Susan Johns and Heza Radical Zip mastered a tricky Trail course on Thursday to earn a score of 234, winning the AQHA Amateur Select world championship title and the NSBA bronze in the process.
Johns has owned the ten year old bay gelding, by Radical Rodder and out of Sonnys Last Zip, since the end of his two year old year. “Beckey Schooler had him and had showed him in the Open Two Year Old Western Pleasure futurities,” she said. “Jim and Deanna Searles added his lead changes and started him over poles, and we’ve been showing in Trail and Western Riding ever since. He has won an AQHA world championship in Horsemanship, and has a reserve world title in Horsemanship and Western Riding. I’m excited to win his first Trail world champion title.”
“He is the funniest horse,” Johns said of her gelding, known as Troy. “He hates to work in the middle of the night. If you have to work during the night, you’ll pay for it the next day. We did the Trail warm up last evening and gave him a late dinner, and he was a little grumpy. This morning we longed him and his breakfast was waiting on him when he came back. He really likes his routine!”
The Tim Kimura-designed pattern featured several challenges for exhibitors. “I think the two most challenging parts of this pattern were what I can the tunnel (featured the left side of the pattern shown at right) and the walkovers at the end of the pattern near the outgate (seen near the ‘Finish’ section of the pattern shown at right),” Kimura said.
“The tunnel featured a lot of trot to lope transitions, and you had to be accurate. The walkovers at the end of the course were raised, and there were two four-foot gaps. You had to go slow, and not rush it. You had the end of the course in sight, but you had to really concentrate until the end.
“The entire course was set big, and it had a lot of elevations in it,” he continued. “You had to have a good pace, really space it out well and have good communication with your horse. It was a good challenge for the finalists in this class.”
Johns also found the course challenging. “On paper, this pattern didn’t look tricky, but once you got out there, you saw that it was, with lots of transitions and elevations,” she said. “But Troy was just so soft, and so honest. He was the first horse I showed on the course today, and I had a lot of fun showing him in it. His nickname is ‘Perfect Pony,’ and today he really was the perfect pony.” Johns was eighth in the class with her second mount, I Gotta Good Name.
Charlene Lane piloted Suddenly A Good Bar to third in the class and second in the NSBA division with a score of 226, with Diana Davison showing Mr After Shock to fourth overall and third in the NSBA portion, earning a score of 225.5.
Thursday’s show classes continued with Halter, Roping and preliminary go rounds of Hunter Under Saddle, Hunt Seat Equitation and Hunter Hack. The AQHA Amateur Select World Championship Show continues through Saturday.
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