SueAnnTexas.Com & The Shoppe

~ Updated for Your Benefit 4/8/2021 ~

Tribute & Background:  I chose Sunny Intuitively over another horse recommended to me..... A vet check yielded a "lame in 3 out of 4 legs" diagnosis & the designation of "Being a TANK!" by a Trainer friend initially helping me.  Others would go on to remark similarly, with my proud retorts of "Yeah..... He has great heart & great lungs!!!!  He'll hold a cow under the toughest conditions as long as he needs to & beat out lesser horses....."   I stuck to "My Intuitive Guns" from the beginning & Sunny became my profoundly trusted, unbelievably kick ass partner in the show pen; plus super cool, sometimes cranky & sometimes comical pal!!!  We started with a bang at our 1st Show (see picture down below) despite my unexpected fever / precarious physical state, freezing temperatures & long day / late night..... we pressed on together with a knowing sense of purpose & timeliness, nonetheless.  In the beginning, Sunny graciously carried me then quickly forced me to rise to the occasion of our potential together & earn his respect..... Once he knew I would absolutely "GO FOR IT FEARLESSLY!" with him, he pulled out all the stops & often earned cheers, praise from strangers & random prior owners we ran in to at shows who regretted letting him go.  We went on to qualify for 4 different classes at The Western National Finals our first year, without me even realizing it.  He carried us to 3 out of 4 Finals while there plus grittily earning 2 checks & a coveted Top 10 Buckle together.  He also helped save the day wrangling with gathering / moving cattle in large pastures one particular day doing some ranch work..... beating out the professional day help repeatedly & jumping a stream full tilt to catch a renegade herd at the last second & very end of a very long day that would have gone much longer!  He KNEW what he needed to do.  He KNEW what I was going for.  We were partners.  When it came time to retire him for physical reasons, he would pitch a fit if the trailer left without him.  Haul him along to a show for convenience & NOT compete with him, he'd rock the trailer going home over leaving "before HE could show 'em ALL what HE had!"  Very well mannered, he did have some attitude & a temper when he thought it was valid, all of which served him well in the cutting pen!

 He certainly proved out his initially suspected specialness & strength of character in the show pen even more by the following..... 1.) Physically knocking a cow with his shoulder to make a super tough cut one night, yep!!  2.) Performing perfectly despite an accidentally dropped rein while working a cow during competition one day,  3.) Garnered shouts of approval from the crowd at one of those finals in Utah mentioned above when he refused to stop doing his job, even though our rebel cow managed to COMPLETELY leave the pen & high tail it from sight, literally..... He remained in perfect position looking for our missing cow to come back & did so all the way to the buzzer, NOT wanting to let me down.  Pretty stunning :D  4.) PLUS a 2nd similar type situation (as if that wasn't enough!) to earn our Top 10 Finals Buckle!!

An extra tough, smart horse that I consider a once in a lifetime type horse.  Saying "Thanks" is not enough which is part of why I'm Honoring him here.

 

Sunny / Sunnys Pinoakio