Fairy tales do come true—just ask AQHA newbie Drew Boies and his roping mare, Ravens Silver Angel (Raven). Boies and Raven placed seventh in the Amateur Heeling last week at the Congress. While that might not impress some; we encourage you to read the story of this roper and his four-year-old grulla mare from Ocala, Florida.
Originally from Virginia, Boies, a farrier, would occasionally have a horse trader come by his place to show him some horses before they were sent to slaughter. About four years ago, the young cowboy picked a yearling and weanling filly off the trailer. In exchange, he traded an old saddle and gave two hundred dollars. Eventually, the 24-year-old moved to Ocala and brought the horse he called “Raven” with him. The kind-eyed mare wasn’t broke out until she was three-years-old, and Drew did all of her training. Eventually, Drew started doing jackpot ropings with her.
“She was by nothing and out of nothing, so I never really thought she was anything special,” Boies tells GoHorseShow. “She was really quiet and lazy and loved to eat a lot of grass, but I never thought she would amount to much.”
Well, his opinion started to change when he kept working with her and had a wild hair to show her at the Congress. Keep in mind that Drew was not an AQHA member, had never shown at an AQHA show and even though he owned the horse, his name did not appear on her registration papers. Boies first learned about AQHA and showing horses from his now fiance, Victoria Mickle, who competes in the western pleasure events.
“It was like two different worlds clashing,” Victoria said of their relationship. “I was part of the horse show world with blankets and keeping lights on them; while Drew was the type of cowboy that turned his horses out at night.”
Boies said he decided to bring his mare up to Congress because he wanted something to do while his fiance showed and attended the Congress for three weeks. Mickle is running for Congress Queen representing the Northwest Florida Quarter Horse Association.
“I became an AQHA member about a month ago, and transferred the mare’s papers into my name, and decided to take her to the Congress even though she had never shown in a covered pen,” Drew explains. “She was a little snorty and nervous at first, but I rode her around the fairgrounds, food vendors, and golf carts. I guess everything was stacked against us but she never missed a beat, and I was really proud of her–especially for a four-year-old that was competing against seasoned show horses.”
However, Boies did have one thing going for him. He asked World Champion roper, CR Bradley to be his header, which definitely paid off. Drew and Raven scored a 213 and were sitting second until the very end of the class, Drew says. He was also only one-tenth of a second out of making the $20,000 Cinch Rope Off.
“We were looking up the roping rules in the rulebook the night before the class,” his fiance Victoria says and laughs. “We weren’t sure what the rules were and we wanted to make sure we had the appropriate attire and equipment. I was worried that Raven had rubbed the middle of her mane off but I found out it didn’t really matter in the roping.”
Victoria adds, “CR and Drew had met at local ropings but they had never roped together and never practiced. They just went in the arena shook hands and off they went. Everything just seemed to come together and work out perfectly.”
When GoHorseShow asked Drew why he picked the biggest show in the world to make his debut, “I guess I had nothing to lose, and I guess if I could show at the Congress; I knew I could show anywhere.”
And how does he feel about placing in the top-10 at one of the most prestigious shows in the world? Drew says that he is ecstatic and shocked that he was able to do so well. “For a horse that I saved from the killers and paid less than $200 for—I say that we did quite well–especially for my first Quarter Horse Show,” Drew says and laughs. “I guess it’s all downhill from here.”
