Cody Hedlund, 19, made the most of the opportunity to ride Ray Baldwin’s major limited age event champion CD Boonsmal in Jackson.
Cody Hedlund
Yesterday, Hedlund and the 7-year-old son of CD Olena scored 223 points to win the Eastern National Senior Youth championship. It was Hedlund’s first Youth title, although he was a Senior Youth Scholarship finalist at the 2009 NCHA Summer Spectacular riding Redneck Yachtclub, owned by Phil and Mary Ann Rapp.
Cody, the son of trainer Rock Hedlund, is a student at Weatherford College and works part-time for the Rapps.
“I didn’t want to chase anything, so I cut in the middle of the pen and tried to cut soft and not take myself out of the cutting,” said Hedlund, who had won the go-round with 219 points.
Cheyenne Johnson, 15, Pine Level, AL, claimed the Senior Youth reserve title with 217.5 points scored on Freckles Blue Jewel, as the next-to-last rider in the last set.
“I was really nervous because usually the cows get really tough towards the end,” said Cheyenne. “But it really felt awesome. My horse has never felt so good.”
Six-year-old Freckles Blue Jewel, by Duals Blue Boon, had belomged to Cheyenne’s mother, Erin.
“I hated this horse because I always had to get her ready for my mother and she was really obnoxious as a baby,” said Cheyenne. “But we’ve really bonded this year and I trust her so much, I just love her to death. now.”
Cheyenne qualified for the 2005 Eastern National Junior Youth with Jazzy Little Dry. In 2008, she placed as reserve champion on Freckles Blue Jewel and also qualified with the blue roan mare in the $10,000 Amateur division. Last year, the pair qualified for the finals of the Senior Youth Cutting at the NCHA Derby.
Matthew Dedden
Junior Youth
Matthew Dedden, 12, Burlington, KY, showed A Cat Named Sue to a 223-point victory for the Junior Youth championship title.
“I knew going in to the finals that I was going to have to be strong and work the cattle as much as I could,” said Matthew, a sixth grade student, who also plays basketball and runs cross country.
“I went in and ‘power cut’ to hopefully get a higher score.,” added Matthew. “That’s my term—I find one cow in a herd and push straight toward them and don’t think about anything else.”
A Cat Named Sue is a 10-year-old gelding sired by High Brow Cat.
Garrett Hampton, 10, Rogersville, MO, was the Junior reserve champion with 216 points on Dullays Drifter.
“I really didn’t like my second cow, but other than that everything was good,” said Garrett, who placed 14th in the 2008 Eastern National Junior finals riding Jelly Tracks.
Duallys Drifter, a 10-year-old sired by Dual Pep, carried Garrett as a 2009 NCHA Derby Youth finalist.
“He’s a stud horse, but he acts like a gelding,” said Garrett. “I ride him almost every day.”
