“I
just want to keep the ribbon on him forever!” Kara Oldford said coming out of
the Jim Norick Coliseum after the 2010 amateur showmanship finals November 11.
Her big, brown gelding, Im Shy But Deluxe, was wearing the world champion’s
neck wreath, and Kara held the gold trophy for the class.
The
young woman from Croswell, Michigan, has had a lot of success with “Travis,”
including winning 2008 and 2009 youth all-around high-point horse. But this was
her first world championship at her first AQHA World Championship Show.
“Coming
into today’s finals was a little difficult,” Kara told The American Quarter
Horse Journal, “because in the horsemanship (November 10) my horse spooked at
the judges… I was a little uptight about that.
She
continued, “I knew he could do it, and I was afraid, too. The judges were
standing in a line (in the arena, for the showmanship) like they were in the
horsemanship. I just took a deep breath and trusted in him, and he was good.”
The
pattern had no cone markers and opened with a walk, then jog with two
360-degree turns, all toward the judges.
“I
wanted to have a lot of aggression walking in,” Kara said. “I wanted to have
the type of presence where people turn and look and have that ‘wow’ factor. I
walked in really strong, and tried to do the first elements really strong.
“In
parts of it, I had to settle myself, like in the turns, to make sure he was
balanced. In the setups, I have to have a lot of patience, because sometimes I
stand back too fast, and he moves his feet. I tried to have a lot of aggression
at some points and enough calm to make it work.”
Kara
had a lot of people to thank, including her parents, Steve and Gale; AQHA
Professional Horseman Michael Colvin and Clint Ainsworth, the Walquist family,
who had Travis, and the Gross family for giving her a good-luck dinner November
10.
“I
try to take each show in stride,” she said. “You’re never going to be at the
top of your game at every single show. I try to take some breaks….” She
smiled and added, “But I really wanted this one.”
Click here for more of Kara’s winning run courtesy of The American Quarter Horse Journal.
