On November 10th, my mom, dad, cat, and I drove to Oklahoma City to attend the Nutrena AQHA and Adequan Select World Championship Show. After seeing online results of the classes that had already been held, I was excited to watch the high level competition and present coveted World Show Globe trophies.
In the Ranch Trail, the pattern included dragging a sled, jumps over logs, weaving with buckets and suspenseful ground ties. In the final, the top two exhibitors not only tied for first place, but broke the previous scoring record! In the tiebreaker Gunnar Got Out edged out Lets Double Down for the win with another record breaking go. The Level 3 Senior Trail did not disappoint for spectator excitement either. From intricate lope-overs to backing obstacles that left no room for error, the level of precision the horses performed with was incredible. Hot Lopin Lilly emerged victorious in the class, and then later went on to be named the 2023 AQHA Superhorse.
One of the most anticipated classes of the show was the Pleasure Versatility Challenge - in fact, I planned my trip around seeing this specific event! Commentators announced how it was created by Professional Horsemen to help showcase the 3 year old group of all-around pleasure horse prospects. The class kicked off with a pattern that combined elements found in trail, western riding, and horsemanship classes. The excited crowd cheered on each lead change and ride-over obstacle. The horses then went on the rail for a beautiful western pleasure class. Following that, the race was on to untack and brush out saddle marks for the final component, the halter class. At the end of the night, Queen Ov Hearts was crowned the overall winner, and I presented Professional Horseman Gil Galyean the championship neck ribbon alongside the many class sponsors.
Another highlight of my time at the show included meeting and snapping a selfie with Terry the Turtle, who was the popular pet in the show office. I also loved watching finalists trot in the historic Norick Arena with a bird's eye view from the AQHA Members Lounge. I even found many different photo-ops across the grounds like in the Gateway of Champions and World Show photobooth. After the conclusion of the show in the evenings, I enjoyed visiting the historic OKC Stockyards and eating scrumptious Oklahoma beef. As I left Oklahoma City, I felt nothing but excitement as I look forward to returning there for the Ford AQHYA World show in July.
