Photo submitted by Mary Jo Lehmann

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The Dave Scribner Memorial Cutting and Saddle Shootout was held October 17th - 19th in Verndale, MN at R & J Arena. It is a really nice facility with everything under one roof. There is a fun western store and good cafe within the facility. The ground was good and the cattle for the most part cooperated really well. However, there was a little excitement when one really mad heifer tried to take everyone out in the arena. Bob and Dusty took it on and got it out of the arena. Kudos to Bob and Dusty! Thank you to the helpers in the arena; JP Bell, Jack Bell, Bob Janssen, Travis Grover and John Moder, they worked really long days. I know there were others that stepped in and helped in the arena, thank you to everyone. It takes a lot of people that are willing to help in order to have a successful cutting.

The Saddle Shootout was very exciting this year. It began with a lively Calcutta. The contestants were sold in teams of three in each division, if you bought the winning team (combined high score) you won the entire pot. There was a lot of very loud cheering as people cheered for the members of the team they had purchased. Brooke Drassal-Creighton put in a lot of time finalizing who was actually going to show in the Shootout. She contacted everyone about what song they wanted played during their run and set up all the music.

Division 1 was determined by qualifiers from the Non-Pro, $50,000 Amateur, Unlimited Amateur, $25,000 Novice Non-Pro and $5,000 Novice Non-Pro. The competition was excellent and some of the cattle were quite challenging. After getting jolted (kicked) by a cow right at the end of her first run, JoAnn Yahnke came back for her second run (you could show twice if you qualified in two classes) and held strong on some tough cattle. She and Tell Em Im Stylish scored a 74 and won the saddle. There were some amazing runs in Division 2 which is made up of qualifiers from the $35,000 Non-Pro, $15,000 Amateur, $2,000 Limit Rider and $1,000 Limit Rider. Hayley Juntunen laid down an amazing run with Cash On The Barrel to score a 76 and win the saddle. Congratulations to JoAnn and Hayley.

It was special that Dave's daughter, Michelle, and his granddaughters Ariel and Zuri were present to award the saddles. We all miss Dave's presence and all he gave to the association. It was a wonderfully fun evening. The MCHA had pizza brought in for everyone to enjoy. The individuals that purchased the winning teams in the Calcutta were overjoyed as Division 1 paid out $1,700 and Division 2 paid out $1,850.

I know there are many people that I have missed thanking but just know that everyone that helped is greatly appreciated.

Respectfully submitted,
Mary Jo Lehmann, Vice President