Boyd Rice was leading the pack on O Cay N Short, with a score of 223 for herd work, at the end of the first day of competition in the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s Snaffle Bit Futurity, on Sunday, September 23, in Reno, NV.

Rice has been a consistent performer at Reno in recent years, although he is even more prominent in the world of cutting, with close to $2 million in earnings. In 2005, he captured the Snaffle Bit Futurity Intermediate Open championship and the Open Reserve championship on Playin Attraction, by Playin Stylish. O Cay N Short, by Oh Cay Quixote, is owned by Kevin & Sydney Knight, Peoria, AZ.

One of Rice’s current cutting mounts is the 4-year-old Chic Please daughter ARC Cat Her Please, a former Snaffle Bit Futurity contestant that Rice trained and has ridden as a finalist in both the National Cutting Horse Association’s Open Super Stakes and Derby, as well as the Cotton Stakes.

Preliminary herd work for the Snaffle Bit Futurity is scheduled to continue through Tuesday, September 25. After the herd work, exhibitors will compete in rein work and cow work. The three legs of competition will decide which horses will make it back to the Intermediate Open and Limited Open finals on October 5, and the Open finals on October 7.