Quarter Horse
Imagine being the grandmother of two horse-loving teenagers – one in the United States and the other in the United Kingdom – and having the opportunity to watch both of them show at the same event. This was Donna Cocks’ story at the 2010 American Quarter Horse Youth World Show in July in Oklahoma City.
The Youth World Cup, which started in 1986, is an educational and leadership-based event for youth members from around the world that is held every other year. The culmination of the event is a showcasing of skills learned in an atmosphere of friendly competition. It gives youth a unique opportunity to learn in a hands-on setting with other international youth horse enthusiasts. At this year’s Youth World Cup, there were teams representing 16 different countries.
At the Youth World Cup, Donna saw granddaughter Jessie Leach, who lives in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, win a silver medal in showmanship, and grandson Reed Kyle of Whitesboro, Texas, win the gold and silver and high-point award in cutting and a bronze in reining.
“Isn’t that amazing? Two different countries? And they’ve both done so well,” Donna said. “I don’t think there are many other grandmas out there that can say they have grandkids on two different teams.”
At this year’s event, Team USA won the gold, Team Germany the silver and Team Switzerland the bronze.
The 2010 American Quarter Horse Youth World Cup was a great place for attendees to learn a whole lot more about showing American Quarter Horses. Prior to each of the Youth World Cup classes, some of the industry’s top professionals led the competitors through clinics. Here’s what some of the clinicians had to say:
* A cutter should avoid kicking his horse too much, which will get the horse uptight. Instead, the rider should let the horse relax and do its job. – Boyd Rice, cutting clinician
* A reiner shouldn’t let his reins get too long. If you have to bend your wrist to make contact with the horse’s mouth, you need to shorten up. – Shawn Flarida, reining clinician
* The point of western pleasure is for a rider to make her horse look like it’s a pleasure to ride. A rider achieves this by sitting up and back, with a calm expression. All of this creates a look of confidence, which makes the horse look like it’s fun to ride. – Dave Dellin, western pleasure clinician
* There are three basics to horsemanship: the rider needs to be sitting square on his horse but also be functioning; the horse needs to be square; and just do the pattern that is drawn on the paper and don’t try to outthink the judge. – AQHA judge Robin Frid, horsemanship clinician
* Take your trail pattern slowly. The quicker a rider tries to get somewhere, the sooner things can go wrong. In the words of trail course designer Tim Kimura: “Focus on the process, not the result.” How a rider approaches an obstacle is more important than the end result. – Robin Frid
* Judges look at the presentation of the horse in hunter under saddle by looking at how the rider rides the horse correctly. Encourage the judge to find you on the rail by keeping a consistent walk with forward motion. Judges also look for the rider to maintain light contact on the horse’s mouth. – AQHA Professional Horseman Carla Wennberg, hunter under saddle clinician
* A western riding exhibitor should keep forward motion and extension in his horse’s stride throughout the pattern. However, do not confuse a horse that is lengthening his stride for the lead change with one that is speeding up. Forward motion in a stride will create a picturesque, reaching lead change. – AQHA Professional Horseman Charlie Cole, western riding clinician
* A showmanship exhibitor should match her pace to her horse’s pace, which will give the pattern a natural look. If exhibitors know their horses’ rhythm, it makes it look like they’ve done their homework. – Patti Campbell, showmanship clinician
* To improve your hunt seat equitation strength and balance, practice posting exercises every time you ride. A possible routine would be to post along the short ends of the arena, ride in a two-point position down one long wall, then along the other long wall, you can sit one stride and stay in the upward position for two strides. – AQHA Professional Horseman Andy Moorman, hunt seat equitation clinician
Following the clinics, Youth World Cup competitors got down to business and put in some phenomenal rides on horses that were loaned to the Youth World Cup from owners all over the United States. AQHA appreciates the owners who brought their horses to Oklahoma City for the Youth World Cup competitors to ride.
In the two-day competition, cutting and reining exhibitors competed under two judges, following their respective clinics. Horsemanship exhibitors competed on Days 1 and 2, but were also given an additional chance to compete. Each country nominated their best horsemanship rider to compete in the Horsemanship Showcase, a Youth World Cup event that was held during Battle in the Saddle on July 10. All of the other classes were held on days 1 and 2.
For the complete results, check out the 2010 Youth World Cup results at www.aqha.com/youth/activities/ywc/2010/index.html.
MEDALISTS
Cutting
Judge 1, Gold: Koen Daemen, Belgium
Judge 1, Silver: Reed Kyle, USA
Judge 1, Bronze: Olivia McInnes, New Zealand
Judge 2, Gold: Reed Kyle
Judge 2, Silver: Olivia McInnes
Judge 2, Bronze: Koen Daemen
High-Point: Reed Kyle
Reserve High-Point: Koen Daemen
Showmanship
Day 1, Gold: Katy Lynn Krshka, USA
Day 1, Silver: Jessie Leach, United Kingdom
Day 1, Bronze: Sophia Raschat, Germany
Day 2, Gold: Alessandra Ouellet, Italy
Day 2, Silver: Liesl De Rocker, Belgium
Day 2, Bronze: Veronika Petlanova, Czech Republic
High-Point: Katy Lynn Krshka
Reserve High-Point: Josefine Spangfors, Sweden
Horsemanship
Day 1, Gold: Katy Lynn Krshka, USA
Day 1, Silver: Rianna Storey, Canada,
Day 1, Bronze: Daniela Wagner-Winter, Germany
Day 2, Gold: Daniela Wagner-Winter
Day 2, Silver: Dido Masi, Italy
Day 2, Bronze: Jessie Leach, United Kingdom
High-Point: Daniela Wagner-Winter
Reserve High-Point: Jessie Leach
Horsemanship Showcase
Gold: Danielle Olafson, Canada
Silver: Rachel Elliott, Australia
Bronze: Daniela Wagner-Winter, Germany
Western Pleasure
Day 1, Gold: Daniela Wagner-Winter, Germany
Day 1, Silver: Josh Robins, New Zealand
Day 1, Bronze: Melina Hugelshofer, Switzerland
Day 2, Gold: Melina Hugelshofer
Day 2, Silver: Sophia Raschat, Germany
Day 2, Bronze: Soes Merrild, Denmark
High-Point: Melina Hugelshofer
Reserve High-Point: Daniela Wagner-Winter
Western Riding
Day 1, Gold: Sophia Raschat, Germany
Day 1, Silver: Rachel Elliott, Australia
Day 1, Bronze: Chris Dalton, United Kingdom
Day 2, Gold: Chris Dalton
Day 2, Silver: Perrine Hirter, Switzerland
Day 2, Bronze: Ebba Lange, Sweden
High-Point: Chris Dalton
Reserve High-Point: Rachel Elliott
Hunter Under Saddle
Day 1, Gold: Alison Ceresani, USA
Day 1, Silver: Kimberley Anderson, New Zealand
Day 1, Bronze: Perrine Hirter, Switzerland
Day 2, Gold: Dido Masi, Italy
Day 2, Silver: Sophia Raschat, Germany
Day 2, Bronze: Danielle Olafson, Canada
High-Point: Dido Masi
Reserve High-Point: Danielle Olafson
Hunt Seat Equitation
Day 1, Gold: Alison Ceresani, USA
Day 1, Silver: Katy Lynn Krshka, USA
Day 1, Bronze: Sophia Raschat, Germany
Day 2, Gold: Katy Lynn Krshka
Day 2, Silver: Dido Masi, Italy
Day 2, Bronze: Sophia Raschat
High-Point: Katy Lynn Krshka
Reserve High-Point: Sophia Raschat
Trail
Day 1, Gold: Alison Ceresani, USA
Day 1, Silver: Georgia Higgins, New Zealand
Day 1, Bronze: Paige Carter-Fleetwood, Canada
Day 2, Gold: Sophia Raschat, Germany
Day 2, Silver: Soes Merrild, Denmark
Day 2, Bronze: Alexandre Bruls, France
High-Point: Alison Ceresani
Reserve High-Point: Florence Lea Blattner, Switzerland
Reining
Judge 1, Gold: Fabienne Kraemer, Germany
Judge 1, Silver: Natasha Moeller, Denmark
Judge 1, Bronze: Reed Kyle, USA
Judge 2, Gold: Fabienne Kraemer
Judge 2, Silver: Natasha Moeller
Judge 2, Bronze: Michele Masi, Italy
High-Point: Fabienne Kraemer
Reserve High-Point: Natasha Miller, Denmark
Team Placings
High-Point: USA
Reserve High-Point: Germany
Third: Switzerland
Fourth: Italy
Fifth: New Zealand
High-Point Horse Awards
High-Point: Rip City Zip, 1993 brown gelding, owned by Mary Lynn Leedy Trust, Oklahoma City
Reserve High-Point: An Honest Detail, 2002 bay gelding, owned by Kristin Crumpton- Mangosing, Cave Creek, Arizona
AQHA news and information is a service of AQHA publications. For more information on The American Quarter Horse Journal or America’s Horse, visit www.aqha.com/magazines.
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