“I have waited a long time for this win and it’s the best feeling in the world,” Deanna Searles told us after being crowned AQHA World Champion in the very tough Senior Trail class aboard Kathy Tobin’s Suddenly A Good Bar. After Saturday’s win, there were tears of happiness flowing from friends and family, as surprisingly, this win was Deanna Searles’ first AQHA World Championship title.
“I showed at the Youth World starting in 1979 and I haven’t missed a World Show since then,” Deanna told GoHorseShow. “I started showing at the Open World Show in 1990 and I am glad to have finally accomplished this feat.”
Searles said that she had come close many times, but it felt good to finally check this one off her bucket list. “I’m still in shock and so tired,” Deanna revealed.
“My biggest concern for today was that I was going to forget one of the obstacles when I was showing,” Deanna, who went first in the finals on the 2004 roan gelding, Suddenly A Good Bar, said. “My run felt really good and we had smooth transitions. He has such a great top line and he listened really well.”
However, this run had a certain something special and Deanna knew it. “I had to try and keep myself from shaking right in the middle of the pattern because we were doing so well that I didn’t want to mess it all up. It was a very challenging pattern that you could easily make a mistake at any minute and completely bomb the pattern.”
Suddenly A Goodbar’s owner, Select Amateur Kathy Tobin who won the Trail at the 2016 Select AQHA World Show with “Roanie”, is thrilled for both Deanna and Jim who have been her trainers for the past 25 years. “It was so exciting to watch Deanna have a great go but nerve wracking waiting for 21 more horses to show. Roanie was so good in my opinion. Then, there were some more really good goes, so I had no idea how the judges would place the class,” Kathy told us.
In the end, it was an amazing outcome for Deanna and husband Jim, as he won a bronze trophy aboard Susie Johns’ 19-year-old gelding, I Gotta Good Name. “I’m thrilled for Deanna because she had never won a gold world trophy before,” Kathy said, “and for Jim because he had won the same class 12 years ago on the same cute horse (I Gotta Good Name). I’m so thankful to Jim, Deanna, Chris (Holbin) and Stephanie (Conti) for all their hard work. I am so happy their hard work paid off.”
Deanna told us that it was also a very special moment for her because her children, Taylor and Trent (pictured right), were at the show and they were able to celebrate together as a family. Deanna says that she can’t wait to get home to Arizona so she can celebrate her big win with a very special bottle of wine she has been saving for a very special occasion. “This win is definitely something to celebrate!”
We couldn’t agree more.
View the slideshow below of the Searles’ great day. Photos © Kirstie Marie Photography, The American Quarter Horse Journal, the Searles family and Kaleena Weakly.
