Patty Bogosh and Earn An Invitation Are Champions in Amateur Showmanship Level 2

By: Brittany Bevis

During her first time competing in her first class at the AQHA World Championship Show, Patty Bogosh and her horse, Earn An Invitation, exited the arena with a golden trophy. Patty and “Ernie” were just named the champions in Amateur Showmanship Level 2 this morning and made the Level 3 finals scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

5-year-old Ernie isn’t quite as thrilled as Patty, expressing his enthusiasm with several well-timed yawns. “He’s probably wondering why we’ve been doing Showmanship for like 12 hours straight!” Patty jokes. “But, I think this is his favorite class because it’s mine. I like Showmanship, because it’s like Horsemanship with a connection with the horse and exhibitor, but I think you can put more style on it.”

This is only Patty and Ernie’s second year competing in the discipline, but they’re already making their mark as a team to watch. Recently, they placed third in Amateur Showmanship at the Quarter Horse Congress and made the Amateur Horsemanship finals. The team currently competes under the guidance of Valerie Kearns. Later this week, Patty and Ernie will show in Level 2 Amateur Horsemanship, Level 2 Amateur Western Pleasure, and the Level 3 Amateur Showmanship finals.

“Ernie is a very neat horse,” she says. “This is just my third year with him, and he really is coming into his own as an all-around horse. I’m excited to keep adding more classes like Western Riding.”

During today’s pattern, Patty was pleased with Ernie’s excellent trot to walk transitions and fluid maneuvering skills. “The most difficult pieces were obviously breaking to a walk and doing it in time, multiple times,” she says. “The first turn at that V is very difficult to make consistent, pretty, and fluid. The way I got his body to do it is I stepped in a square. Overall, it was a fluid pattern. He does wrap around very well and we had a good back and I think our timing was pretty good.”

Heading into the Level 3 finals on Thursday, Patty feels this win will give her the extra boost of confidence she needs. “Absolutely I’m excited,” she says. “It’s good to get our first pattern down to get more of a feel for everything.”

The Reserve Champion in the class was Eric Mendrysa with Only By Moonlight. Third place was Jamie Radebaugh with Cadillac In Black. Fourth place was Beckie Kerns-Peskin with Don’t Skip Will. Fifth place was Taylor Brown with Absolute Best Asset. Sixth place was Carly Epp with PS Shy Guy. Seventh place was Shelley Grissom with See My Shiney Hiney. Eighth place was Kara Sisco with Flashs Radical Man. Ninth was Alexa Chavez with Cruisin Softly. Tenth was Christina Berry with One Good Minute.