Could you single out the one time in your life that represented the greatest moment of your horse career? For some, it has everything to do with winning, but for others, it might be a private moment that had a profound effect on their life. Conversely, what would you consider to be the worst or lowest time in your horse career?
GoHorseShow.com asked some of the top trainers and exhibitors to reflect back on their highest and lowest points of their horse career and share them publicly. The candidness of their answers surprised and amused us!
Susie Johns
Amateur Exhibitor
Paradise Valley, AZ
The lowest point of my horse show career was at the World Show way back in 1974 in Amarillo, Texas. They brought eleven of us back for the finals of the Showmanship. Well, I went out to do my pattern and walked up to the judge, set up for inspection, and it was perfect. I was thinking I was pretty hot stuff at this point. Then I turned around and looked over my shoulder to trot away and fell and hit the dirt. I wanted to dig a hole and never stand up again at that point! That was pretty embarrassing and pretty humbling. I think it scarred me for life. I have not stepped back in the showmanship ring since.
I have so many wonderful memories. I have won the World, and my trainers have won with my horses, but the highest point for me would be seeing all three of my boys show and seeing all three crowned World Champion whether it be in the youth or amateur. Seeing your kids win is the greatest excitement. That’s pretty special.
Ross Roark
Halter Trainer
Monahans, Texas
The highest point of my career was about ten years ago when I had Wincredible. I believed in the horse and his ability and it just gave me confidence. But back then I’d hear “Jerry’s (Wells) showing this one, Ted’s (Turner) showing that one; they’ll probably beat you.” So that made me work harder and strive harder than probably what I would have now. It changed my livelihood. That horse belonged to Jim Dunn who I worked for and we had a lot invested in him and it turned out to be a good deal.
My lowest point has to do with horses and it’s when my grandfather passed away in 2007. He was a great horseman. Most everything I got is because of him. Anything I wanted to try to accomplish, he was behind me. He was somebody I looked to every day and I just miss him every day.
Reid Thomas
All-Around Trainer
Corpus Christie, Texas
The high point for me is watching the kids grow up and move on and see what they’ve learned from it all. There have been about ten kids where I’ve watched them learn life lessons through their struggles and failures in the horses. It’s good that they are learning it all now so that when they enter college they are ready for what they may face without me or without their parents. That’s something we put a lot of emphasis on in my program. Five years from now we’re really not going to remember what they won unless it’s a World title but to see what they grow up to be, that’s the high point for me.
The low point would be dealing with career ending lameness and other health issues and how devastating it is for the kid. The one that sticks out the most would be the loss of Implicated. That would be the toughest. He had to have surgery and then another surgery and never made it back. It’s just hard because along with teaching the kids life lessons, that’s part of it, but those are the low points because for a little kid it’s really hard to explain. Even as we’re older it’s hard. It happens but we’re never ready for it.
Maggie Bellville
Amateur Exhibitor
Atlanta, Georgia
Certainly my highest moment in my horse show career was winning the Select World in Showmanship in 2008. It was a dream come true and I totally never expected it. But, I worked hard for it and I was thrilled to win that honor. You realize how much work, time and effort it takes to win an award like that and I was truly thrilled with that.
My lowest moment, while there have been many, but my lowest is whenever I feel as though I’ve let my trainer, Rob Meneely, down. When I come out of the arena and I’ve made a stupid mistake. He works so hard and I hate letting him down. The worst instance was the Gold Coast in Tampa. It was my first big circuit with my new horse, GPF Legal Version, and we were going to win the circuit award in showmanship and all I had to do was not screw up. And I screwed up. I really remember that one.
Charlie Cole
All-Around Trainer
Pilot Point, Texas
The low point would be about four years ago. I had a horse named Chips Chocolate Star who I just adored. He was the kindest, sweetest, most giving horse. He wasn’t the best horse I’ve ever had but he won a lot. He was just a good guy, a kind soul, and I just adored that horse. He got sick one night. He had never been sick before. About 6:00 at night I called the vet and I got up every hour that night and he was perfectly fine. 5am I checked him, he was perfectly fine. 6am I checked him and he was just standing there shaking and trembling and I knew when I put him on the trailer that it wasn’t good. I took him to the vet which is a half a mile away and they thought he had colicked. They wanted to take him to surgery and they told me that as long as it hasn’t ruptured, which they didn’t think it had, he’d be okay. Well, they opened him up and in 30 seconds they looked at me and said “No.” It was really hard. He was just a good horse and he didn’t deserve to die.
To narrow it down to one highest moment is almost impossible but I’m going to go with retiring “Oscar” (Acadamosby Award) in 2004 when he was 14. For AQHA to allow us to take him into the arena at the World Show and retire him there the way he deserved after winning 36 World and Reserve World Championships and four Superhorse titles, that was a pretty special moment. Jason (Martin), me, Chelsea Knox and Carrie von Uhlit walked in and nobody has ever gotten to do that before. To have a horse for that many years and retire him 100% sound and he walked out of the arena and was a World Champion in his last class. He won World Championships the first class he ever went into and the last class he ever went into. What a way to go. Oscar was one of the most human-like horses. He understood everything and never once said no. I could do this right now – I’ve done it recently. I get on him in the pasture with nothing on him and I lope around the whole pasture and change leads anywhere I want with nothing on him. He’s just that smart. And he truly loves people. He will always be my favorite.
Whitney Walquist Vicars
Amateur Exhibitor
Cleburne, Texas
I would definitely say that my highest point would be winning the Youth World in 2007 in the horsemanship with Im Shy But Deluxe. That was a dream come true and something I had worked toward for my entire life and it was the greatest moment of my life, that’s for sure. I couldn’t believe it. It was down to me and Courtney Chown and I remember thinking “I can’t believe that I’m in this position.” My number started with a twelve and hers started with a two and the moment I heard them say a two I was just like “Oh my gosh I can’t believe this.” It was amazing.
My lowest point and my most embarrassing moment in the horse world would also be at the 2007 World Show in the Western Riding finals. I changed an extra lead and broke and totally screwed up my entire pattern. I don’t remember what I scored but it was really low. I was devastated. It was my last youth world class, I was crying. I couldn’t believe I fell apart like that. My dad was like “It’s okay, you got your buckle, hold your head up high.”
Leonard Berryhill
All-Around Trainer
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
There’s really not just one high point. I’ve had a lot of highs that are equal. One of the highest moments is when Kristen Glover won the Western Riding the first time with Vital Signs Are Good. Also, my first World Championship was in 1983 in the Western Riding. That was probably the highest point of my career. Then I won the calf roping in 1996 on a horse that I had predicted would win the World.
As for the lows, anyone who does this for a living has those times where they say “I don’t want to do this any more.” Everybody burns out one time or another but you get rested up and want to come back. Those competitive juices start flowing and they come back. Everybody who does this for a living has things happen that aren’t necessarily good things. And they have times in their lives that aren’t necessarily the best. We all get tired. We drive 100,000 miles a year and try to satisfy customers who aren’t necessarily easy to please. And we’re not making a fortune. We don’t do this for the money, we do this for the love of the game. Some times we’re not appreciated and sometimes we get tired physically and emotionally and we need a break. We’ll either quit for a while or we’ll slack off and not be as competitive as we were and then in a little while the juices start flowing and here we come, ready to go. That’s the closest I can come to describing my lowest point is just suffering burn out and I think we all go through that.
Brad Jewett
All-Around Trainer
Universal City, Texas
My highest point would be when I was 3rd at the Congress in the Senior Western Riding with Michelobs Investor and 3rd in the Junior Western Riding at the World Show with Up The Assets in 2004. My kids have done better, we have won Congress titles with the kids but those were my break through moments as a trainer. I made those horses myself and did it all myself and it was very fulfilling. As we all know, it’s a big process to learn. A lot of people can train them but to learn how to get them shown and perform in front of the judges is a little bit different so that definitely was a big step for me.
I’ve had disappointments but as I teach my kids, you always learn from disappointments and whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I never dwell on it long enough to say “this is a really low point of my life or my career.” Sure we’ve had our disappointments at the Congress or World Show but it seems like whenever something like that has happened, there has always been something positive to come out of it. So I can pretty much say that as far as a low point, I don’t think I’ve really ever had one.
Mycah McColm
Amateur Exhibitor
Baxter Springs, Kansas
The most exciting time in my career has been to see all the hard work I have put in with my horse in the showmanship pay off. It is so rewarding to me when I have great patterns with “Longjohn” in the showmanship because I have taught him this class and he is very challenging! Last year I won the showmanship at the Paint World and was top-five at the Congress and I have seen the progress with him and it makes me very thankful and excited when I am rewarded.
When I think about the most disappointing time, I struggle with that question because it is not about winning to me, it is about the memories and experiences that we get along the way. So I don’t look back in my career of showing and think “That was the worst moment.” We have challenges throughout and that is what makes a stronger team.
