Check out the photos below from Day 4 of the 2009 AQHA World Championship Show (click on the photo to see the captions). For more coverage of the World Show, go to aqha.com.

He’s a good luck charm that is all he’s “cracked” up to be.

Adorned with a neck scarf, Cracky has brought luck to many in Lainie DeBoer's barn.

“Cracky” is a ceramic squirrel that is somewhat the mascot for AQHA Professional Horseman Lainie DeBoer’s barn.

“Cracky is our good luck charm,” Chelsey Sample explained after she won her 2009 youth world championship in hunter hack. “He comes to the ring and to all of the World Shows and sits there and watches us tack up. Cracky is always around.”

Cracky showed up at the 2009 Bayer Select World Championship Show in September when Lori Bucholz won the working hunter title with Larks Happy Days. And Cracky struck again on November 8 when he showed up in the World Show arena in Jessica Johnson’s hand after she won the amateur hunt seat equitation title on Royalty In Blue.

“Cracky has been around three or four years now,” Jessica said in her winning run interview. “He started out as an ornament in our barn (trainer Lainie DeBoer’s stable), then we started taking him to the arena, and he has won about 11 world championships. We love him very much.”

With still 12 more days to go at the 2009 AQHA World Championship Show, there’s no telling where Cracky will show up next. Keep watching for him in the Journal’s show coverage.

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