The NSBA-approved pleasure portion of the All American Quarter Horse Congress came to a close on Saturday with the crowning of the final AQHA and NSBA futurity champions.
AQHA Honors
The final AQHA Dual-Approved classes saw Nick Mayabb and Acrobatt, showing for Taylor Bates, earning the Congress championship in Senior Trail. Sandra Morgan and Im Willy Fabulous took the top spot in Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle while Heidi Oosting and Party In The Clouds worked to win Amateur Select Hunt Seat Equitation.
Hunting Perfection
The two year old gray filly If I Were A Boy made it six Congress championships in a row when Morgan Miller showed her to the Two Year Old Limited Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Stakes championship.
Morgan Miller’s If I Were A Boy showed in six classes at the 2024 Quarter Horse Congress and is coming home with six class championships. On Saturday, the gray filly known as Celeste claimed a victory in her final class in the Two Year Old Limited Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Stakes with Morgan in the irons.
“It’s been like a dream. She was a very good girl. She won the Maiden Limited Open and Open Hunter Under Saddle Futurity (including the Southern Belle Breeders and Super Sires portions), the Two Year Old Open and Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle Futurity and the Two Year Old Non-Pro and Limited Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Stakes. She’s won almost $26,000.”
Celeste will next show at the AQHA World Championship Show in Level 1 Hunter Under Saddle with Katie Cochran. “She gets to stay,” laughed Morgan. “She’s going to show in the three year old events next year with Katie and me.”
The teamwork of Ryan Painter, Beth Case and owner Chris Lagerblade put together a winning ride on Hez A Dancin Hubba to win the Congress Maturity Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle Stakes, earning the final Hunter Under Saddle futurity championship of the 2024 Congress.
“I’ve known this horse for a few years,” Ryan said of ‘Hank.’ “I jumped him a few years ago and I had him for a while this summer too. I haven’t ridden him a lot. He’s easy to show. You can guide him through the traffic and he wasn’t scared of it. It was fun. I think the fence classes definitely help him to be an even better rail horse.”
Chris Lagerblade showed Hank earlier in the Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle and placed fourth. “I felt like I got him ready for Ryan,” laughed Chris. “Beth got him ready for me, and I got him ready for Ryan.”
Western Winner
Blair Townsend had the distinction of winning the very last futurity class at the 2024 Quarter Horse Congress when she showed Hay Girl Hayy to win the Three Year Old Limited Open Western Pleasure Futurity.
It was an emotional win for Blair and a moment that took her full circle. “I had this mare’s mother, Johnnie On The Spot, at Masterson Farms when I worked there,” Blair said. “She was one of my favorite mares. Rusty and Katie Green bought her and they and the Roberts family had a lot of success with her, but I never got to show her.
“We got Sasha last year as a two year old and waited to show her until this year when we took her to A Sudden Impulse. She’s sort of been a blessing to our family because she gave RJ his first slot class win and pushed him over the Quarter Million Dollar mark in earnings.
“This isn’t my first Congress win but my first in a while, so for her to give me this is pretty emotional. I’ve kind of had some bobbles every time I’ve shown her and never really got a great ride, so for her to give me everything today was really exciting. We sold her to Jordan Macan right before August and she’s already had some success with her.
“I’ve done a lot of the early work on her but we decided it was best to have RJ show her in Florida. I really enjoyed seeing her win in Florida. Hillary’s won on her, Sue’s won on her and Jordan has won on her so I was excited to get to win on her too. It’s exciting for the Roberts and their breeding program too, to get another Congress champion for their stallion Hay Goodlookn.”
Blair sees a lot of Johnnie On The Spot in the filly. “She reminds me a lot of her mom. Sasha is really quiet, and she’s really forgiving, she has a lot of patience. Her mother was a show horse and Sasha is a show horse too. Sasha gives you that feel, she does her job for you.”
Blair credits her team for working with her all weekend. “RJ told me to go for it, to not ‘safety up’ and to not over-ride her,” Blair said. “I just needed to get out of her way. She has so much self-carriage. I was shaking to the left because I never touched her. I was very happy with her. I didn’t realize that we had won until we got down to the top four. It was exciting.”
Tops In Trail
In addition to the AQHA Senior Trail, Saturday morning saw the Three Year Old and Older $2,500 Limited Horse Open Trail Stakes and Four and Five Year Old Non-Pro Trail Stakes.
In the Four and Five Year Old Non-Pro Trail Stakes, Emma Gore showed KM Some Like It Best to win the class, while in the Novice Horse Trail, Hannah Lind guided RV For Hire to the championship.
“I just bought him at the Madness,” Emma said of KM Some Like It Best. “We call him Monroe. When we got him, he just did the Trail. He’s five years old, so he’s really fun to teach things to. I showed him at the Youth World and had a pretty good show. We were top ten in several of our classes. We’re currently doing Horsemanship, Equitation and Trail, and we’re hoping to add Western Riding.”
Emma was pleased with the pattern that she and Monroe laid down. “It was really clean, and I liked everything about it,” she said.
The win in the Four and Five Year Old Non-Pro Trail Stakes marks the first futurity win for Emma, who has seen success at the Congress previously in Youth 12-14 classes.
Hannah Lind piloted RV For Hire, and has been hands-on in furthering ‘Pibb’s’ training.
“We bought him as a three year old from Clay Arrington,” Hannah said. “He had a pretty good foundation in Western Pleasure coming from Clay’s program, and he’s been doing Trail for less than a year. He’s really the first horse that I’ve done most of the training on and brought this far. We started showing him with the Maiden at the Premier.
There’s a lot to like about the four year old gelding, Hannah noted. “His lope overs are beautiful. And 99 percent of the time he’s also great in his slow work. He’s a very patient guy, and the more work we do, the more careful he gets,” she said. “He tries really hard. He’s also very good at the Showmanship and started in the Horsemanship and done a little bit in the Western Pleasure.
“He has a Novice Amateur owner, Spencer Groth, and he’s shown him a little bit in Western Pleasure and Showmanship. He’s going to the World Show and will show in the Level 1 Trail there, and will do more Open and Novice Amateur events next year.”
To view complete show results for the All American Quarter Horse Congress, please visit quarterhorsecongress.com or view the Horse Show Tracker app.
