Good Event for Tough Times
June 8, 2009
I asked for stories about the 2009 Region Seven, and got this great e-mail.
Jorge Garza and Skips Zippo Bar in trail on the last day of the 2009 Region Seven Experience. (Journal photo)
It’s from a proclaimed “good friend” of Maddi Kerlee of Denair, California; the friend was also in Reno for the Region, but he/she wished to remain anonymous:
“I have a pretty neat story to share. Maddi Kerlee bought her horse One Dynamic Krymsun from Jeff Long off of a video in November of 2008. She is in California and the horse was in North Carolina. She went out to the (AQHA World Championship Show) to ride him for the first time…. It was a MEANT TO BE tale for sure! She showed ‘Reach’ in four classes at the Regional Experience yesterday (June 5), and won four firsts! … This horse had a solid (western pleasure) foundation … and Maddi has been able to add events to his repertoire pretty much on her own and hauls to her trainer occasionally.
“One Dynamic Krymsun and Maddi Kerlee is a ‘feel good’ story that is inspiring in these tough times…. She did win (the all-around novice amateur saddle) and had to ride in events neither of them had ever ridden in – barrels and poles! It really is an inspiring story for tough times. It hasn’t cost her a fortune to go out and show, enjoy herself, meet lots of new people, and come home with prizes!
“I read that you wanted Region 7 Experience stories to share, and I know Maddi would never have shared this, so I thought I would.”
There are tons of stories just like that that come out of our AQHA horse show world – Joe the Horse Shower folk who manage to show and have fun doing it. Enjoying their horses and testing their horsemanship.
Jorge Garza told me he pulls $100 out of every paycheck and saves up to be able to show his bay roan Skips Zippo Bar. Robin Wyant rides Craklin Impulse on her own, getting a trainer’s help every now and then. Lisa Mays supplements her show budget by banding.
Why do they do it? If you’re a horse person, you don’t have to ask. It’s like that old saying – I can’t remember who said it – something about the outside of a horse being good for the inside of a man.
At this writing, the show ended up with more than 500 total entries, unofficially. I talked to the Region Seven Committee Chairman Carol Whitaker for her overall take on it. She’s been involved now with three of the four Region Seven Experiences.
Purchase photos from the 2009 Region Seven Experience!
“I am thrilled with this show,” she said. “Though the weather has been a little bit unique for Reno in June, it’s a wonderful facility, with two covered pens, so it was possible to hold the show although it’s rained in the afternoon.
“I will tell you, I have seen it from the first, the neatest thing that we do at (Regional Experiences) is the awards, and the way we present something to everyone who places. At most horse shows, people just sort of mill out of the ring and they never get any recognition for their achievement, and this one, people get that.
“This is the first big show for a lot of these people, and they get their name called by the announcer, their horse’s name called, and they are in the spotlight, out there by themselves getting their award. And when the last two or three horses are in there, people applaud and congratulate them. I’ve seen people in there with tears on their faces, and that’s something pretty special.”
The Region Seven Experience Committee tried some different things this year.
“We made it a three-day show instead of a four-day show, which given the economic times, it made it a little bit more reasonable for people to come,” Carol said.
“We also paired it with an AQHA pointed show that happened (the weekend before, given by the Nevada Quarter Horse Association). The AQHA show was Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, took Wednesday off and then we started this show Thursday, and then they have this Sunday as a drive home day.”
They combined the Region roping with the AQHA show roping on Tuesday, June 2, but it was rained out. Carol called it “a punt.”
“The roping has never been well-attended at any of our (Region Sevens), and we thought if we paired it with an existing roping it would help, but the weather didn’t. AQHA was gracious enough to let us experiment with that.” But other events saw big gains: “The cutting was five times as big as it was last year, and that was wonderful.
“We need to give people good value for their money and we need to make them feel welcome.”
The 2009 Region Seven, June 4-6, Reno, Nevada, seems to have done that for some people. When Jorge Garza dropped off his certificate for the WeatherBeeta blanket he won, he told me the Region Seven was a great show – low cost and great prizes. And fun! That’s what it’s all about.
For unofficial show results go to: aqha.com/association/experience/results.html
and select the Region Seven Experience in the drop-down box.
Markel Insurance all-around high-point awards, winning Tex Tan saddles: amateur, Kelly Ferguson and A Certain Aero; novice amateur, Maddi Kerlee and One Dynamic Krymsun; youth, Kelsey Jung and No Boundary; novice youth, Victoria West and Stilla Coosavilla.
Region Seven all-around high-point, Select, Robin Wyant and Craklin Impulse; youth 11 & under, Michelle Patin and Ill Be Christy.
Christine Hamilton
Editor
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Journal slide show – click on the photos for captions:
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