It’s no secret that anything bearing Solo Select’s name has to be exceptional. After all, their motto is “the very best.” With industry-changing goals and a plan to achieve them, Melanie Smith and her team have proven time and time again that they can live by that motto.
In recent years, Smith has teamed up with Trevor Brazile and Miles Baker of Relentless Remuda to change the rope horse industry forever. Simply put, Brazile and Baker are also “the very best” at what they do, selecting and training elite rope horses.
Smith, Brazile and Baker have attempted to create something that has never been done before: horses bred specifically for roping. If Gunna Wanna and Relentless PYC are any indication of what’s to come, this is a true revolution for the industry.
The irony is not lost on us that only one beautiful mare could shake up an entire industry as effortlessly as Elle Woods in the movie Legally Blonde: “What? Like it’s hard?”
Gunna Wanna is owned by Relentless Remuda, Select Genes and Hal Earnhardt. Just last year, the mare won $75,000 in the Snaffle Bit Futurity with Corey Cushing and finished fourth overall. The mare scored the highest in rein work in the preliminary rounds and finals, making her a clear addition to the Select lineup.
Gunna Wanna “Homegirl” is by GunnaTrashYa and is out of Chic Vintage Flare by Smart Chic Olena. Just months after beginning her second career heeling with Baker and Brazile, she has earned another $35,000.
Relentless PYC, by First Prize Diver and out of Chars Gun by Playgun, is owned by Solo Select, Relentless Remuda and Tonkin. With her third futurity win of the year, Nala left the Old West Rope Horse Futurity $55,000 richer for her performance in the pre-futurity heading. After the dust settled at the Royal Crown in Rock Springs, Wyoming, the mare had surpassed the $103,000 total earnings.
Smith, Baker, Brazile and Ty Smith spoke at length about Nala on a recent episode of The Business of Horses with Solo Select podcast. The group believes the mare is one of the first examples of a mare truly bred for jumping.
Smith noted, “I hope that in 10 years we can look back and say that these were once cow/run crosses and now they are just lead horses. We have bred the best lead mares to the best lead stallions and now we have lead horses.”
When asked what makes the mare so exceptional, Brazile said, “She goes from 0 to 100% in the box every time. She can hold that power and keep it under control and get amazing results. She’s so refined when she’s holding the cow and the face, there’s really no gap in her game. Because she has a little bit more talent in all those places, she can do it with ease.”
When Smith asked Baker about his experience at the Old West Futurity, Baker simply said, “The mare was great, and she always is.”
