With three age groups of Youth Trail, plenty of Western Pleasure classes and some Horsemanship and Hunter Under Saddle thrown in, Monday was a busy for exhibitors, judges and families at the All American Quarter Horse Congress..
A Trail of Champions
Sidney Dunham showed Hez Purely Dynamic to win the AQHA and NSBA Youth 12-14 Trail. “I was second at the Congress in 2015 with my old horse and scored a 229 that year, and we scored a 411.5 today,” Sidney said.
“When you walked the pattern, it looked pretty large, but when you rode it had some tight parts,” she said. Her gelding, by Dynamic Deluxe, is known as James or Jimmy.
“I really like Trail because it is mathematic and rhythmical. It makes me happy. I’m so excited that we won. He wanted to be good. He steered where I wanted him to go. "
In the 15-18 AQHA and NSBA Youth Trail, Sabrina Janis guided Cruize to the win, earning her first title of any kind in her show career. “I’ve been doing Trail since I was nine years old and this was a long time coming,” Sabrina said.
“When I saw what draw we were, I thought maybe our luck was changing. I’ve never had a late draw it seems like and we were 73 out of 76. The course was pretty good. After the lead change, you kind of had to pay attention to stay on track.”
The class closed out Sabrina’s Youth career, who had to get on a plane to return to school. “Speedie was just amazing, and I want to thank David Miller and Scott Jones and also Jennifer Paul who really helped us put it together.”
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Addison Nalle-Icehour and Lonesome At The Bar leased her cousin’s horse and rode him to win the AQHA and NSBA 11 & Under Trail.
“At one of the shows, my cousin Kylie let me ride her horse when mine got sick, so then we leased him,” Addison said.
“It’s my first year loping. My trainer, Marion Troyer, told me to be slow, be soft and make sure he’s listing – and to do my best and have fun,” Addison said.
“I’m just so proud of my horse. Our gate, our back-through and going over the poles made me really happy. I have a lot of fun with my barn mates and I want to thank my mom and dad!”
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Western Pleasure Winners
Kylee Wiseman was excited to win the AQHA and NSBA Youth 12-14 Western Pleasure, but she was even more excited to cash in on a promise her grandparents, Dennis and Debbie Martin, made to her.
“They told me if I won both my classes, I could get a Reiner,” she had said on Sunday after her NYATT Western Pleasure win.
Is there a Reiner in her future? Time will tell!.
Melissa Wilkes showed ‘Hunter’ a gelding she bred and raised, Bettin The Goods, who is by Keeping It Good, to win the Three Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure Futurity.
“Mike and I got married ten years ago, and his parents raised racing Quarter Horses. We decided we wanted to breed Quarter Horses, so we bought his mom at the Super Sale and we’ve been raising babies. We saved him for the three year old classes,” Melissa said.
“His half sister is in the three year old class, and we have a VS Code Red by the same mare born this year. I can’t believe I won the Open three year olds! We don’t usually keep the geldings, but he might get to stay for a while!”
and NSBA Youth 12-14 Western Pleasure, but she was even more excited to cash in on a promise her grandparents, Dennis and Debbie Martin, made to her.
“They told me if I won both my classes, I could get a Reiner,” she had said on Sunday after her NYATT Western Pleasure win.
Is there a Reiner in her future? Time will tell!
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In a very deep Junior Western Pleasure class saw a familiar face take the top spot. KM Suddenly So Easy and Casey Willis won both the AQHA and NSBA champion awards for Masterson Farms LLC.
“She’s now won three times at the Congress. She won the three year old class and the Junior Western Pleasure here last year,” Casey said. “This is the first I’ve got to show her in quite a while. Blair (Townsend) and Marilyn (Masterson) have been showing her this year to change things up and keep her fresh, and it worked.”
The mare known as Penelope has a forever home, noted Ken Masterson. “She’s stuck in Tennessee from here on out,” Ken said. “She’s pretty special. We already have a Loping Machine baby out of her and a Blazing Hot on the way. It’s going to be fun to see how her babies come along.”
“We have a great team, and we’re all like family,” Marilyn said of her crew. “We foal about 40 babies a year, and it takes everyone to get them going. We’re very blessed.”
Although he has enjoyed showing his current show string, Casey is also looking forward to the next set of horses. “We have several two year olds we’re starting for next year,” he said. “We have a full sister to Penelope that we thing is pretty nice.”
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Pattern Champions
Olivia Tordoff and Lookin Lazy were anything but lazy when they won the AQHA and NSBA Youth Horsemanship 15-18.
“I’ve been showing her for two years, but she’s had a lot of time off. It’s difficult teaching a green horse. We only showed one class here, because we didn’t want to overwhelm her,” Olivia said. “We had a little bit of a rough time at the Youth World, but that’s what makes it special to me because I put in the work with her. We just put on her lead change in August, so to come out here and have a great lead change was really special.
Olivia is no stranger to winning Horsemanship classes at the Congress, but with her previous horse, Sterling Version. “I won the Novice 13 & Under Horsemanship, was reserve twice in Horsemanship and won the 12-14 twice, and NYATT once,” she said. “It’s really special to come back and win it with another horse, especially a green horse.”
Olivia has one year of Youth eligibility remaining, and is verbally committed to Auburn University.
Other champions on Monday included Dan Yeager and Cracked The Code, who won Amateur Select Horsemanship for the second year in a row (and Dan’s third year on different horses), and Melanie Thurston and Withoutyoualbeblue earning the win in AQHA and NSBA Level 1 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle.
To view the complete show results, please visit www.quarterhorsecongress.com, and the view the live video feed, go to nationalsportsbroadcasting.com/congress/. The show continues through October 28.
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