Sixteen year-old Bree Tamulewicz of Westerville, Ohio somehow managed to maintain a 4.0 grade point average while on the road showing and winning the Youth All-Around in the nation–that is quite a feat for anyone who knows how difficult it is to attend a regular high school and maintain good grades while hauling down the road. This duo’s win is also quite impressive considering they have been partners for a very short time.
Bree and her horse, Certify This Chex (Lugnut), became a team in December of 2010. Her first goal after buying him from Carey Nowacek was to get qualified for the Youth World since she got a late start. Once the qualifying period was over, it was April, and she was in the lead for the all-around.
“Around Thanksgiving, my trainer Brad Kearns, my mom (Sue Ostrander) and I, decided that we should finish the year strong because I had been in the lead almost the whole year, and we didn’t know if an opportunity like this would ever present itself again,” Bree said.
At just 16, Tamulewicz has some mature advice for individuals wanting to haul for a title. She says, “Don’t get caught up in what other people are doing or the placings, worry about doing the best you can. At the end of the day, you have to be able to keep your head on straight, in and out of the show ring, and if you are worried and nervous, I can almost guarantee that you aren’t focused on the job at hand,” she says.
Bree talks fondly about her teammate. “Luggy is one of the sweetest, easy-going horses I have ever known. He is almost always in a good mood. The thing I like most about him is his heart. He will always give me one hundred percent of what I ask for, no matter how hard I push him,” she says. “He loves to eat treats and we spoil him a lot. If he was a dog, he would be a lap dog. He doesn’t like having a day off or being left in his stall. He likes to be with you and out doing something all the time.”
Tamulewicz trains with Brad Kearns of Grayslake, Illinois and Steve Reams of Ellerbe, North Carolina. Bree says she loves everything about both of these programs. “With Brad, it’s laid back, but you always feel that you are being pushed to your full potential and Brad himself is just a really great person to be around. Steve is very much the same way. However, his program is geared towards the western pleasure and hunter under saddle horses.”
Bree and her other mount, Dark Jasmine, are well known in the western pleasure arena. They won the 2011 AQHYA World Championship and two consecutive Congress Championships in the Western Pleasure. Some of her other favorite wins include winning the national high point in the western pleasure in 2009 with Eyell Be Outrageous, a Congress Championship with Hey Monn and now the 2011 All Around Youth High Point with Certify This Chex.
This recently crowned all-around champion says that one of the reasons she enjoys the horse industry is that each individual horse has its own personality and they all ride differently.
“It’s like solving a puzzle, and I like the rewarding feeling I get when I know I’ve figured out most of a horse’s quirks and mannerisms, and I am able to go in there and lay it all out on the line,” she explains. “I like the way that it all stems from trust and acceptance, which I don’t think many other sports offer. As for the industry, I love the way it’s like a whole other world. It’s a very close-knit community of people from all different backgrounds and parts of the country, and I like that everyone seems to be brought together because of a similar interest. How many people can say they have great friends that come from all over the country?” (Pictured right is Bree and a new friend she met on the road, Kaylee Rampey who won the Rookie of the Year 11&U)
Bree’s younger sister Allie has started showing Lugnut, but Bree says she’ll “kidnap” him when she’s not around.
“I have him all qualified, so I will probably show him in the events that she doesn’t qualify, but, I did get a new horse. His name is Come N Get Ya Some, and he will do the pleasure and trail and eventually the all around events, as well as a sibling to Jasmine that’s been started in the equitation and showmanship. Her name is, Secrets Until Dark. I look forward to showing all of them this year!”
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Bree says she would like to thank everybody who has helped her along this journey including the Nowacek family, Bruce Vickery, Brad Jewett, her mom, Brad Kearns, Steve Reams, Beckey Schooler, and all the AQHA judges.
