Monday at the Congress saw the Small Fry classes wrap up with the final two champions named in Small Fry Hunter Under Saddle and Small Fry Hunt Seat Equitation, while the second and third Longe Line classes and the first go of the first Western Pleasure Maturity took place.
Big Wins For Small Fry
Hunter Under Saddle
London Nietzer and Moneys Moxie Girl made the most of a situation that wasn’t so fun earlier this year, and the end result was a Congress and NSBA champion title in Small Fry Hunter Under Saddle.
“My horse, Stella, had a suspensory injury in June,” London explained. “So my mom let me start showing her horse, Lexie. She’s by Hot N Blazing, and she was really good. I kind of stole her from my mom and now she’s doing double duty with me showing her and my mom showing her too.”
London and Lexie had to perform twice, first in their split and again in the finals of the class. “In my split, I just wanted to maintain my space,” London said. “In the finals, they told me to just do a good job, and be proud no matter what. We show in the All Around classes except for Western Pleasure, but English is our strongest event.”
London had this advice for any other youth who would like to show in the Small Fry classes: “Just try your best and be proud no matter what,” she said. “You will have a lot of years left to show horses, so just have fun. Oh, and be sure to make bets with your parents!”
The bet that London made with her parents was that if she won the class, she would be allowed to get a puppy from Puppy Alley. “At first I wanted a Pug, but I’ll have to see what is over there,” she said.
Hunt Seat Equitation
Alyvia Kladny and Dangerously Famous became two-time Congress and NSBA champions by winning the Small Fry Hunt Seat Equitation. They bested 28 entries to take the top spot. Alyvia and Allie have had a great show in the pattern classes, having won Small Fry Horsemanship earlier in the show.
The 12 year old enjoys showing in the All Around events and especially enjoys riding bareback and doing yoga bareback on her horse.
Leaders In Longe Line
Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line Stakes
Non-Pros could show for three different awards if they were eligible, in the Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line Stakes, which included awards for the Congress/NSBA as well as Southern Belle Breeders and Super Sires.
Allie Littlefield’s entry, Al Sleep On It, swept all three divisions. The flashy sorrel filly is by Allocate Your Assets and out of Too Sleep To Zip mare. “I bought her from Kathy Tobin, and her barn name is Kennedy,” Allie said.
“She’s actually my first Quarter Horse. I took her home and started her on the basics and took her to Callie Rouse, and she trained her for Longe Line. She’s very sweet, and she’s not phased by anything. She hasn’t been to many places and she just takes it all in. She’s just very talented.”
“She’s very honest, and she tries really hard,” added Callie. “It seems like she really turns it on when she’s in the show pen.” The duo won $1,377.48 for the Congress win, along with $344.62 for the Southern Belle Breeders, along with $5,000 for the Super Sires win, bringing the filly’s total earnings at the Congress to more than $6,700.
Lakins and Oliver Win Open Western Longe Line
Showing a colt he picked out for customer Gail Torsell. Kenny Lakins had a good feeling that it would be his turn to take the top spot in the Congress Open Western Longe Line. He showed Martini Time to the first place finish in the Congress/NSBA as well as the Southern Belle Breeders divisions, earning $2,367 and $514.09 respectively.
By The Best Martini, the gelding known as Oliver was raised by Brett and Heather Caplinger. “Brett and Heather bring their yearlings over to my place about once a week, so I had been seeing this colt coming over for a while,” Kenny said. “I had watched him grow up a little bit, and when Gail was looking for a horse, I called her to tell her I thought I found her horse. We brought him home from the Tom Powers Futurity and started working with him.
“He’s so good minded and so trainable. In fact, I was worried that he’d be a little too laid back, but he worked really well,” Kenny said.
“I’m so proud of him,” Gail said of her horse. “Kenny can’t wait to start riding him.”
Gail is actually no stranger to the Congress winner’s circle. “I won the Congress with Too Spicy To Sleep in 2010, and now we’ve won again. eleven years later. I live over at Centre Hall in Pennsylvania, not far from the Centre Hall show arena. I’m 78 years old and they always told me I’d grow out of the horse thing, but I’m still at it.”
History Making Initial Working Hunter Under Saddle Classes Attract A Crowd
In a class that has been in the works for a number of years among the over fences exhibitors, the Working Hunter Under Saddle made its debut at the Congress on Monday. Three classes were offered for Open, Youth and Amateurs, with each division requiring splits and a final to determine the winner.
Lainie DeBoer, who was an early advocate for the class and helped lead the judges seminar at AQHA when the class was being added, was fittingly the first Congress champion to be crowned in the new class. She showed DGS Dont Tell Tales for owner Pam Stubbs to the AQHA and NSBA win.
“I usually don’t get nervous showing, because I’ve shown forever, but this class had me pretty nervous,” Lainie said. “I just decided to go in and show each gate as if I was approaching a fence, which is what we intended with the class. The trot and the canter should be more forward and ground-covering. He did exactly what I asked him to do and did very well.”
It was a case of role reversal with Lainie and Pam. “I had such a busy day today with other clients that Pam got him ready for this class for me. I laughed and told her that she could do that for me for every class from now on.” Pam prepared DGS Dont Tell Tales so well that she also won the NSBA Amateur division of the Working Hunter Under Saddle class and was reserve AQHA champion as well.
Others took note of Lainie’s presentation in the inaugural class. “Lainie did a very good job of presenting what a Working Hunter Under Saddle horse should be,” noted Sandy Vaughn.
Champions in the AQHA and NSBA Youth Working Hunter were Natural Mover and Cameryn Kolinoski..
Hunter Hack classes will close out the over fences events on Tuesday, as Open Halter Geldings and a number of futurity classes as well as Junior Western Riding will take place. The All American Quarter Horse Congress continues through Sunday, October 24. To view the complete show schedule, show results or view the live video feed, please visit www.quarterhorsecongress.com.
