A Busy Saturday for Youth and Adults at the Congress

Saturday saw “Youth Weekend” in full swing with Youth Showmanship, Equitation and Western Pleasure classes crowning champions, as well as the Open Maturity Western Pleasure Stakes and Limited division of the Two Year Old Open Western Pleasure Stakes. Learn more about the day’s winners.

Youth Showmanship Champions Named

The Celeste Center was busy with all ages of Youth Showmanship Exhibitors on Saturday morning, and saw large numbers in all three age divisions.

Sydney Scheckel and A Perfect Pleasure (seen at left) won the AQHA and NSBA championship in 15-18 Youth Showmanship in their final appearance together, besting a field of 118 exhibitors.

“She is really a special horse,” Scheckel said of her 17 year old mare. “We’ve been together for five years, and she stays at home with me. We’ve won the 11 & Under, the Novice, the 12-14 and the 15-18 Showmanship here.”

Scheckel found one of the hardest parts to her finals pattern was not the course, but the song that was playing. “They started playing ‘You’re Gonna Miss This’ by Trace Adkins, and I started to get a little emotional,” she said.

“I just had to focus and get through the pattern. The circle was bigger than I expected, and our pattern had a lot of trotting.”

While her mare ‘Pip’ may be retiring from the show ring, Scheckel isn’t. “I bought a cow horse, and I’m really looking forward to doing the Reined Cow Horse classes,” she said. “I have two years left in Youth, and I’m really excited about it. Pip will be turned out with my two cows, and for the first time, she won’t have a blanket on this winter!”

Brooke Tubesing and Just My Cash were the AQHA and NSBA winners in Youth Showmanship 11 & Under. “I just got him last year, and we call him Dobbin,” she said.

“We had a pretty good pattern. Our turn around the cone was really good. He sort of put his head up when we got by the trees, but I fixed him. Our set up and our back and our 360 were all really good. My trainer, Dale Hamilton, just told me to smile and do your best.”

Jillian Stopperich and Invested Pine Asset completed the Youth Showmanship winners, after being named champions in AQHA and NSBA Youth Showmanship 12-14.

Hardy Is Double Winner in Equitation

Abigail Hardy and Pass The Details had a very busy afternoon, competing in both the Youth 11 & Under Hunt Seat Equitation and the Novice Youth 13 & Under Hunt Seat Equitation classes. Their hard work paid off, as they took home the NSBA bronze in both events, as well as the AQHA reserve champion in both classes as well.

The Way To Go caught up with her for a quick moment after her winning run in the 11 & Under class. “Our pattern was really good,” Hardy said. “It was really smooth and had a lot of flow to it.”

 To read the full article on NSBA.com, click here.