The final Saturday of the Madness AQHA and NSBA show hosted by the Southern Ohio Quarter Horse Association at the World Equestrian Center in Wilmington, Ohio, saw big checks presented in Trail and the feature class, the Equine Chronicle Three Year Old and Older Maiden Western Pleasure Slot class.
Three Way Tie For The Maidens
You know the competition was tough when three great Western Pleasure horses and their riders tie to win and split the first three place monies – the three champions each received $9,160 and used a tiebreaker judge to determine the awards. By way of the tiebreaker, Obesssed To Be Best, shown by Cody Conover for Susan Juroe, took home the trophy and the bragging rights.
“His barn name is Calvin, and he’s three years old,” Cody said of the gelding. “He’s by The Lopin Machine and out of Its Best To Be Hot. He’s a great loper and a great jogger, and he just carried himself great around here tonight.” Calvin was bred and raised by Dax and Laura Atkinson.
Cody, who has been an assistant trainer for Aaron Moses for the past three and a half years, soaked in the moment. “This is amazing. I cannot believe this just happened,” he said.
Also tying for the win was Socks For Dayz, shown by Gil Galyean for Shannon Walker. “This was really a catch ride for Aaron (Moses), and Cody had this horse really well prepared – it’s quite an accomplishment to have trained the first two horses in this class,” Gil said.
“Once we got going, he went around soft and just showed the whole time. He was fun to show!”
Third in the trio tying for the win and taking third via the tiebreaker was Farm Made, shown by Brian Ale for Robin Beal. “We can her Susan, and for her first time being shown, she showed great,” Brian said. “She’s by Machine Made. She’s a bit of a tough horse, but we knew she had it in here to win.”
Brian, who has had a very successful week at the Madness, noted that he will have a hard time topping his 2022 Madness experience. “It’s just unbelievable,” he said. “I’ve dreamed of reaching this level for a long time.”
Trail Times Three
In the Trail pen, three large payouts were awarded in the Green Junior Trail Futurity, the Open Junior Trail and the Non-Pro All Age Trail Futurity.
Jennifer Paul showed Cooler In Blue for owner Kathleen Lennon to win the Green Junior Trial and a check for $5,000. “Gunner is a four year old gelding by VS Code Blue,” Kathleen noted. “We bought him a year and a half ago and he showed in Western Pleasure last year. We started doing Trail this year, and he’s doing really well so far.
“I was especially happy with his lope-overs in the pattern today. He and Jennifer hit their spots perfectly and it was pretty to watch.”
Jennifer and Gunner will show in Green and Junior Trail events as well as Four and Five Year Old Trail futurities this year, and Kathleen may eventually add a Non-Pro component.
Kyle Dougherty guided Perfectly Made to win the $1,5000 Added NSBA Junior Trail Futurity for owner Janet Egolf, who bred and raised the gelding. “We call him Chub,” Kyle said.
“We started him as a three year old and he’s five now. He’s by Machine Made. He stayed soft over the poles today and really listened. He really loves his job and his ears are always up.”
Kyle noted that Chub will compete at the NSBA World Show and the Congress as well as the AQHA World Show and will also show in Non-Pro Trail futurities as well as in Showmanship and Horsemanship with Janet.
In the Non-Pro Trail Futurity, Grant Mastin and his long-time partner, Hand Made Machine tied for the win and also earned the $500 bonus as the highest scoring Limited rider. “I’ve been showing Carl for seven years now,” Grant said.
“He was super good in our go. He’s getting tired because he has shown here every day and it’s a super long show, but he’s been awesome the whole time. He listened the whole class and took care of me and did his job. I thought the pattern was fun but it was also tricky to get set up for some of the obstacles. It had a lot of elements but it was a really good preparation for the Youth World and NSBA World.”
Grant had a busy day as he immediately left the Trail pen to attend his final high school Prom. “I had a lot of fun,” he said. “But it was a short night because I had Western Riding again on Sunday.”
To view complete show results, please visit the Horse Show Tracker app or go to anequineproduction.com.
