NSBA World Show

My last major World Show as Congress Queen was the National Snaffle Bit Association World Championship Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  It was my first time at this show, so it was so much fun getting to experience the show behind the scenes and watch some of my friends compete!  Stephanie Lynn, NSBA Executive Director, and the NSBA awards team were so welcoming!  I worked with Kamiah and Dianna during the week.  NSBA gives out such nice prizes along with their NSBA World Show trophies.  Some of the competitor favorites were the moscow mule cups and the fly sheets.  Tribute also sponsored another special award for the most senior horses competing in each division with a leather halter which I think just goes to show how talented our quarter horses are no matter their age!  In the 13 and under division, the most senior horse was 22 years old!  I also was able to see some of our Congress Queen sponsors like Keith from That’s Invintage again (one of my favorite boutiques!), Glamorous Threads, Logans, The Tack Room, Brinks, ShowGirls Apparel, and more!

Our first day, we had hunter jumper classes to present and then in the evening was the Heroes on Horses Parade.  I took part in carrying a flag in the parade which is filled with so much pride for our country and those who serve/served to protect it.  There were 13 riders in the Heroes on Horses that all did a wonderful job!  We also had a guest presenter, Will Summers, a former “12 Strong” special forces horse soldier.  It was a pleasure to briefly meet him and then also hear him speak at the NSBA Banquet as well!  The Heroes on Horses event is filled with so much American pride and I am so proud to be a part of a community that pays our respects to those who have served and continue to serve our country to protect our freedoms.  Thank you for your service!

During the week, I was in the Ford Truck arena and was able to watch lots of impressive western pleasure, hunter under saddle, pleasure driving, western riding, and showmanship classes.  I had the privilege and honor to present one of my very good friends I made through my queening journey, Morgan Jennings, her first NSBA World Champion Trophy in the Amateur Pleasure Driving!  I also got to present some classes with Gordon, from the Equine Chronicle, which is always so much fun!  He brings so much energy and excitement to the show!  Sunday evening was the NSBA Banquet where quarter million dollar riders, million dollar riders, NSBA Horses of the Year, Hall of Fame inductees, and scholarship award winners were recognized.  Will Summers, special forces horse soldier, was the guest speaker and shared his story serving his country and being challenged to defend while riding horseback right after 9/11.  He also generously donated 6 bottles of his Horse Soldier Bourbon Whiskey that were signed by his team who served alongside him.  This live auction brought over $40,000 to the NSBA Foundation!

Wednesday evening was the exciting CINCH Horsemanship Challenge.  The previous day, riders competed to be in the top 15 that showed to win a portion of the $15,500.  The riders were given 4 potential patterns to study for the challenge.  10 minutes prior to the start of the class, the riders were given the 1 chosen pattern of the 4 and then given 10 minutes to practice in the arena with their trainers.  After the 10 minutes were up, trainers went to the stands and the riders showed their pattern!  It was an incredibly impressive group of youth and amateur riders and Giorgia Grace Medows was the one to win it!  Congratulations!!

Thank you NSBA for your wonderful hospitality! Next stop is Ontario to the OQHA Summer Finale Show! Can’t wait to see Darcy Woods, the 2021 Congress Queen!

Youth World Championship Show

Last week I had the privilege and honor to attend the AQHYA World Championship Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Our industry's best youth competitors come from all over the country and world to compete for the coveted Golden Globe trophy.  I spent the week watching these impressive riders and their horses, presenting them their awards, beating the heat, and seeing lots of friends at the show!  I also had royalty help from the Ohio Queen, Ashton Snow, and even the Indiana Princess, Katelyn Scheiben!  Ashton was able to kick off the show the first few days until I arrived, and then we worked together to present awards.  I love being able to spend time with the queens throughout the summer to get to know them and mentor them as they prepare for the queen competition in October.  Ashton and I also made sure to get our daily ice cream fix while we queened in the heat!  We also were able to catch up with one of our generous Queen sponsors, Keith, from That’s Invintage!  His store is one of my favorites with all the unique items he has and I always add to my clothing collection when he is at a show I am at!  Here are some of the highlights from the week!

Those of you at the World Show will know who I am talking about when I say “Jack Sparrow” was the talk of the town!  There was a bird who relentlessly flew around the Jim Norick arena every single day!  I am sure he can be spotted in many pictures from the World Show!

My first day at the show I got to see an impressive group of riders in the Equitation finals.  The entire pattern was without stirrups.  Isabella D’Onofrio and Whata Moonlite Ride from Ohio took home the gold globe for that class, congratulations!  The biggest class at the world show was the Level 2 14-18 Horsemanship with over 100 entries and the ranch classes were right up there as well.  It is so exciting to see the ranch classes evolve as AQHA continues to add ranch classes!  The first ever Working Western Rail Class at the Youth World Show was won by Madison Rafacz and WHIZENBOONSMAL.  The Level 3 13 and Under Reining Champion was Josaphine Torpey riding Get Back JoeJoe and it was her First world show!  What an accomplishment for her first world show!  The Parade of Teams was on Wednesday evening and the team spirit and excitement was infectious.  The new AQHYA Leadership Board, scholarship recipients, and Team USA were all recognized during the Parade of Teams.  VS Fire and Ice was the High Point Champion Horse from the Youth World Cup in July and they also recognized his owner and his accomplishments during the YWC riding with Team Germany.  Moving onto some more exciting wins… Grant Mastin and his gelding, Hand Made Machine, took home the globe in the 14-18 Trail.  Grant had one of the most moving reactions to his championship, lots of happy tears! Grant displays incredible sportsmanship to his competitors too.  He is a class act competitor.  Way to go Grant!  In the 13 and Under Level 2 AND Level 3 Trail classes, the same riders placed top 3 in BOTH levels!  Eleanor Ott won both the Level 2 & 3, and later on in the show won the Reserve 13 & Under All Around.  Awesome Show!  Friday, my last day at the show, was quite exciting!  I was able to watch some cattle classes, like Tie Down Roping, Heading/Heeling, and Breakaway Roping.  We do not have those classes at the shows I compete at in Pennsylvania, so being able to watch those classes was so much fun!  Those riders and horses are incredibly talented.  Friday evening was the Level 3 Reining, and to make that class even more exciting there was a run off between first and second place because of a tied score!  To make it even more exciting, the run off was between the SAME rider, Riley Cachat, and her two horses Spooks Show Biz and A Smalltown Trick, who she won the class with.  Talk about an awesome day for Riley!

The Youth World Show is one of my favorite shows to attend!  It is so much fun to watch the talented teams competing at the show and an honor to give out those world show globes that they work so hard to earn.  Congratulations to all!

Region 6 Championships

I had the privilege to attend the Region 6 Super 6 Show last weekend in West Springfield, Massachusetts at the Eastern States Expo.  First thing Friday morning, I met the lady in charge of awards, Jill, and Lauren, who showed me around the facility.  Such a welcoming crew!  The Super 6 Show is one of the largest shows in the New England area, and there is no question why because they have so many fun events planned during the week!  Unfortunately the day prior to my arrival, I missed one of the super fun events, the Barn Aisle PotLuck.  Each barn provides a signature dish of food and everyone at the show walks down the barn aisle to try everyone's food!  It sounded like an awesome event.  Friday evening they had an exhibitor dinner and awards ceremony for the youth team tournament that they have during the first half of their show.  They give out such great awards to encourage participation in the youth event like Apple Watches, buckle displays, Hey Dudes, coolers, and more! 

I was quite busy during my time at the show.  They present awards through top ten and give all the class winners belt buckles!  Jill was the best to help me keep all the awards straight as I presented them to the class winners.  It was a pleasure working with her for the weekend and getting to know her.  Something really awesome I learned about Jill was that her daughter works on a dude ranch out in Washington State and leads trail rides and cattle drives for people who visit.  She showed my mom and I photos, and it is now added to my bucket list!  I also worked closely with the photographers at the show, Bryan Nigro and Brandon Currier, to make sure we had the BEST angles for arena awards shots of the exhibitors.  The awards team and photographers all become a unified team by the end of a show like this one.  Thank you Bryan and Brandon for your help!

One of my favorite parts of being Congress Queen is getting to meet people during my travels.  For example, a lady in one of the line ups told me that I was her grounding moment when she won a trail class at the Level 1 Championships back in April and told her that it was real life!  She just so happened to win that class that day, too!  It is an honor to be a part of those special moments with people when they achieve those championships they have worked so hard for.  There was also a young girl in a walk trot class that started riding through YEDA and this show happened to be her first ever quarter horse show, and guess what?!  She won the class! It is so exciting to see new people joining the fun we have at AQHA Shows.  I also met a SUPER excited future Congress Queen, Aubrey.  I ate lunch with her and answered all the questions that she had for me about the contest, my travels, and more!  She even helped me set up awards prior to each class, which was awesome.  I love being able to inspire little girls to set goals to become queens someday like I did!

Thank you Region 6 for being wonderful hosts and for an amazing show!  Definitely a show to add to your bucket list if you live in the New England region.  Next stop is the AQHYA Youth World Show in Oklahoma City!  I can’t wait to see golden globe dreams come true!!

The Not So Little Buckeye Show

The “Not So” Little Buckeye was a show on a list of “must do” shows from Darcy Woods, 2021 Congress Queen.  So, I had to have this show on my travel itinerary!  The Ohio Amatuer Quarter Horse Association runs this show in Columbiana, Ohio and the arena is called the Garwood Arena.  This facility was wonderful!  Everything is centralized: food, vendors, showing, stalls, and more!  OAQHA also feeds everyone breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the show which all the exhibitors appreciated, myself included!  This show is certainly focused on the exhibitors which is why it is such a popular show!

Friday morning was my first day at the show and it was great!  Lots of my queen sponsors were vendors at the show including Berry Fit, Glamorous Threads, Hold Its, and Rhinestone Lipgloss!  It was great to catch up and visit with my generous sponsors.  There were also tons of kiddos running around which was so exciting!  I met so many young girls that told me they had dreams of becoming queen someday.  10 years from now, we will have lots of queens competing for the crown!  Leadline was the highlight of the day.  There were 27 young and happy riders!  OAQHA purchased adorable goat stuffed animals and neck ribbons were sponsored for all the lead liners.  I was able to present these awards with newly elected AQHYA Leadership Team members, Colton Smith and Layni Wills.  I then helped out with presenting Grand and Reserve halter classes!

The Ohio Amatuer Quarter Horse Association put on a wonderful show and I highly recommend it for anyone in the region!  It has great class sizes for points, exhibitor friendly, and the showgrounds are accommodating for a large show and lots of people.  I definitely plan on showing at this show after my Queen reign!  Thank you OAQHA!

Next stop is the Region 6 Championship Show in Massachusetts!

Youth Excellence Seminar

I had the opportunity to travel down to College Station, Texas for one of my favorite events of the summer, the AQHYA Youth Excellence Seminar and Youth World Cup! The YES Conference is held each year to elect the AQHYA Leadership Team.  The American Quarter Horse Youth World Cup is an educational, leadership and competition-based event for AQHA youth members from around the world.  This international event is hosted every two years by a different country. This event hosts teams from 16 nations around the world!  Throughout this competition, each country will ride for gold medals in cutting, reining, horsemanship, ranch riding, trail, western riding, hunt seat equitation, hunter under saddle, and showmanship. 

I flew down a day before the YES conference started to get one of the Region 5 Directors, Sylvia Speelman, down for her leadership team prep day. I was able to enjoy the hot Texas sun at the hotel pool, read some of my book, and visited a nearby coffee shop!  That evening my mom and I enjoyed an Italian dinner with the Texas Youth Advisor, Amy Lee.

Thursday was the first day of YES, which is always interview day for the new AQHYA leadership team candidates!  I had the honor of being one of the interview judges for these accomplished youth.  I was impressed with the professionalism and vision these youth had for our association and industry.  I can assure you our future is bright with these young leaders!  After interviews, I hosted the kickoff workshop with 2022-23 AQHYA President, Adriana Totten.  Our workshop was called “Time Well Spent” and we talked about the steps to take to plan a regional youth leadership conference.  We made it an interactive session with the kids and had them brainstorm their own regional conference.  After the youth presented their creative ideas, I then gave a short presentation on queening and representing the All American Quarter Horse Congress.  It was so exciting to see interest amongst some of the older youth to get involved in queening for their states!  I also made a fun AQHA Rulebook Kahoot for everyone to test their knowledge and they all enjoyed some friendly competition.

That evening we had a great dinner and fun dance for all the youth.  The Youth World Cup Teams were invited to our dance, too!  Team Luxembourg’s advisor, Jim Stors, was on the AQHYA Leadership Team when I was back in 2016, so it was great getting to catch up with him and meet his team of riders!  I also had the opportunity to meet Team Germany! 

Friday morning started out with directors campaigning, and then we all went to see the opening ceremonies for the Youth World Cup.  There were 22 countries represented for this year’s competition.  Everyone from YES and Team USA’s families surely showed lots of USA pride when Team USA made their walk for the ceremony!  It was an honor to see all the talented riders from all the countries come together as one to represent the Quarter Horse and the values of leadership, horsemanship, and teamwork.  After the ceremonies, we transitioned into regional director elections where I moderated candidate speeches and impromptu questions for Regions 1 and 2 and 5 and 6.  Again, I was so impressed with the poise and ideas these youth had for their regions!  What a job well done.

It was a pleasure getting to return to the YES Conference and be a part of the conference as an adult, not a youth.  This event could not be as successful as it is without the youth and their parents and advisors that support them!  The youth are our future and events that develop and educate our youth, like YES, are planting the seeds for a bright future for our industry.  I am AQHA Proud!!

Nutrena AQHA Level 1 East Championships

Last week I had the privilege of attending the 2023 Nutrena AQHA East Level 1 Championships in Wilmington, Ohio and the World Equestrian Center.  This facility is a state of the art facility with numerous riding arenas and practice arenas to accommodate all the horses and riders.  They even have a “Ride Thru” for Starbucks that you can ride your horse through to grab coffee in the morning!

This year I had the best team to work with to hand out awards! Darcy Woods, 2021 Congress Queen and Jacqueline Woods, 2021 Queen Mom, were our awards experts for the show!  It was wonderful being able to spend all week with Darcy and Jacqueline and share our queen experiences and stories!

I was also able to meet some of our newly crowned queens for 2023!  We had two returning queens, Jessica Blevins from Indiana and Caitlyn Chistman from West Virginia, and four new queens, Jessica Pickersgill from Northern Ohio, Rachel Bowers from Michigan, Riata Rouch from OMI, and Ashton Show from Ohio, help us present awards all week!  It was a huge help to have so many queens to help out while 3 arenas were running at once (and usually ending at the same time!).  The Level 1 Championships are also a great time to get to know these amazing queens and help answer any of their questions they have about the Queen Contest in October!

The Level 1 East Championships is one of my favorite shows because it is often riders’ and their horses’ first big wins!  The excitement each exhibitor had receiving their finalist medallion, top ten ribbon or top 3 trophies is what makes traveling as Congress Queen so rewarding.  I am honored to be a small part of the winning moments these riders have when they accomplish their goals they worked hard all year for. 

Some other super fun parts of the Level 1 Championships were catching up with Congress Queen Royalty, Amy Cash, 2016 Queen, Mariah Sherer, 2019 Queen, and of course Darcy Woods, 2021 Queen!  Sweet Shop also satisfied my sweet tooth everyday. From their famous cinnamon rolls to their delicious brownie sundaes, they never disappoint!  Thank you for your continuous support of the queens!  AQHA also hosted an ice cream sundae night and pizza night for their exhibitors which was a hit after a long day of showing!  I also had the honor of meeting some future Congress Queens… Finley and Kendall.  These kiddos tried on the Congress Queen cowgirl hat and crown and Congress Queen sash and were full of excitement. They plan on competing sometime in the 2040’s, so keep an eye out for these up and coming future queens! 

Thank you AQHA and OQHA for having me represent the All American Quarter Horse Congress as their Queen at the AQHA Level 1 Championship!  It was an honor!

Arizona Sun Circuit

It’s been a busy few weeks! Thursday morning I had an early flight out of BWI. After getting through security, I ran into four young girls from Maryland headed to the American Rodeo in Texas. They actually recognized my hat box and saw “Congress Queen” on my jacket and asked me about what I was queening for. I gave them my autograph cards and told them all about the Congress!  It is so exciting to see youth that are involved in our industry. They are our future!

To kick off my trip to Scottsdale after we landed, I had a photoshoot with Ali Hubbell at Pima-Dynamite park trail right down the road from WestWorld.  Ali always does an amazing job with my queen headshots, so I wasn’t surprised at how awesome the photos turned out!  The park had amazing scenery with cacti the size of our trees on the East Coast.  The sunsets were unreal, too!  Check out my pictures below!  There were also lots of awesome restaurants in the Scottsdale area.  We had authentic Mexican cuisine, Italian and, of course, Cheesecake Factory during our stay in Arizona.

On Friday, I met the Volunteer Coordinator, Carol, and her husband, Ray, took me on a personal golf cart tour of the WestWorld facility!  There were sometimes 7 arenas going on at one time!  They also had pens full of cattle for their cattle classes and rodeo that was held concurrently with the Sun Circuit.  We don’t get to see cattle much at our east coast shows, so I thought that was pretty awesome!  Once I got my whereabouts, I went to check out the vendors in one of the large indoors and had the privilege to catch up with some of our amazing Congress Queen Sponsors, Select the Best and Rock’n J Farms! 

Arizona QHA put on an amazing show!  I was busy helping with their Final Four and West Coast Breeders awards presentations during the 3 days I was there.  The Final Four is a tournament style competition in Horsemanship, Equitation and Showmanship in each division. The Final 2022 Ranking List names the 64 exhibitors in each division who are eligible to participate in the tournament at the 2023 Sun Circuit. Rankings are compiled by a nation-wide panel of trainers and judges who have had all year to watch and note the accomplishments of exhibitors.  It was a privilege being able to see these top notch competitors go head to head to compete for the championship title! I also had the honor to help pick the winner of one of the awesome Sun Circuit golf carts given away at the show, and Angela Fox was the lucky winner! 

Sun Circuit has been one of my favorite trips thus far during my Congress Queen travels!  It is definitely a show to add to your horse show bucket list!  AzQHA was so welcoming to introduce me to the show and had wonderful hospitality! I enjoyed getting to meet so many new people during this trip and even seeing some familiar faces from the East Coast!  Thank you AzQHA for your hospitality and I look forward to visiting again sometime soon!

Las Vegas Silver Dollar Circuit

My second stop in 2023 was the Silver Dollar Circuit in Las Vegas!  This was my first show I have gone to on the West Coast!  It was wonderful to meet so many new people while also seeing some familiar faces.  The Silver Dollar Circuit is located at the South Point Hotel and Casino on Las Vegas Boulevard.  It was the coolest experience to walk down from my hotel room, grab some Starbucks to start the day, and walk right to the arena and barn!  You could even watch all the arenas live from your hotel room!

The Silver Dollar Circuit had 3 arenas running daily.  One arena was dedicated to trail classes which ran nearly all day.  They also had a wonderful trade show set up.  There were cute western-style boutiques, show clothing shops, jewelry, boot and hat stores, and more!  I enjoyed telling all the vendors about the Quarter Horse Congress and hopefully encouraged them to make the trip to attend the show in October!  Jolin Jewelry was one of the vendors at the trade show and I had the privilege of getting to know the owners Joanne and Travis.  Each day they loved seeing my Berry Fit Queen Outfits.  They are now super fans of Carolyn’s work!  They were also so generous to have given me a beautiful pair of swarovski earrings to match my queen outfits!  I think one of my favorite parts traveling as Congress Queen is getting to meet new people, hear their stories and create friendships.

I also had the opportunity to speak to a journalist who covers PBR events for Newsbreak, Douglas Pilarski, and told him all about the All American Quarter Horse Congress and the Congress Queen Contest.  He published an article on Newsbreak that I shared on my Facebook page, so feel free to check that out!

I also was able to walk through the barns and meet the exhibitors and their horses while sharing information about Star Stable, a horse game online filled with adventures to buy and take care of your own horses, who was also a sponsor of the show!  I was giving out a free month to play online as a Star Rider along with a few other goodies which lots of the kiddos at the show were SUPER excited about.  I love seeing technology and our industry coming together to give horse crazy kids a way to stay connected with horses even on their screens.

It was a blast getting to attend the Silver Dollar Circuit!  A HUGE thank you to Jan Bruner and Lindsey Slack for being so welcoming and showing me around the show and involving me in your amazing show!  I look forward to returning sometime soon with my horse and experiencing the show as an exhibitor!  Be sure to add this show to your schedule for 2024! Next stop is the Arizona Sun Circuit this weekend!