Josie Conner has added Im Countin Checques, the 7-year-old mare named Checkers, to her string as the No. 9 cowgirl keeps her summer rolling.
Checkers, who is by Im Countin Checks and out of Bet Shesa Pretty Cat, was purchased from Montana Brown, but she was not a random find. She was one Conner had been keeping tabs on for a while.
“I’ve been watching Montana for a couple years with her,” the four-time National Finals Breakaway Roping qualifier said. “She’s been out here at all the ProRodeos and some amateur rodeos. I’ve always thought that I would fit that horse pretty good.”
Conner and fiance Riley Webb do not make a living training horses or bringing along young ones, so finding the next rodeo horse usually means watching, scouting and waiting on the right one to become available. Checkers had been on that list.
The mare stands at about 13.3 hands, which was part of what caught Conner’s eye in the first place.
“She’s little bitty, and I like little,” Conner said. “I’ve rode a lot of little horses in my day, so I just always thought that would be a pretty good fit.”
The timing of it all was a huge factor in the addition.
Dutch, Conner’s two-time AQHA Nutrena Breakaway Roping Horse of the Year that has carried her through the last two years of ProRodeo and won plenty along the way, is staing home this summer after a winter of soreness that Conner could not quite get pinned down, despite the efforts.
“His whole body looks like he hurts to me,” Conner said. “I’ve rode him for several years. I know what he’s supposed to feel like and he doesn’t feel like that. He doesn’t owe me anything, so he won’t come back until he’s back to feeling his best.”
Conner is giving Dutch all the time he needs to rehab and get back to feeling his best. That left Conner headed into the summer with Baybe Bullet, the mare she has leased from fellow NFBR qualifier Joey Williams, and not much else.
“When I found out maybe Dutch wasn’t going to be able to make the trip this summer, I called Montana and got the horse over there the next day,” Conner said. “That was the week before it was time to come out here, so I didn’t have her for very long.”
Conner ran four or five calves on Checkers at home after the mare arrived on a Tuesday, then had her wisdom teeth pulled Wednesday and took a few days off. By Friday, she was back on the mare.
Then came the jackpot in Woodward, Oklahoma, before the ProRodeo.
“I placed on my first ever calf that I roped on her,” Conner said.
From there, Checkers went straight into rodeo mode. Conner placed at Woodward, won second at Driggs, Idaho, regrouped after Union and Sisters, Oregon, then placed in the first round at Nampa, Idaho, before heading to Fallon, Vernal, Elko and back to Nampa.
“We hit the ground running,” Conner laughed.
Before Checkers landed with Brown, she went through Justin Maass’ program. Maass said the mare was brought to him as a 3-year-old and was started for the futurities before eventually being sold. Even then, the things that make her work now were already there.
“That mare was really easy to train,” Maass said. “She was really good in the calf roping too, she just was really little.”
After her futurity year, Maass said they focused on breakaway roping with her before Brown bought her. Maass watched Brown have plenty of good days on the mare and was fired up to see Checkers land with Conner.
“As a trainer, you want them to go to the absolute top level,” Maass said. “Right now, there’s just a select few girls and guys both that you know are going to be there every single year no matter what and be in contention for a championship.”
What Maass sees in Checkers is simple: she scores, she has fast feet and she is easy to ride.
“I’m a fan of the little, fast-footed ones in the breakaway,” Maass said. “I think when they have those quick feet like that, it makes it so much easier, especially in the breakaway. She’s really smooth. She’s not a big, strong horse, so she’s not blowing you out of there or really hard to ride. It’s just really easy.”
That easy, fast-footed style is exactly what Conner felt right away. Checkers reminds her of Tonka—registered as Hermie Sadler—the gelding that Corlee Massey now rides, more than any horse she has had since him. At the same time, Checkers breaks the rope hard like Dutch to make the mare feel familiar in all the right places.
“She shows me so many characteristics of Tonka,” Conner said. “She’s as close to the feeling of Tonka as I’ve ever had. She kind of breaks the rope like Dutch. So I’ve got a pretty good mix of two that I’ve won a lot on and liked a lot.”
For Conner, the summer setup looks different than planned. Dutch is home getting the time he has earned, and instead of hauling a gelding string, she has two mares in the trailer—Baybe and Checkers.
“I’m a gelding girl, and I have nothing but mares,” Conner laughed.
But so far, Checkers has made the adjustment a whole lot easier. She was the little mare Conner had been watching, waiting on and thinking might fit her someday.
Someday just happened to show up fast.
“It was all God’s timing that it all worked out that way.”
