Sunday was a busy day at the All American Quarter Horse Congress, which saw champions named in the Working Hunter classes, Equestrians With Disabilities English events and Small Fry and EWD Trail as well as the Non-Pro Western Yearling Longe Line Stakes.
Small Fry Win Big
Calla Ross and Flashy Invite have a knack for Small Fry Trail, considering they have won it two years in a row now. They took first on Sunday with a score of 233.5.
“I’ve had Ty for about two years now, and he’s taught me a lot,” Calla said.
“Trail is my favorite class. I was nervous to go in, but when I came out, I just felt really good. The gate looked kind of scary because I thought it was an actual gate when I saw the pattern but it wasn’t too bad.”
Calla shows in the Small Fry All Around classes and has Hunt Seat Equitation left to show. Next year she will move to 13 & Under division.
Nine year old Emery Wagner showed her horse Batmans Got Da Goods to win the Small Fry Western Pleasure. She’s already a veteran of the class. “I’ve been doing Small Fry for two and a half years. I showed here last year, and I was in the top five,” she said.
“Bruno is seven years old. He’s a good jogger and he’s a good Showmanship horse. I do Showmanship, Horsemanship and Western Pleasure with him. Western Pleasure is my favorite.”
Emery shows with Becky Schooler and Austin Lester and she shared their advice with her before she went in the Coliseum for a split and a finals. “Before I went in, Becky told me to make sure to not cut the arena. She had me go in first. I was a little bit nervous, but before I went in, I took a deep breath,” she said.
It was Emery’s first Congress championship. “It feels good,” she said. She will move up to the 13 & Under classes in 2025.
Final Equestrians With Abilities Named
Cooper Arena was a buzz with Small Fry and Equestrians With Disabilities exhibitors. Sunday also saw some repeat winners and new champions named in the Equestrians With Disabilities classes. Maxwell Kern was a second-time NSBA champion, winning the reserve Congress award and NSBA champion title in Equestrians With Disabilities Walk Jog Trail – Supported.
In Equestrians With Disabilities Walk Jog Trail – Independent, Kelsey Weick earned the top two spots with horses Hollywood Nitez and Very Good WhenImGood. Kelsey was reserve champion in 2023 in the same class with Very Good WhenImGood, and she won the top two placings in the 2022 Congress with two different horses, Superwomann and Walk Away Hocus.
Kimberly Lanier had a bit of a homecoming at the Congress, even if it was many years in the making. “I placed third at the Congress in the Youth 13 & Under Trail several years ago,” Kimberly said.
“I went without showing horses for almost 20 years. Last year, I got back into it, but my hearing got much worse. Kimmy and Spencer Zimmerman at Ultimate Equine told me about the Equestrians With Disabilities class, and it was wonderful. This is my first Congress championship, and it is a dream come true!
“I’ve had my horse, Only Blue Hot, or Biscuit, about a year and a half. He is triple registered and he had Pinto points before I bought him. When I first bought him, he had an injury and we had to wait on him to recover, so we’ve been mostly focusing on the pleasure classes before we add Equitation. I love him, he’s such a pretty horse and he’s great for me.
“With my hearing loss, what I do to adapt is I have Live Listen on my hearing aids and the phone. The only down side is that it only works within 40 feet, or it loses the connection and it doesn’t automatically reconnect. That’s not very far, and smaller than the average size arena. We do use that, but a lot of it I watch Spencer and sometimes we have to stop and get coaching when I’m practicing. I do watch Spencer a lot and think through how to approach things and do things like he is doing it. We do a debrief afterwards.”
Kimberly works long distance with her trainer and horse. “I live in Texas but Spencer is here in Ohio,” she explained. “The reason I did that is because my mom lives in Ohio and showing is a mother-daughter thing, and I wanted to do this with her. I can’t say enough good things about Spencer going the extra mile for me and the horse. I was trying to talk my husband into moving to Ohio, but he wasn’t for it. Thankfully I work at a job where I can work remotely some of the time so I can go to shows a little ahead of time to get coaching and practice time in.
“The Congress is our fourth show together. We did a show at Findlay, Ohio, one at Garwood Arena, and one about a month ago here in Columbus.”
Kimberly isn’t resting on her laurels. “I would like to start showing in Level 1 classes and Green classes,” she said.
Cocochella Goes Undefeated In Longe Line
Heather Caplinger and Cocochella have ended their show year the same way they began it – with a win. The duo were the unanimous champions in the Non-Pro Yearling Western Longe Line and won not only the Congress class but also the Southern Belle Breeders and Super Sires portions of the class. In total they won more than $4,230 for their go.
“Finishing the year undefeated, it is unbelievable,” Heather said. “When they called me out first under Tony Burris, the last judge, and having been first under all four cards – it was just tears. In the Open the other day, Kenny was first under three cards with her but I beat him under one card with the other horse. She’s just amazing.
“She is the whole package. We have a full sibling that was born this year, and the mare was bred back for next year. Hopefully we can do it all again next year. It’s even a little more special when you raise them. This filly is this mare’s (Best Kase Scenario) first Congress champion, so that makes all of my mares Congress champions now.”
Cocochella will sell in the Congress Super Sale.
Hunter Classic Champions Win Big
The Congress presented the Open Hunter Classic and Non-Pro Hunter Classic events on Sunday evening and saw Ryan Painter show Miss American Pi to the Open win for Daisy Mendez-Pompei, while Sara Eveleigh took Sleepin N My Blumers to the Non-Pro championship.
Ryan Painter and ‘Pi’ just click, and it showed when they won the Open Hunter Classic. “She’s my type of horse. We just get along. She’s just a great mare and she does not act like a red mare – she gives you her heart,” Ryan said.
“She’s just always there for me,” Ryan said of Pi, who was born appropriately on March 14. “She likes the Classics and the Derby-type courses. She likes to turn and not do the same boring straight lines. When I went in the ring and she put her ears up and licked her lips, I knew she was on. She loves to win and she knows that’s her job to go in the ring and do it.”
Ryan has won the Open Hunter Classic at the Congress a few times. “I’ve been on a dry spell, I was second here two or three times in the last several years, so it was nice to return to win it,” he said.
Pi’s young rider, ten year old Azalea Schroeder, won the Level 1 Youth Equitation Over Fences on Saturday. “Pi has been there and done that, and she takes great care of her rider,” Ryan said. “We hope we have as many years left as possible.”
“I catch rode Pi last year here at the Congress and the World Show, and the owners sent her to me at the first of the year,” Ryan said. “I won a couple of derbies on her in the Spring at the World Equestrian Center, and I love sharing her with Azalea. The family lives in California, and they try to come out once a month to ride and have a trainer at home that they ride with too. They are great owners and she is a great girl.”
A first-time Congress champion was crowned in the Non-Pro Hunter Classic when Sara Eveleigh put Sleepin N My Blumers over the course.
“Blueberry is my heart horse,” Sara said. “I love him more than anything. Every time he goes in the ring, he gives 110 percent, even if you’re not 100 percent there, he picks up the slack. We got him in 2019 and we had our first World Show together in 2020.
“My strategy in the first course was really to just step on the gas petal. I needed to get my pace, so I just stepped in there and pushed him forward, he listened, and I just tried to stay as consistent as possible and to support him to every jump.
“In the second trip, I knew I was up there in the pinning, so I tried to just flush that and start over and not let the scores get to me as much – sometimes they do. I like to have a longer approach because it takes him a little longer to get going so I went around to the left. Especially in this, there is a lot going on in there. It gave him a little more time to get his head in the game.
“The most challenging part of the course was the outside six to the six, because it is a little outside moving. I knew that if I hit tight I would have to really keep going, but he was right on it. It worked out really well for me.”
Sara is celebrating her first Congress championship. “It’s so exciting,” she said. Sara will show in the Hunter Hack and later go on to the AQHA World Show next month.
The 2024 All American Quarter Horse Congress continues through October 27. Monday’s show schedule includes Equitation Over Fences, Hunter Hack, Working Hunter Under Saddle, Halter Stallions, Hunter Under Saddle and the Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line Stakes. To learn more about the Congress, view the schedule or show results, please visit the Quarter Horse Congress website or visit the Horse Show Tracker app.
