Another beautiful day at the World Equestrian Center in Wilmington, Ohio, greeted the final day of the Tom Powers Triple Challenge Futurity on Sunday.
Walking And Trotting
Two young exhibitors tied to win the Youth Walk Trot class on Sunday – one riding English and one riding Western.
For seven year old Kayleigh Korleski, the Tom Powers Futurity was her first time to show ‘on a big horse.’ She impressively piloted Forever Otta Range to the co-championship.
“We just got her the day before we left to come to the show,” Kayleigh said. “Her name is Blueberry, and she’s my best friend.”
When asked what advice she received before she went into the class, Kayleigh noted “they told me to just relax, keep my hand forward, and smile.”
Ellis Sliss showed Im Always Sleepy to the co-championship in English tack. The twelve year old daughter of Farley McLendon and Saul Sliss took the event in stride.
“I started showing two years ago in Waco, Texas,” Ellie said. “The horse I showed belongs to one of my mom’s customers. His barn name is Shrek, and he is very calm and loving. He loves to be petted.”
When asked about her go, Ellie said “I get kind of nervous, so everyone told me to stay calm. Our ride felt really good, and I relaxed.”
Western Winners
In the Maturity $2,500 Limited Horse Western Pleasure, Sleep N The Moonlite and Becky Galyean continued their winning ways as champions in the class.
“He was really good today,” Becky said of the gelding called Tom. “Our son Brody won three Youth classes with him earlier this week, and we won the Limited Horse class at The Premier a few weeks ago. He’s really becoming a nice show horse.”
In the Two Year Old Limited Non-Pro Western Pleasure, a Non-Pro came back to the show pen after a ten year break aboard a young horse making its debut in the show ring. Shez One Of A Kind and Dennis Durr took the championship award in the class.
“I haven’t been in the show ring in ten years, and decided to get back into showing,” Dennis said. “We had been searching for a horse for a while, and when we saw JoJo in the Longe Line last year and then watched her ride, we knew she was a great horse for me. She’s so calm.
“She did really well for her first class today. She’s so natural for a two year old. I’m really looking forward to showing her in the two year old classes the rest of this year and three year old events next year, and making her my Amateur horse.”
In the Two Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure, Clay Arrington rode a two year old stallion that his family raised to the championship. He showed RV Not For Hire to first place for his grandmother, Vickie Kent.
“We just call him Fred,” Clay said. “He’s by Machine Made and out of I Will Be A Good RV, that I used to show and that Richard Carr shows now.
“He’s been special from Day 1, and he’s just been coming along really well. We showed him in Kentucky and he showed really good there. He’s very easy going and wants to do his job.”
The final class of the Tom Powers Futurity, Novice Non-Pro Western Pleasure, ended in a tie. Chasing Batterflies and Pamela Jones tied for the win with Lazy Open Invitation and Hailey Utesch.
The final day of the Tom Powers Futurity also included several NSBA qualifying classes that offered four sets of NSBA points, including Junior Hunter Under Saddle, Novice Amateur Hunter Under Saddle, Green Hunter Under Saddle and Amateur Hunter Under Saddle.
“I wished we had a few more horses, but we had a great show with deep competition,” noted Tom Powers. “The Stone Wall Arena here at the World Equestrian Center is beautiful and it reminds us a little bit of Berrien Springs to show out there. We’re going to work to get show dates next year for either the week before or the week after this current weekend to try to avoid conflicts with other events.”
