Trainers Joni and Craig Nelson of Long Grove, Iowa have been described more as life long friends by their clients than serious trainers who run a “tight ship.” The Nelsons have a group of amateurs and youth that show on the quarter horse circuit that treat each other like family. “We share everything except boyfriends and husbands,” Joni laughs and says.
The Nelsons may be somewhat under the radar due to geographic location, but they have had extensive success on the national level. Craig is a six-time Congress Champion in the halter, World and Reserve World Champion in Performance Halter, and Reichert Champion. Joni is a two-time Reserve Congress Champion in Junior Trail, Tom Powers Champion in the Hunter Under Saddle, and Reichert Celebration Champion in Western Pleasure.
Together, they have had numerous high point titles with AQHA including Reserve Champion Junior All Around Horse, Open Performance Geldings, Junior Trail, Green Trail, Hunter Under Saddle, and Western Pleasure to name a few. Team Nelson has also had youth and amateurs who have won multiple World and Reserve World Champions, and Congress and Reserve Congress Championships,
So, it’s not surprising that most of Nelson’s clients are happy and enjoy the camaraderie of their friends within the barn–it also doesn’t hurt that most of them are quite successful as well.
With this struggling economy, many from “Team Nelson” have banded together to make this a strong show team. Several of Joni’s clients are young amateurs, and the Nelsons know that they have a limited budget including one who is working two jobs just to be able to live her dream of showing horses. They have been known to share show saddles, clothes, tack, beds in a hotel room, and so on just to make it work. GohorseShow believes they are an inspiration to young amateurs out and an excellent example that showing doesn’t have to be a major financial expense. (pictured left–Jill Voss and Red Hot Mama Drama)
One of Nelson’s newest customers, Jill Voss of New Liberty, Iowa, has one of the hottest up and coming western pleasure mares on the circuit today. One Hot Drama Mama was raised by the Voss family, and their daughter, Jill, started her, and, now, Joni Nelson is taking the team to the next level. The irony is that the mare is anything but hot or full of drama; yet that is what is happening at the shows. This duo has had incredible success where they accumulated 24.5 points at one show in March. The mare qualified for the World in the Amateur Western Pleasure quickly–primarily showing at surrounding state AQHA shows.
The special part of this show effort is that Jill is an amateur and works full time as a financial analyst. As a young amateur, her amount of vacation days are extremely limited. She’s had to give up shows purely because she either didn’t have the vacation days, or, she needs to save them for the Congress and World Show.
Joni says that her amateurs, Jill Voss, Shayla Whitaker, who competes in the all-around events with Leaguers Gone Roan, and Adrienne Staple, who shows, GQ Solitaire, in the hunter under saddle events, share everything. Luckily, they are all close to the same size and can share shirts, saddles, bridles, and hats. Adrienne works two jobs–one as a microbiologist for the USDA and another as a bartender to support her riding habit. Adrienne’s mom is also known as the horse show designated cook and always has something cooking in the crock pot.
“I take all sorts of odd jobs to support my horse addiction,” Adrienne says. “I always try to find a way to make it work. It doesn’t hurt that we have all bonded together to help each other live out our horse show dreams.”
Since Voss has such a crazy work schedule, she surprisingly mentions that it actually costs her less to have a trainer than if she did everything on her own, “I would have to try and get off work early to haul to the shows, and try to prepare her with limited time, and have to buy everything myself–but to my surprise–it actually costs less to haul with Joni. She can take my horse to the shows and prepare her and we all band together to help each other out–so it is so much more cost effective and less time consuming, less stressful and more enjoyable to go to the shows now!”
There have also been some memorable moments with Team Nelson. In her first year of showing, Adrienne will never live down the time when she was asked by judge, Tim Christensen, for her number, and she was so nervous that she actually rattled off her actual phone number. “I was so embarrassed but it is something that we still laugh about all the time,” Adrienne says.
Amateur Shayla Whitaker also had an amazing year last year. She placed seventh in the Congress in the Novice Amateur Horsemanship. “It may not seem all that exciting, but, I burst out in tears and was so excited,” Joni recalls. “Shayla needed to place seventh in order to win the Novice Amateur All-Around at the Congress by one point,” Joni remembers. “I ended up telling Shayla when she came out of the arena. That was one of those tingly, amazing moments.”
Adrienne says that, “You learn to make sacrifices when you love your horses. I would not imagine doing this with any other trainer; she is also like a sister to me. It takes a real team effort to make it work, and at Nelson Quarter Horses, we all pitch in, and we all enjoy each others successes.”
