Showmanship, Horsemanship, Western Riding, Western Pleasure and Hunter Under Saddle highlighted the day on the last Tuesday at the 2015 All American Quarter Horse Congress.
Showmanship Champions Crowned
Three Showmanship champions were named including Novice Amateur Showmanship, which was the final class of the 2015 Congress to be held in Cooper Arena.
Pine Chexed and Ashley Reichert earned Reichert’s very first Congress AQHA and NSBA championship in Novice Amateur Showmanship. “I haven’t shown here in the last couple of years because I’ve been in school,” Reichert said.
“I ride with the South Caroline Equestrian Team. I kind of had to put on my Equestrian Team mindset because I was running back and forth between the Showmanship and Horsemanship patterns today. I did the split, and then reworked the pattern in the finals, and I wasn’t sure if I could get here for the awards but I made it.”
Reichert describes winning the Congress title as a dream come true. “I grew up in Columbus and since I live close by I always used to come and watch,” she said. “Showing at the Congress always has its ups and downs. We showed in the Novice Amateur Horsemanship earlier but I sort of messed up and I was mad at myself. This win is a little bit of redemption for us. This is just awesome!”
Dueling Showmanship patterns took place in the Celeste Center first thing in the morning, with Novice Youth Showmanship 14-18 taking over the North end of the arena and Novice Youth Showmanship 13 & Under working the South half of the pen. Deanna Green and Blazinmytroublesaway (seen at right) added to their trophy count by winning the AQHA and NSBA divisions of Novice Youth Showmanship 15-18. Brooke Tubesing and Just My Cash took the NSBA title in Novice Youth Showmanship 13 & Under, and placed third in the AQHA portion of the class.
Cody Parrish Wins Green Western Riding
Cody Parrish showed Invest With The Best in the 40th draw of a field of 68 entries in Green Western Riding, and then waited to learn how his 224.5 score would hold up to the field. It came down to a tie with Leslie Lange and RR Always Invited, but when the tiebreaker was tallied, Parrish had won the AQHA and NSBA Congress titles in the class.
“This win means a lot to me,” Parrish said. “This horse had never been shown in the pleasure classes, so when we started this class at the first of the year, we were both pretty green, and we learned as we went along. He was the first horse I’ve ever shown in the Western Riding.”
The five year old gelding is known as Taylor, and is by RL Best Of Sudden and out of an Investor mare. “It’s just so easy for him,” Parrish said. “His lead changes are so effortless, and he has so much presence, that you can’t help but look at him.”
Taylor and Parrish began their show year at the Fox Lea Circuit in Venice in January. “We just seemed to get better as the year went on,” he said. “It seemed like between the Little Futurity and the NSBA World Show, things really came together for us and I was able to start showing him with one hand and he got pretty solid.”
The Congress was the duo’s swan song. “It was really great for us to go out on a win like this,” Parrish said. “He’s pretty special to me, and he’s my buddy. He’s going back with Miss Debbie (owner Debbie Hill) to Canada to do the all around events with her. I’m really happy for her to get this win, and I’m even more excited to see her go on and get to show him. I know he’s going to do great for her.”
Western Pleasure Winners Named
Deanna Green got her second Congress championship of the day in AQHA and NSBA Youth Western Pleasure 15-18 with Bestseatnthehouse, where the duo were the unanimous choice of the judges.
“She was just so soft today,” Green said of the mare, who is called Jody. “That’s best she has ever shown this whole show. She was just really good.”
Angie Cannizzaro piloted Loping In The Knight to win the Open Two Year Old Western Pleasure Stakes for Stanley and Susan Scott.
“She is the best horse,” Cannizzaro said of the mare known as Maggie. “She is so honest and so sweet. She listened to my every move and showed really well.
“She has just gotten physically stronger as the year went on. It seemed like we really started to come together around the first of September, and she just became so confident in her job. I just wanted to show how confident she is and I hoped the judges liked her as well as we do.”
Loping In The Knight was reserve champion in the Yearling Longe Line at last year’s Congress. “That was her first horse show,” Cannizzaro said. “She just took it all in. Mentally she seems like she is a ten year old. She has just been so easy from the start, and very consistent. She just wants to do her job, be fed and go sleep. We all believed in her, and she finally got her due.”
In the Two Year Old Limited Open Western Pleasure Futurity for maiden two year olds, Drew DeBuhr piloted Lazy N Shy to the Congress championship for Sara Heeley.
It was a class that almost didn’t happen for the No Doubt Im Lazy mare.
“She ate part of a lead rope in late July, and had to have surgery, so I didn’t even make our final futurity payment on her,” Heeley said. “Then we got here with her, and I just had to pay her back up in the class. Drew’s done all the work with her, and put so much time and effort into her – it’s definitely well deserved.”
The win was DeBuhr’s first Congress championship. “Words can’t describe how it feels to win this,” he said. “I’m so grateful for the wonderful opportunity the Heeleys gave me to ride such nice horses.”
DeBuhr started working for the Heeleys in November, and started the mare, known as Shazy, who is by No Doubt Im Lazy. “From when we first started her, she has had so much self carriage, and she has such a great trot. She’s just so easy to ride. When we went in the finals, she trotted really well and loped real well, and just took us through the class.”
Mike Hawkins showed Whiskey In The Dark to win the Southern Belle Breeders portion of the Two Year Old Limited Open Western Pleasure Futurity for owner Randy Kimmel.
Hunter Under Saddle Winners Named
Farley Sliss accomplished one of her bucket list goals by winning the Three Year Old Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle Stakes with Sleep Alilbit Longer.
“I just feel so blessed to have him,” Sliss said. “We started showing him last year as a two year old, and this year he just grew stronger as the year went on. He just swings that hip and leg so nicely. He moves so well for as big as he is – he is 18 hands tall. I can’t get on him from the ground.”
A product of the BSB Quarter Horses in Michigan, Sleep Alilbit Longer is by Too Sleepy To Zip and out of a Dont Skip Zip mare. “He is the epitome of the BSB breeding program,” Sliss said. “He’s part of the family, and a horse I can go to every day.”
The win was an emotional one for Sliss. “This has been on my bucket list, and I could stop right now and it would be OK,” she said. “I don’t even care how we do in the Open, this is incredible to win this class. I can’t even put it into words.”
Keith Miller rode Al Bet Cha to win the Southern Belle Breeders portion of the Three Year Old Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle for owner Meaghan Whelan.
In the Three Year Old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Stakes, Rebekah Kazakevicius picked up where they left off at last year’s Congress by being the unanimous choice of the judges. The duo had won both the Limited Non-Pro and Non-Pro Two Year Old Hunter Under Saddle Stakes in 2014 as the unanimous choice as well.
“It really is unbelievable to come back and be the unanimous choice again after last year,” Kazakevicius said. “We had a nice group of horses and a nice number of horses in the class, so we could really get our horses shown.
“Last year the Congress was just the second show he had been to,” she said. “He has matured so much and gotten so much stronger since last year, and he’s really changed a lot throughout the year. I think he lopes so much more forward than he did a year ago. He’s pretty special.”
Kazakevicius will show the gelding, known as Horton, who is by Hot Ones Only, in the Amateur Hunter Under Saddle, with Beth Case in the irons for the Open Three Year Old Hunter Under Saddle Futurity later in the show.
Other Congress champions named on the day Tuesday included Daniel Carlson and Are You Charlie, winning AQHA and NSBA Amateur Horsemanship; Alexia Tordoff and Blazing Hot N Gold, Congress AQHA and NSBA champions in Novice Youth Hunter Under Saddle 13 & Under; Emma Phinney and Invite Me To Paris, Congress AQHA and NSBA champions in Novice Youth Horsemanship 14-18; Shea Graham and Lets Talk About AOK, Congress AQHA and NSBA champions in Youth Western Riding 13 & Under; and Kacie Scharf and A Movin Machine, Congress AQHA and NSBA champions in Youth Western Riding 14-18.
The Congress continues on Wednesday with Showmanship, Hunter Under Saddle, Hunt Seat Equitation and the finals of the Two Year Old Open and Non Pro Western Pleasure Stakes classes, as well as the Three and Four Year Old Open Trail Stakes.
In addition, the NSBA Membership Meeting will take place at 11:00 a.m. in Heritage Hall in the Voinovich Barn.
To view complete show results or a schedule of events, please visit www.quarterhorsecongress.com.
