Hello AQHA World Show enthusiasts! My name is Kaleena Weakly, from Shelbyville, Illinois. I’m here in Oklahoma City enjoying my horses and competing at the 2014 World Show. Check in here daily with me at GoHorseShow.com for my World Show Picture of the Day. While I’m here, I’ll be showing my two mares, Hours Yours And Mine in the Amateur Trail, Horsemanship and Showmanship and Caught Me Looking in the Amateur Western Pleasure. I feel very blessed to be able to compete at this level of competition in this great association with my friends and family, and want to send a shout out to my trainers at Gilliam Show Horses and Lakins Quarter Horses for getting my horses here safe and preparing them for me. Good luck to everyone in OKC!
Picture of the Day #15 from AQHA World Show
Enjoying the best restaurants around OKC is one of the great things about the World Show, especially when you get to do it with friends and family you don’t get to see as often as you’d like. One of our favorites is The Ranch Steakhouse. Cheers to our last night in the city!
Picture of the Day #14 from AQHA World Show
Your very first World Show gold is unforgettable! Just ask these two, David and Courtney Archer, the proud owners of UF A Certain Star. “Peter” was piloted by Brad Ost to win the Junior Western Riding on Thursday! It was also Brad’s first World Championship. Peter and Brad scored a 229.5 to win the title. There has been on ongoing bet between Charlie Cole and Brad Ost that Brad would get his first world championship before Charlie did but it seems like they tied since both were 26 years-old when they won their first world championship. Courtney is excited about her future with Peter and can’t wait to add the western riding back into her routine. Best of luck to this very talented team!
Picture of the Day #13 from AQHA World Show
This year AQHA set up an “Ask The Pro” station where spectators and exhibitors could go to get absolutely any questions answered! Today we visited with professional horsemen Kevin Dukes and Christa Baldwin. What a great new addition to the World Show.
Picture of the Day #12 from AQHA World Show
The AQHA World Show isn’t just all about Quarter Horses… On Tuesday it was all about the ponies, or at least to these kids it was. Every year Cooper Smith is known to have something up his sleeve to bring out to the World Show. This year he brought two Shetland Ponies. Tori Evans, Shayne Gilliam and Jax Weakly had the privilege of parading this little black beauty around the show barn. Thanks Cooper, you made their day!
Picture of the Day #11 from AQHA World Show
A new arena record was set today! The Senior Trail prelims showed with 99 entries and a shootout. When it was all said and done, 20 made it back to the finals which will show Tuesday evening. At the top of the leader board was Hours Yours And Mine and Jason Gilliam scoring a 239.5 which they announced as a new arena record for this class. Pictured here is Jason’s wife, Jessica Gilliam, and four-year-old daughter, Shayne, walking out the beloved “Blondie” after her great performance. I’m lucky to call this team mine. Good luck to everyone tomorrow night and remember to wear Pink!
Picture of the Day #10 from AQHA World Show
The snow storm in OKC today didn’t scare off the die-hard hunters. This afternoon the National Quarter Horse League Huntfield Derby was held in the performance arena. There were 2 rounds of 20 entries and the course was almost as scary as the Junior Trail course held earlier this morning! After the two rounds, the scores are combined and an overall champion is named! Lainie DeBoer prevailed today with Dive for owner Bruce Brown. Congrats to all, it was my first time watching the Derby and I loved it!
Picture of the Day #9 from AQHA World Show
All-nighters aren’t just for the Congress, there is a good chance you can witness a few at the World Show as well! One particular night I caught a certain someone catnapping on a horse blanket waiting for the show pen to open up for his scheduled riding time! The schedule in OKC this week is very exhibitor friendly, with many nights finishing up in the show arena before 7pm… Leaving lots of time for relaxation, preparation, socializing and grabbing a great bite to eat. Something many of us are not used to.
Picture of the Day #8 from AQHA World Show
Pictured here is Derrick Perkins aboard Mr Fritz Wood, a gorgeous buckskin stallion. Derrick rode the stallion in tonight to accept the Reserve All Around Amateur award for owner and exhibitor, Lincoln Figueiredo from Brazil. Derrick was injured while serving in Afghanistan. Tune in tomorrow around 4 pm to watch him perform here in the para-reining! An amazing night for all.
Picture of the Day #7 from AQHA World Show
Caught a friendly moment between two equine exhibitors during today’s prelims of Amateur Heading and Heeling! These classes proved to be popular events as the stands were packed with spectators. There were 50 total entries in the heading and 57 in the heeling.
Picture of the Day #6 from AQHA World Show
My pic of the day goes to my Team Gilliam. My beloved mare, Hours Yours And Mine aka “Blondie” laid out the pattern of a lifetime this morning in the Amateur Showmanship, earning us a unanimous five firsts! A dream come true for me as I have been striving for this since I turned amateur 12 years ago. I want to thank everyone who got us here, especially Jason and Jessica Gilliam, along with the AQHA judges. I couldn’t ask for a better show partner than Blondie.
Picture of the Day #5 from AQHA World Show
My World Show pic of the day goes to a priceless moment like this! Jeffrey Johns and Lopin For A Chex won the Amateur Western Riding this evening with a score of 227.5. Lots of hugs, a congratulatory call from his brother, and peppermints for this “Lazy” boy by Lazy Loper. This duo works harder than anyone I know. He also has a special place in my heart as he was one of my old pleasure partners too. Way to go Team Lazy, Congrats to all the exhibitors tonight in a great western riding finals.
Picture of the Day #4 from AQHA World Show
My World Show picture of the day goes to my favorites, Dr. Hassinger and Dr. Roth of Hassinger Equine Sports Medicine. With their motto of “your performance is our passion”, you can’t find better hospitality around. As competitors, we all know how important it is to take the best care of our equine athletes, and we are all very fortunate to have so many great equine vets and farriers available while in OKC. We couldn’t do this without you all.
Picture of the Day #3 from AQHA World Show
While the riding events are under way at the World Show, the halter classes won’t begin until Wednesday. Don’t let these guys fool you, they are already hard at it early in the morning preparing and conditioning their halter stock. My picture of the day goes to Ross Roark and his adorable side kick, Jax, getting the job done this morning ponying the halter horses. Ross has won 69 World Championships, I think Jax picked up a few tricks.
Picture of the Day #2 from AQHA World Show
Today’s pic of the day goes to Whitney Lagace and Anthony Montes. Whitney, trainer and professional horsewoman, was the speaker in this afternoon’s “Ride the Pattern: Horsemanship” The Ride The Pattern series allows exhibitors and spectators to watch a run through of the actual World Show prelim pattern, analyze it and ask the professional all kinds of questions concerning the pattern or the class in general. The stands were full and Whitney had some great advice for us, like showing the horse YOU have to its fullest potential and really showcasing the pieces of the pattern that allow your team to shine!
Picture of the Day #1 from AQHA World Show
Practice, practice, practice..Amateur Trail exhibitors were up early at 7:30 a.m. today with the opportunity to practice the prelim pattern in the show pen before the very first class of the World Show kicked off at 1pm. Warmups consisted of six groups, with roughly ten exhibitors in each group, allowed to practice the actual pattern for 40 minutes. As a trail exhibitor myself, I greatly appreciated this opportunity to acclimate myself and my horse to the atmosphere of the course. Thank you Man of Trail (MOT), Tim Kimura.
