It’s hard to top "the best day ever," that several NSBA members had on Monday, but Tuesday was a “Willy Good Day” for the horse Im Willy Good Today, who lived up to his name – winning two Breeders Championship Futurity titles, one world championship and a reserve world championship between owner Erin Shapiro Boatwright and trainer Keith Miller.
Im Willy Good Today won the Breeders Championship Futurity 4-6 Year Old Open Hunter Under Saddle and Senior Hunter Under Saddle with Keith Miller, as well as winning the Breeders Championship Futurity 4-6 Year Old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle and reserve world champion in Amateur Hunter Under Saddle with Erin.
“I will forever be grateful to Sandra Morgan for letting us buy him,” Erin said of the gelding. “He really is a once in a lifetime horse.” “He’s always so much fun to ride,” added Keith. “He’s always a good boy.”
Keith also won a Breeders Championship Futurity title with Ridin On Chrome for owner Kelsey McArthur, winning the Color BCF Three Year Old Open Hunter Under Saddle.
Another horse that won multiple classes on Tuesday was Al My Assets, who swept both the Open Pleasure Driving with Charlie Cole and Non-Pro Pleasure Driving with owner Michelle Bauer.
“From day one when we started him, he has just liked the driving,” noted Charlie Cole. “That makes everything super easy when they enjoy doing it. We showed him for the first time at the Congress last fall and won, and then Jason showed him at the AQHA World Show and won, then at the Sun Circuit and won, and now here. It’s just his class.”
Connections to Highpoint Performance Horses and Kelby and Kaitlyn Hutchinson led Give Me The Moves and Rebekah Kazakevicius to the futurity win in the Breeders Championship Futurity Three Year Old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle.
“I bought Titan from Beth Case as a yearling,” Rebekah said. “He had been at Highpoint since then, and we had saved him for the Green and Novice classes this year. He’s a fabulous trotter, and has a lot of natural cadence. He’s by Give Me The Goods and out of Boys Move Over.
“He needed a little extra attention after the Premier, so Kelby and Kaitlyn Hutchinson have had him for a few months to help me prepare for the World Show. It took a whole team to get here, and I thank Beth, Charlie Cole, Kelby and Kaitlyn for all their help.”
Sandra Morgan’s two year old stallion, Im Willy Fabulous, took the world championship title in the Two Year Old Open Hunter Under Saddle with Tami Thurston in the irons. “Fabio is by Good I Will Be and out of Fabulicity, so he is kind of royalty,” Tami said. “Sandra did ICSI to breed and raise him, and she started him under saddle. I had always wanted to show a stallion – it was on my bucket list, and now I have. Plus the smile on Sandra’s face when she rides him is pretty special.”
“I loved him from the beginning,” Sandra added. “He has a great top line, great personality and he can canter. He’s very slow legged, it’s just natural. He has so much power behind, that you just feel when you ride him.”
Sheyenne Nelson had a whole barn full of supporters to cheer on her world championship win in Novice Amateur Hunter Under Saddle. She showed Heart Stopperr to the win. “He had never shown before, so we weren’t sure how it would go – he’s just two years old,” Sheyenne said.
“We bought him in the yearling sale last year – we loved how he carried himself, and he had a presence about him. I had never shown Hunter Under Saddle before, and this is my first world championship. He was awesome. He showed his heart out, and I got to just enjoy the ride. He’s just the sweetest horse, and he just wants to make you happy. My fiancé, Adam Winter, got him ready for me.”
Caroline Cavallo and Only Ride The Best proved that they did ride the best, winning the world championship in Amateur Hunter Under Saddle. Unfortunately she had a conflict in the Trail pen and was unable to savor the moment, and trainer Dawn Piper accepted on her behalf.
Cody Parrish showed a horse that was pretty familiar to him to win Green Western Pleasure. “Peanut was born and raised at our farm,” Cody said. “We kind of waited on him to do the Green and Novice Horse classes, and we did wait a long time for him, since he’s four years old. He has great self-carriage, and that makes my job easier.”
Owners Butch and Robin Rice have owned Peanut about six months. “We have only been with the Parrish family a short time,” Robin said. “Peanut is one of the best horses ever – we love his personality, and we’re very excited to have him. We hope to add Trail to his classes later.”
A catch ride for Ricky Noiseux turned into a Breeders Championship Futurity win when he showed Made Ona Dream for KM Holt Inc. “She showed great,” Ricky said. “Zach Favorite had her ready for me, so it was good.”
“That was the best ride that mare has ever had,” noted owner Karen Holt. “We bought her in 2020. She was bred by Tracy Plummer, and we’ve had her since she was a yearling. She was third in the Coughlin Maiden Two Year Old class, and top three in the Non-Pro. We’re also very excited for Ricky.”
VS Whole Lotta Lucy continued her winning ways, earning the futurity championship in the Breeders Championship Futurity Two Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure for Kristen Galyean, with Jay Starnes in the saddle. She was also reserve in the Two Year Old Open Western Pleasure. “She is so sweet, and she tries really hard,” Kristen said.
“She does have some of Lucy, Vital Signs Are Good, on both sides of her pedigree with VS Flatline and VS Lady In Red as her parents, and I knew when we did this cross that it would either be really good or not so good. We’re really pleased with this cross. There are a lot of characteristics that I see that are similar to Lucy. She’s the second one we’ve bred this way.”
In the Breeders Championship Futurity Two Year Old Limited Non-Pro Two Year Old Western Pleasure, Brooke Granzow showed GetMyGoodSyde to the win. “This mare is by Mr Zippos Good Bar, and was born and raised in Illinois,” Brooke said.
“I started her, but my boyfriend, Drew DeBuhr, helped me put some finish on her. He showed both her mom and her dad, so she’s pretty special to us. This was her maiden voyage. She’s just a really good show mare. She has a lot of self-carriage.”
Jessica Olsen Groome doesn’t get to show very often these days due to her work with the Olsen’s family business, but since she was in Tulsa with her family, her mother, Nettie Olsen asked her if she wanted to show RR Cant Stop A Feeling. The result was a Breeders Championship Futurity win for her and ‘Sniper.’
“We were excited for Jessica to get to show him,” Nettie said. “He’s five years old now. We bought him as a yearling, and Mike Hachtel showed him to the reserve champion title in the Congress Masters Western Pleasure, and won the Limited division. He’s won here at the NSBA before too. We have a lot of fun with him.”
Sara Simons continued her winning ways, taking the world championship title in Senior Western Pleasure with Air Ryde.
The day ended well in the Ford Arena for JR Cook and Cole Baker, with back to back winners in the BCF 4-6 Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure and the Three Year Old Open Western Pleasure for Cook-owned horses.
JR Cook showed his unicorn Line Up Behind to win the Breeders Championship Futurity 4-6 Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure. The gelding known as Calvin won the title, with a half sibling taking the reserve title when Hillary Roberts and Aint Nothin To It took the award. “I’m having a proud breeder moment,” Hillary noted, since she owns Shes Immortal, the dam of both horses.
In the Three Year Old Open Western Pleasure, Cole Baker showed the Cook’s Flo Rida to the world championship title with JR and Calvin looking on from the back gate. JR’s wife Melissa was unable to enjoy the win, since she was on a plane back home to help the Cook’s daughter prepare for their first day of school on Wednesday.
The NSBA World Championship Show will continue through August 21. To view complete show results or learn more about the show or the association, please visit nsba.com.
