rancher. He has nice rope horses as well, having his mare Crazy Kelly win 2021 NDRA Heel Horse of the Year.

According to Smith, his rope horses can be in the barrel pen as well. “He looks at speed, agility, and a good mind. Cody breeds for roping or barrel racing. When they hit the ground, it’s how they’re built and where we think they would fit best,” Smith said.

And even when she’s jockey for the barrel horses, Smith gives the credit to her husband. “I tell him, ‘Your name is on this too. I’m not taking all the credit. When I run down the alley, your name is with mine as owner and breeder.’”

Smith says she loves what they’ve built. “We have the best of both worlds. We ranch, we have cattle, we have hills to work these horses on, and the branding pen too. I can ride in the hills and circle a lot of rocks and trees and shrubbery and get a horse in the correct placement without always being in the arena.”

Smith has some advice for others who are breeding, raising, and competing on a part-time basis: “When I first started hauling Okay Katy in 2013, I got to meet some of the barrel futurity trainers. When you’re sitting in the stands, don’t be afraid to visit with them. If they’re not busy, you can ask questions. It’s just neat that these mares opened up so many doors for me, from meeting different stallion owners to selling these prospects to different trainers around the country.”

“I’m just a little fish in a big pond, yet it’s neat to go to open races and have younger people come up and ask me questions. I’m always willing to answer them.”