Most of the competitors who come to show at the Adequan Select World have a long haul, but one couple from Austria had a really long trip.

Austrian Milena Kalat came a long way to compete in trail with OK Im Zipped at the 2010 Adequan Select World; her husband, Peter, came, too. (Scroll down for more Journal show photos.)

Thanks to the recent AQHA rule change that allows international competitors to compete in the United States on a leased horse, Milena Kalat of Vienna, Austria, was able to show at the 2010 Adequan Select World Championship Show.

Milena is originally from the Czech Republic, but in 1982, she moved to Austria as a refugee.

“It was in a time that the Czech Republic had a communist dictator, and we were not allowed to travel,” Milena says.

Though she had been incredibly unhappy living in the Czech Republic, Milena stayed long enough to finish at a university, and then she moved to Austria. That proved to be a good choice for her as she met her husband, Peter Kalat, there. Peter is also a native of the Czech Republic.

Living in Austria opened up many opportunities for Milena and Peter. She had always wanted to ride, but she didn’t have much opportunity in her home country.

Once she was settled in Austria, she decided to change that, and she also decided to do something else she wanted to do – she and Peter traveled to the United States.

It was at Yellowstone National Park that the couple first encountered and fell in love with the American Quarter Horse.

Milena’s first horse was a Pony of the Americas mare, who at 25 years old is still living at the PMK Arcade Ranch in Vienna, but the rest of the Kalat’s five horses are Quarter Horses.

Trimmed In Silk, aka “Trimmy,” is Milena’s current horse, and together the pair compete in her favorite class – trail.

In 2009, Trimmy was the international amateur high-point trail horse; in 2004, she was the international high-point in senior trail.

Peter, who also enjoys competing in trail, hopes to one day show at the Adequan Select World. Peter also designs trail courses in Europe as a hobby, particularly in Germany.

After his first show designing a course, Peter laughed and said that the competitors told him it was much too difficult. His hard work and determination to make trail in Europe more comparable to trail in the U.S. have paid off though.

“This year in the European Championship (of American Quarter Horses), a guy from the show office – in the Bavarian association – told me it was (due to) my work that the trail level in Europe, especially in Germany, is now so high,” Peter says.

Though the couple do enjoy trail the most, they also like to show in events such as western riding and reining. Along with Trimmy, Milena and Peter also have one reining horse, one all-around horse and a young horse bred by their trainer, AQHA Professional Horseman Cynthia Cantleberry of Paso Robles, California.

Milena, who is now retired from research work at a pharmaceutical company, makes it a point to work with Cynthia as much as she can.

“Every year I am in America, and every year I try to ride with Cynthia to try and learn something from her,” Milena says. “It is such a dream for me to ride with such a top rider.”

Milena is extremely grateful for all of Cynthia’s help, and she also wanted to thank Marjorie Reid who allowed her to lease OK Im Zipped, aka “OK,” for the Adequan Select World. She knew of the horse and had been impressed with his performance in trail.

“The whole time I was thinking, ‘Wow, I would like it if my horse at home was as good at trail as this horse is,’ ” she says.

OK is by Zippo Pine Bar and out of the Dingo Dial mare Oklahoma Reject. In 1998, the now 20-year-old gelding was the youth world champion in western riding and reserve in horsemanship; in 1999, he earned an AQHA open performance Championship. Cynthia rode him to a top-10 finish in the senior trail at the 2007 AQHA World Championship Show, and he has won more than 1,000 points in his career.

Showing such a great horse at the Adequan Select World is a dream come true for Milena. She had qualified for the show a couple of times before, and being able to show this year is very exciting for her.

She really wanted thank AQHA for the rule change that allowed her to participate, and she sends a special thanks to AQHA employee Kay Prescott for helping her get through all the paperwork.

By Julie Preble, Web content manager

The American Quarter Horse Journal is onsite to bring you full coverage of the 2010 Adequan Select World, including daily slide shows like the one below. (Click on the photo to read the caption.)

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