On Saturday, there were lots of high fives and way to go comments in the Mustang Arena at the Built Ford Tough Complex in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the Equestrians With Disabilities classes. Two of the Equestrians With Disabilities who were named world champions in the Independent division had reason to celebrate. Their victories were doubly sweet because each of them had set a goal to move from competing as Supported Riders to Independent riders.
Justin Kimmel Reaches New Heights
Three years ago, Justin Kimmel competed at the NSBA World Championship Show in the Supported Rider division, showing with his sister, Mary, as his support person. “I showed at the NSBA World Show, and I’ve shown at the Quarter Horse Congress,” Justin said.
This year, Justin and his horse, Shez Ready To Rock, came to the NSBA World Show and won the EWD Independent Walk Trot Western Pleasure world championship.
Justin, who has autism, balance issues, double vision and attention deficit disorder, had set a goal to be able to compete in the Independent division. “I worked really hard to get better at being an independent rider,” he said. “When I first started doing Independent, it was sort of weird not having someone with you, but the more I did it, the more I got used to it and the more comfortable I got with it.”
Justin competes in the Independent EWD Western All Around classes including Western Pleasure, Horsemanship, Trail and Showmanship. He shares his horse, Shez Ready To Rock, or Roxie, with his sister, Mary, who shows in Novice Amateur events, and his mother, Jennifer, who shows in Amateur Walk Trot Western Pleasure.
“We’ve had Roxie for five years,” Mary said. “We do the training all on our own. Since we started working with Roxie, Justin’s confidence has grown so much, and he wants to win, so he’s become really focused on what he needs to do. Riding and practicing also helped calm him down. Roxie and Justin are best friends – they play video games together. Roxie just takes care of Justin. With us sometimes, not so much, but with Justin, she knows and she takes care of him.”
Justin noted that Roxie will get her favorite treats to celebrate their world championship – peppermints and donuts.
Rhiannon Celebrates A Win In Horsemanship
Although you would never know it by watching her compete due to her attention to detail and strong horsemanship skills, Rhiannon Huffman has had a long road to becoming an Independent rider. She showed Hollywood Nitez to win the EWD Independent Western Horsemanship world championship on Saturday.
“Rhiannon has a diagnosis of autism, specifically central auditory processing disfunction and she also has sensory integration disfunction. Those are her two biggest challenges,” noted her mother, Anne Margaret Huffman.
“Rhiannon has always been a visual person and not an auditory person because of her disfunction, so the patterns are her gig. She can see them and she can remember them. She also has hypertonia, or low muscle tone in her upper body, so sitting tall and keeping her arms up are a challenge for her.
“She has been in therapeutic riding for 19 years. She started competing in Special Olympics and came to be a Supported EWD rider in 2014. She went to the very first EWD classes at the Quarter Horse Congress in 2015 as a Supported rider, and became an Independent rider in 2019.
“She has worked very hard to get herself to that level where she can compete with her peers and be in this environment. This has been an incredible journey for her to be able to say that she is doing what all her peers at the barn have been doing for a lot longer than she has.” Rhiannon was the NSBA High Point EWD Rider in 2022 and 2023.
Margaret talked about the impact therapeutic riding and competition have had on Rhiannon. “It’s made a huge impact,” she said. “The self confidence that it gives these kids is unbeatable. When you add the competition part, that makes them want to better themselves and ask for that help and ask how they improve – that’s just unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it, where they will say, make me do it again, how can I make it better.
“It impacts Rhiannon in her everyday living because she wants to be better at this chore, or she wants to do better on this test. One of Rhiannon’s requirements when she transitioned back to her senior year in high school from a therapeutic day school was having to do a presentation and they wanted them present their goals. I was not involved in the project. Rhiannon stood up there and flipped a slide to present one of her goals, and that was ‘I want to help other kids like me get better.’”
Anne Margaret also talked about the impact of the Equestrians With Disabilities classes on the participants. “We’re forever grateful to Corbett Ryan for standing up and saying, ‘I want to compete too,’ because he’s the reason all of us are here. Because of him, Rhiannon is who she is today,” she said.
Anne Margaret is referring to EWD exhibitor, NSBA corporate sponsor and educator Corbett Ryan’s role in approaching NSBA about providing Equestrians With Disabilities classes. The EWD classes were added to the NSBA World Show in 2009. Since that time, Equestrians With Disabilities classes now appear in various forms across breed associations as well as at numerous open shows across the country. Many follow the EWD rules NSBA developed for eligibility and participation. Corbett Ryan is being honored with the association’s prestigious Jack Benson Award on Sunday night at the NSBA Honors awards banquet as a result of his work with NSBA and the EWD community.
“We’re living proof that there is a path for these riders. They can progress and set goals, and be able to compete just like anyone else,” Anne Margaret said. “And this is a wonderful thing.”
The NSBA World Championship Show and Breeders Championship Futurity continue through Sunday, August 18. To view the complete show schedule, compete show results or view the live video feed during the show, please visit nsba.com.
