Bet Yer Blue Boons, NCHA Open World Champion, the first horse ever to score 233 points in an NCHA finals event, and an all-time leading producer of earners of $1.8 million, died on Wednesday May 1, following colic surgery.

“Up until Sunday night, when she colicked, she was the picture of health,” said Lindy Burch, who trained and showed Bet Yer Blue Boons for Oxbow Ranch. During her show career, Bet Yer Blue Boons earned $332,960. In addition to the 2000 NCHA Open World Championship, she placed in the Top Ten Open standings for four consecutive years, including in 1998, when she earned 233 points to win the third go-round of the NCHA World Finals.

Sired by Freckles Playboy and bred by Larry Hall out of Royal Blue Boon, Bet Yer Blue Boons was purchased by Burch as a 2-year-old, in 1992. When she bought her, Burch had been doing well in competition with the roan mare’s 5-year-old half-sister, Royal Red Boon, at the time, one of just three performers out of Royal Blue Boon. Larry Hall was also doing well in non-pro limited age event competition with Peppys From Heaven, while Kobie Wood had shown Red White And Boon as reserve champion of the 1992 NCHA Derby.

Royal Blue Boon would become NCHA’s all-time leading dam with earners of over $2.5 million, including the Smart Little Lena gelding Red White And Boon LTE $882,498. Bet Yer Blue Boons LTE $332,960, was Royal Blue Boon’s second-highest money earner, and one of eight $100,000-plus earners, including Royal Red Boon LTE $112,896.

Oxbow Ranch purchased Bet Yer Blue Boons in 1993, continuing an historic partnership with Burch that has spanned four decades and countless champions. Oxbow Ranch is the AQHA breeder of record for all of Bet Yer Blue Boon’s 21 performers with a total of $1,179,499, including Bet Hesa Cat LTE $267,465, the 2011 NCHA Open World Champion, owned by the Bet Hesa Cat Syndicate; and Stylish Bet LTE $218,087, shown by Lindy Burch for Oxbow Ranch.

“She was strong and she was tough,” said Burch, reflecting on Bet Yer Blue Boon’s courage and endurance. The same might be said of Lindy Burch, who in 1980 became the first woman to win the NCHA Futurity, catch-riding Mis Royal Mahogany for Larry Reeder, who had won the Futurity in 1978 riding Lynx Melody. Mis Royal Mahogany’s 225.5-point score, under Burch, held for 17 years, as the NCHA Futurity record.

In addition, Burch was the first woman to win the NCHA Open World Championship; was the first trainer to win all four go-rounds in the NCHA World Finals – in 1996 on Shesa Smarty Lena; is a National Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductee, as well as a Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee; a member of the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame; the first woman elected as president of the NCHA; and the breeder of Chers Shadow, the dam of Metallic Cat LTE $574,494, an all-time leading sire of earners of $23 million.