Building on the popularity of Sun Circuit’s National Championship Tournaments last March, The AZ Fall Championship is debuting the Horsemanship West Bracket Tournament. Ranked horsemanship exhibitors from the 2019 National Championship summer rankings who are showing in the AQHA horsemanship at the Arizona Fall Championship will be eligible. The top 4 scores in Youth, Amateur and Select horsemanship after the first set of AQHA judges will advance to The Four where they will compete in a tournament style head to head competition. The champion in each division will win $500 and a trophy buckle. The reserve will win $250 and a logo’d chair. The summer rankings list will be out in late July.

“I just wanted to have a clean ride [in the hunter hack],” said the 12-year-old equestrienne from Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada. “He’s very fun to jump. I didn’t jump before him; this is new to me. It’s fun and I trust him very much, so that makes it easier.”

The Equine Chronicle has been very busy here in Fort Worth, Texas at the 2019 APHA Youth World Championship Show! Just in case you missed any of our coverage of the event, here are links to all the articles, video interviews, and hundreds of photos taken around the rings, all in one place for your viewing pleasure.  

Kaitlyn describes Georgie is an easygoing guy, who throughly enjoys his job. “We’ve tried to teach him lead changes in the off season. He can do them, but he’s not very good at going fast, as you can tell in our little victory lap! That’s his happy speed, and he would like to stay there the whole time.”

Gillespie Show Horses barn mates, Carson Click and Kaitlyn Smith, have more in common than simply being from the same training barn. They are both first time attendees at the APHA Youth World Show. They also split the top two spots today in Novice Youth 14-18 Horsemanship. Carson rode Im First N Line to win, and Kaitlyn was Reserve with Seems Like Heaven. 

“She loves to be the attention grabber, and she loves treats. When I give her a treat, she will push the door back open to get another one. She loves people.”

“I knew it was going to be good when I walked in and she sat down in the bridle before I went over the pole. Then, I got up to cadence. That’s the one thing Sara tells me is that once I get over the pole, I have to get up to cadence and stay there for the whole pattern. She’s a really fun Western Riding horse. I’ve never enjoyed it this much.”