NSBA exhibitors squeezed in another beautiful day at the 2015 Congress until rain fell in on the last classes of the day on Columbus Day in Columbus, Ohio, and earned a number of NSBA and AQHA champion titles in the process in over fence, Longe Line and the final Small Fry class of the show. The Way To Go highlights some of the day’s champions.
Over Fence Champions Named
Over fence classes were the order of the day in the Celeste Center with Working Hunter, Equitation Over Fences, Jumping and Hunter Hack filling the schedule.
Madison Eichstadt added three more NSBA bronze trophies to her total for the 2015 Congress with Its My Lucky Detail, winning NSBA and AQHA championships in Youth Jumping; the NSBA portion and reserve in the AQHA portion of Youth Equitation Over Fences; the NSBA title and sixth overall in Youth Hunter Hack 14-18.
Carsyn Hodde and Rules Change were the NSBA and AQHA champions in Youth Hunter Hack 13 & Under. The 14 year old has been with her show partner, who is known as Tike, for a year.
“Carsyn got Tike for her birthday last year,” noted David Miller, Carsyn and Tike’s trainer. “Tike is a former USEF horse. I showed him in the Progressive Working Hunter last year, and we won the series for the Huntfield Derby last year.”
“He can be really funny sometimes, but he can be serious when it’s time to show,” Hodde said of the 11 year old gelding. “He’s just an amazing horse. We had a great go and our lines were really good.” It was Hodde’s first Congress champion title. She placed fourth in the same class last year.
“He’s going to get to go home for a while and rest, and then we will be showing in the 14-18 age group next year,” Hodde said.
Other over fence champions who earned titles on Monday included: Christian Beauchemin and Frenchmen, winning the AQHA and NSBA Select Amateur Working Hunter; Abigail E Hardy and My Secret Past, who won the NSBA and AQHA championship in Youth Equitation Over Fences 13 & Under as well as the NSBA bronze and AQHA reserve champion in Novice Youth Equitation Over Fences; Kiley B Green-Dill and Know Warning, who won NSBA and AQHA Open Jumping; Raymond L Coutley and Navier Stokes, champions in NSBA and AQHA Amateur Jumping; Cool Man Jazz and Chad Sandoval, winning NSBA and AQHA championships in Amateur Working Hunter; Lauren W Kunkler and ATM, winning the NSBA champion title and sixth in the AQHA portion of Novice Amateur Hunter Hack; Emma Verplank and AE Hot N Sonny took both the NSBA and AQHA Novice Youth Hunter Hack champion titles; and Sarah Elder Chabot and A Well Dressed Man won NSBA and AQHA titles in Amateur Hunter Hack.
Final Small Fry Champion Named
Ten year old Piper Anderson and Im Invited Too picked up their second NSBA and Congress championship in Small Fry Hunt Seat Equitation, making the most of their first trip to the All American Quarter Horse Congress from North Dakota. They won the Congress and NSBA Small Fry Horsemanship earlier in the show.
“I like doing the different patterns,” Anderson said. “It’s fun to get off the rail and do different things.”
“Piper worked really hard toward this,” said her trainer, Bret Clark. “She worked harder than a lot of older kids and adults sometimes do. She and ‘Jeffrey’ make a really good team.”
Open Longe Line Winners Awarded
The final Longe Line classes of this year’s Congress took place Monday afternoon. Kenny Lakins Jr. led Batt Attitude to an NSBA and Southern Belle Breeders championship for owner Peter Mead in the Open Western Longe Line. “We had a pretty good go,” Lakins said. “We had one little bobble on a transition from the trot to the lope, but other than that it was really good.”
For Mead, the win was the third year for a Congress championship in Yearling Longe Line events. He has won Open Western Longe Line in 2011 with Hez Plum Poison, and Open and Non-Pro Western Yearling Longe Line in 2013 with Quiet Ride. Earlier in the show, he was the reserve champion in Non-Pro Western Yearling Longe Line with Batt Attitude.
“All three of these horses are out of my mare, Quiet Impulse, and out of two different stallions. We seem to be on an every other year schedule,” he said with a laugh. Hez Plum Poison is by Diesel Only, and Quiet Ride and Batt Attitude is by Batt Man.
Open English Longe Line champion Jon Barry had a busy afternoon, leading Withouta Doubt to a sixth place finish in the Open Western Longe Line for Darlene Morawski in the class before, then taking the lead of Here I Am as the first horse to go in the Open English Longe Line.
The pair made a lasting impression on the judges that lasted through the class, and earned owner Elizabeth Gorski her first Congress championship.
“Jon basically met me at the gate and told me to prepare her just like I normally would,” Gorski said. “He did a great job with her. He really only worked with her for about ten minutes around noon today.”
“Elizabeth did a great job getting her ready and has done all the training on her,” Barry said. “She’s been doing this a long time and she knows how to do it. This mare is very forward moving and hits the ground softly, and has a great extended trot.”
The Congress continues on Tuesday with the final over fence classes, Western Riding, Pleasure Driving and the first goes of several Western Pleasure and Hunter Under Saddle events. To view the complete show schedule or view show results, please visit www. quarterhorsecongress.com.
