Suddenly Stars
August 6, 2009
One exhibitor in the western pleasure preliminaries on August 6 is already a winner.
Nicole Barreras came to the 2009 Ford Youth World Show to compete in not only western pleasure but also speech. (Journal photo)
Nicole Barreras of Riverside, California, set a goal six years ago to compete in the Ford AQHYA World Championship Show.
She and her mare, Suddenly Maid, were getting better with every show, placing in the top five in several classes at the 2005 Regional Experience. Then life circumstances forced the family to take “Allie” out of training.
It was a big blow.
“When we took her home, people said you’re not going to make it. You’re not going to be able to get the training you need to go to the Youth World. You’re not going to be able to go and be competitive,” Nicole said.
She had to learn to be her own trainer.
“It took us like a year and a half after we left the trainer’s to get everything together, because misdirection and miscommunication were a constant factor,” Nicole said. “Instead of just giving her the commands, I needed to work with her and teach her what to do and keep moving forward. Since I didn’t know how to do that and hadn’t figured out that I needed to learn to do that, that was a really low point, because we just weren’t moving forward at all. It felt like we were proving everybody right.”
Nicole learned by trial and error.
“I realized what I needed to do to help her and help me and the more we started to bond – mucking out stalls even – the better things got. I think the first year and a half was the worst,” she said. “Now I wouldn’t trade her for the world. She’s my best friend and the only one who really understands me.”
Nicole competed last year at the Ford Youth World in the speech contest, and when she heard this year’s topic, “Rock Your World,” she knew she wanted to talk this year about the role Allie – a gift from Nicole’s grandfather – had played in her life.
“I felt that what she had done for me needed to be told,” Nicole said. “When I feel like giving up with school or homework, I go to her and sit in her stall and think about the fact that she hasn’t given up on me so I shouldn’t give up on myself either.”
Nicole isn’t blind to Allie’s faults.
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“She can be kinda obnoxious sometimes,” Nicole said. “She’s a mare, and she’s very opinionated and loud about it. Sometimes it makes it difficult in the show ring to be inconspicuous about our arguments, but it makes her more than just a horse; it makes her my friend. I think if she were more compliant then she would be another pet. This makes her my friend and my partner.”
When Nicole and Allie step into the Ford Youth World show ring for western pleasure preliminaries, they will have already achieved Nicole’s first goal for the show. Her second is to have a clean ride, just like the ones that got her to Oklahoma City. Her third goal is to return next year to prove it wasn’t a fluke and to enjoy the experience again.
“The best part of coming to the Ford Youth World is that everybody here understands horse-crazy,” Nicole said. “Everybody here understands when I went up there and gave my speech and broke down, because of what I was talking about and the happy tears of getting here, everybody understood exactly what I was talking about. I think the best part is being surrounded by those people.”
And the fact that she’ll get to go home with her liver chestnut best friend.
Larri Jo Starkey
The American Quarter Horse Journal
Check out photos from the sixth and seventh day of the 2009 Ford AQHYA World Championship Show. Click on the photos to see the captions. Some of the photos are available for purchase at the AQHA Photo Store.
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