NSBA members continue to work their way through the 2015 Congress show schedule, and found a marathon day of Trail, Hunter Under Saddle and Equitation classes in the Celeste Center Thursday.
Tops in Trail
Exhibitors showing in Senior Trail began with the first horse in the draw at 8:00 a.m. and didn’t find out who the winner was until about 3:30 p.m. after the last of the 152 entries worked the pattern.
Whitney Lagace navigated Range To A Te to a high score of 241.5 to hold the top spot on the course for owner Isabel Scobie. “We went about 15th in the draw, so it was a very long wait,” Lagace said. “Terry (Cross) had me worried, because he was the last horse on the course and scored 241, and almost beat us. It was hard to wait to see how it came out.”
Lagace catch-rode the nine year old red roan Open Range gelding for trainer Jessica Ross. “He just has so much expression and with his big white face, you really can’t miss him,” Ross said. “He always shows with a lot of style. He thinks he’s a person. He will look at you as if he understands what you’re saying.”
Known as Troy, the gelding was reserve champion in Senior Trail at the NSBA World Championship Show. “Jessica does a great job preparing him, and I’ve really just ridden him three times – at the NSBA World Show, here at the Congress and at a show in Connecticut earlier this year,” Lagace said. “He’s so much fun to show. Jessica has done a fabulous job with him, and Lisa Farrell did a great job putting the foundation on him.”
In Novice Amateur Trail, Megan Hawkins showed Getting Hot to a high score of 231, winning both the AQHA and NSBA portions of the class.
“We just had a phenomenal pattern. He went through clean and was really good,” Hawkins said of her gelding, known as Mako.
“He’s only four, so he’s really green at the Trail, but he loves it. That’s only the fifth or sixth time he’s shown in it. It was really exciting for me because it was my first Congress win.”
Hunter Under Saddle Champions
For Rebekah Kazakevicius and Not Just Anyhoo, it was almost another clean sweep of the judge’s cards in Amateur Hunter Under Saddle. The duo earned three firsts and a second on the cards of Jessica Gilliam, Pierre Briere, Scott Neuman and April Devitt. The finalists had their work cut out for them as they went through five splits to reach the final go.
“He moved a lot more forward in the finals than we did in our split,” Kazakevicius said. “I was kind of conservative in our split, and then in the finals I made it more of a practice for the AQHA World Show and went for it. I thought it was really good that they had us trot in to the left in the finals. It’s something different for us, and I think it’s good for the horses.
“Since he’s just a three year old, I really didn’t have any expectations in the Amateur class. I thought we would just go show and see where we were with it. Because he is so big and strong, and we’ve shown him quite a bit already, I sometimes forget that he is just three years old. He’s a pretty special boy.”
Al By Myself took the NSBA and Southern Belle Breeders Two Year Old Open Hunter Under Saddle Stakes titles with Beth Case in the irons, in the last class of the night. The duo showed for Bonnie Sheren, who leased the mare to Sharnai Thompson. They are seen at right with Jason Martin and Charlie Cole.
“She is just really pretty,” Case said of the mare, called Celine. “She has a great top line and an especially good head and neck. Plus she’s a really good mover.”
Celine will return in the Two Year Old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle finals later in the Congress, and then will get a well-deserved break.
Charlie Cole is excited about Celine’s future. “I really hope to break her to drive as a three year old, and I can really see her doing the over fence events,” he said. By Allocate Your Assets and out of Anothersadlovesong, Celine certainly has the pedigree to be successful in many venues. “This is the fourth or fifth foal out of Anothersadlovesong, and they’ve all done well in the futurities. One of the other foals she had was Moving Artfully, who became an AQHA Superhorse,” Cole said.
Equitation Excellence
Maria Salazar and Winkin For Chocolate worked hard to receive the AQHA and NSBA Congress champion title in Amateur Hunt Seat Equitation. After working their pattern through two splits and reworking the pattern in the finals, the judges asked the finalists to enter for rail work at a posting trot with their irons dropped.
“I have to admit I’m pretty warm right now,” Salazar said. “We definitely had to work at it. Our finals pattern was pretty good. There were a couple of things we could have improved on in a perfect world, but it was pretty good.”
Salazar’s grey gelding is known as Leroy. “He tried his hardest,” she said. “This is our third Congress together. We were able to win this same class together in 2013. The pair shows in all around events including Showmanship, Horsemanship, Trail and Equitation. “We just stared working on Western Riding too,” she said.
“Leroy is the strangest horse you’ve ever seen,” Salazar said. “You never know what you’re going to get with him. He’s 11 going on three.”
The All American Quarter Horse Congress continues on Friday with Trail, Hunter Under Saddle and Western Riding classes. To view a complete show schedule, see show results or a link to the live video feed for the Congress, please visit www.quarterhorsecongress.com.
