Midweek kept horses and exhibitors busy going between the Celeste Center and the Coliseum, but probably no one had a better day than Dr. Candice Hall and Corey Seeback on Wednesday.
J's Big Day
The couple’s six year old mare Made By J was a double Congress champion on the day. ‘Jolene’ won the Limited division of the Maturity Non-Pro Western Pleasure Stakes with Candice aboard in the early afternoon, and won Senior Western Pleasure with Gil Galyean riding by evening.
Jolene has a knack for putting multiple knockout performances in one day. “Last year she was reserve champion in the Maturity and was reserve in Junior Western Pleasure in the same day,” Candice said.
Jolene is by Candice and Corey’s stallion, Machine Made. “Of all his babies, she feels the most like him,” Candice said. “She drives so deep and it’s so easy for her, just like Machine Made. This has been a long time coming,” she continued. “We’ve been showing here at the Congress for ten years. I’ve lost the tiebreaker for reserve and got third and had a few top fives and top tens, but this is incredible.”
“This is Jolene’s first year as a senior horse,” Gil added. “She’s always a neat horse. She has so much self-carriage and a lot of lift. This is really special for Candice and Corey. They have been such great loyal clients.”
The Best Butter
In the Limited division of the $10,000 Limited Horse Open Western Pleasure, Erin Lieurance cooked up a winning go with Theycallmebutter, showing to the win for Alyssa Beardsley.
“His full brother was reserve champion here two years ago at the Congress,” Erin said.
“He’s four years old and by No Doubt Im Lazy, and I’ve had him since he was two. He showed as a two year old and off and on last year and he’s always been in the top ten. He’s got such a soft stride and he’s so contained. Plus I just love his chrome. You can’t miss him. He has lots of personality.
Accidental Congress Champion RR Chocolate Assets
Trainer Alyse Roberts chose a veteran - Brian Isbell Garcia – to catch ride RR Chocolate Assets, and the decision proved to be a good one as they won the Limited division of the Maturity Open Hunter Under Saddle Stakes.
“This is my fourth time to win this class and the first time to win it since 2002,” Brian said. “I won on Allocate Your Assets the first time we won it. This one is a cool horse with a cool story.”
“This horse is 13 years old, and he’s by Good Asset and out of a Zips Chocolate Chip mare,” Alyse said. “He was living in the pasture for 11 years. His owner, Brandi, got married, worked, and had children and now she wanted to ride again. She bought him and did all the work. Her goal was to qualify for the AQHA World Show, which she did.
"He wasn’t even going to come here but I begged Brandi to let us bring him. He will show in the Senior Hunter Under Saddle and Open Maturity. Now we might be late entering the Green Hunter Under Saddle, since he's still eligible!"
AQHA Accents
In Junior Hunter Under Saddle, an international connection and old friends combined for the win. Dasi” Jablonowski flew in from Germany to show Hubbout A Dance for the Porter/Wood family, who own High Range Ranch.
“I just got to ride him during the night. Beth Case taught me everything I know, so she’s pretty easy to ride for. She told me how to ride him. Henry is always prepared and ready to show. He just wants to do his job,” Dasi said.
“The Porter family owned the first horse I ever showed in the United States in 2015, so it’s been fun to come back and show for them today. I will be forever grateful for their confidence in me.”
“He’s almost like putting a car on cruise control when you’re in the ring,” added Alicia Porter. “But in the stalls, it’s another story. We probably give him too many treats.”
Henry’s trip to the Congress has also had its challenge however. “We’ve been doctoring Henry because he got a spider bite or something. All of a sudden, he had this big tennis ball-sized welt under his armpit, but luckily it went down. It’s been my job to doctor it. Luckily it has gone down, but it was a little scary."
Sketchie Details and Keith Miller put all the details together to win Senior Hunter Under Saddle. It was the first Congress championship for owner Nicole Kuklinski.
“We call him Petey,” Nicole said of the six year old gelding. “I just think he’s a really pretty trotter and great loper. He’s very striking in the pen.”
“He’s so much fun to show,” Keith added. “He’s very consistent and just goes very soft. He just lets you show him. We’ve had him since he was three years old..
Ella Petak showed Getting Hot to win the AQHA and NSBA Level 1 Youth Western Riding, winning their first Congress championship title.
“I’ve had my horse for three years,” Ella said. “We show in Horsemanship, Western Riding and Trail. We’ll probably celebrate by going to dinner. I think we’ll keep our trophies at the barn!”
Additional AQHA champions on Wednesday included AQHA and NSBA Youth Western Riding 13 & Under – Potentially Money, Lyla Bellar; and Level 1 Youth Horsemanship 13 & Under – Greedy Ghost, June Robertson.
The All American Quarter Horse Congress continues through Sunday, October 28. To view the complete show results, please visit www.quarterhorsecongress.com, and the view the live video feed go to nationalsportsbroadcasting.com/congress/.
