Back to Back Western Riding Wins for Abigail Lee and Its Southern Blues
Winning a class like Western Riding is tough enough, but winning the 14-18 your first year in the division is almost unheard of.
For Abigail Lee, the stars aligned and so did her talent and her horse’s athleticism at the 2026 AQHYA World Championship Show. Abigail and Its Southern Blues, a 2017 blue roan gelding by Its A Southern Thing and out of VS I Heart You (by VS Code Red) and bred Eric Felt won the L2 Western Riding 14-18 Saturday afternoon, which also qualified them to come back for the L3 Finals on Monday night.
Monday night, they put down a performance that not only was flawless, but it looked effortless, and the result was a Gold Globe.
She then wowed the audience by pulling her bridle and performing her victory lap bridleless with two lead changes!!
Keep scrolling for her winning L3 14-18 Western Riding pattern, her interview from Saturday, and the words she added on Monday night after winning the L3!
Complete results:
https://www.aqha.com/documents/82601/2f47bd6b-9c7b-56be-39dc-542dc97894e2
Score sheets:
https://www.aqha.com/documents/82601/ca547b6f-0727-d0e0-4263-cbe30ee76e38
Abby’s interview from Saturday after cinching the win in L2:
After their L3 win, Abby explains she didn’t expect anything like this going into her first 14-18 year. “I was just glad to be here and glad that I was able to be in the finals.”
To top her performance from the L2 pattern on Saturday, Abby says she trusted her horse and Reid Thomas, her trainer. “I’d never done pattern 8 and I hadn’t felt comfortable quite with it yet, so I did it with Reed yesterday with an airpod in my ear, and we figured it all out, and I told him I was ready to go,” she says.
She’d gone bridleless for her victory lap due to a bridleless ride in Trail she was having with Nelson at home when Reid had told her if she won the western riding in L3 at youth world, she could do her victory lap that way. “The other day, I was like, ‘I’m going to make that come true today,’ so that was the best.”
For Abby, she’s grateful for everyone who has contributed to her success, including “everybody that comes and supports me online or here, Reid especially. He’s such an amazing trainer and I love him to death. And Myles, he’s really changed the way I ride, Curtis has always believed in me, and I haven’t known Martin for long, but he’s helped me so much. And so everybody’s helped me so much throughout this journey and I’m just so glad to be here.”
