A Great Day for the Young Guns at The Madness
All photos courtesy of NSBA.
From the first NSBA futurity class to the last, the ‘young guns’ of the industry were making their presence known on Saturday at the Madness, culminating in a night to remember for Gaven Young and Alec Cochran in the $54,000 Equine Chronicle Three Year Old and Over Maiden Horse Western Pleasure.
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Maiden Money Earners
The signature class of the 2025 Madness did not disappoint, with a deep field of 24 maiden horses shown. For both the Open and Limited champions this year, the 2025 Madness maiden event was their first to compete in.
Gaven Young rode the flashy ChromedOut for owners Shane and Darla Leavell, and won the Open division decisively with two firsts and a third from the judges. The win gave the team the $25,000 first place prize money. “He’s a No Doubt Im Lazy, and he’s four years old,” Gaven said. “I started riding him back in November when I started working for Aaron Moses. I’ve been riding him ever since, so he’s been my project. It’s been super fun bringing him along.”
Gaven and his boss finished first and second in the class.
“It’s funny how things work out; we were going to show him earlier in the year, but that didn’t work out, so we thought we would save him for something maiden. I stayed home from Ocala, so we kept him home and it gave me more time to prepare for here. Having this class is so nice. It gives those horses an opportunity that might be a little late to mature or that just take a little longer to come together the opportunity to show for a substantial amount of money. It gives us a good avenue to take them down.”
When asked about showing in his first maiden class, Gaven noted, “I was more excited than nervous to show in it. When I got out there and saw the crowd, I got a little tense, but not bad. It was nice to hear the crowd behind us too.”
Gaven appreciates many things about him. “I really like that he’s pretty natural,” he said. “It’s just perfecting it because there’s a lot of natural ability. He also has a great look – he’s flashy, he’s strong and he has really good self-carriage. It gives me a chance to concentrate on showing him.”
Gaven will continue to show ‘Chester’ throughout the year. “We can show in Green, Novice Horse and four year old classes, so we have a lot of opportunities to keep going,” he said.
Alec Cochran showed Chili Dawg to win the Limited rider portion of the class for owner David Beck. “He’s a three year old by Machine Made,”Alex said. “He’s a pretty nice horse. We call him Chili in the barn. He’s just a solid little horse. He’s not real flashy, but he goes out there and does his job every time.
“This was my first maiden class. The nerves were definitely there, but you put those aside and just show. Luckily he’s a pretty quiet horse and he doesn’t get rattled by much.”
Alec and Chili will next go to the Premier and compete in Novice classes. “I’d like to thank Arturo Maestas Show Horses for sending Chili and David our way,” Alec said. “It was great to have their confidence and support for our program.”
The Trio of Trail Champions
The Madness saw a full slate of Trail classes on Saturday that included two futurity classes and one Limited division rider bonus. Starting off the day, Melvin Yoder piloted Foxy Cleopatra to win the First Year Green Trail for owner Rob Fowler.
“We just started ‘Nugget’ on Trail this winter,” Melvin said. “She’s five years old, so we’re in our last year as a Junior horse, but our first year doing Trail. This is just her second horse show doing Green Trail. We had a good run in Ocala a couple of weeks ago. I was reserve in the Maiden Trail, won the Super Sires and I think we showed a total four times and she was good there.”
Nugget has taken well to Trail after a successful Western Pleasure career, Melvin noted. “She’s really soft and scopey looking. She always shows really well and doesn’t look around – she minds her own business. She knows she’s showing and she likes being a show horse.”
In today’s class, Melvin noted that the mare gave him an overall great ride. “She was just there for me, and let me push when we needed to and got big when we needed to,” he said. “She likes these tight patterns, so today’s pattern in the R & L Arena fit her really well.”
Nugget and Melvin will be showing at the major events throughout 2025 in First Year Green Trail.
The Non-Pro exhibitors competed in their futurity class on Saturday with the $11,250 Added Non-Pro Trail Futurity. Grant Mastin showed his long-time show partner, Hand Made Machine, to win the Non-Pro division with a score of 239, earning the first place prize of $5,000.
“I just love this horse,” Grant said of his gelding ‘Carl.’ “He’s one of a kind. He is now 13 years old and we’ve had him since he was three years old, so we’re going on ten years together.
“We’ve been very blessed with a great mom who supports us and a great team around us who help us peak at the right time. It’s been a long four week showing and back and forth with school, so to have him be this consistent after this long of a run is true testament to Ryan Cottingim and Mandy Gately’s program.
Although the Non-Pro Trail Futurity looked at all Trail scores from all Amateur, Select Amateur and Youth classes to determine the winners, Grant and Katie Kopf, who won the Limited division of the class and reserve in the Non-Pro division, both competed in Amateur Trail. “It’s a good group of horses, and I have so much respect for Katie and love seeing her do well, we have a great friendship.”
Grant just completed his last final as a junior at Texas Christian University and will begin his summer job working in the office of Senator Ted Cruz. “I hope to show at some of the major shows like the Big A and NSBA World Show, but I’ll be working around my job somewhat,” he said. The finance and political science major would like to attend law school and work in a public affairs, governmental affairs or lobbying role.
While trainer Melissa Jones saw success winning the Limited Open division and reserve champion of the Five Year Old and Over Trail Futurity on Friday with Two Ziplines, owner Katie Kopf repeated the placings in the Non-Pro and Limited Non-Pro Trail, earning the reserve Non-Pro title and winning the Limited division.
“I raised Leroy, and he’s ten years old now,” Katie said. “He’s pretty special to me and my family. He’s my once-in-a-lifetime horse. I like to say that he finds all the spots for me and helps me out a lot. He’s pretty fun in Trail and does a pretty good job. He was really good in our class today. The poles were pretty high, but he tried really hard and had a pretty good go. I was very proud of him.”
Katie is in just her second year as an Amateur exhibitor coming out of the Youth ranks, and has seen success from the AQHA World Championship Show to the World Equestrian Center and many regional shows in between.
The Madness concludes on Sunday, May 11, with Western Riding, Horsemanship and Western Pleasure, including the $1,000 Added Non-Pro Maturity and the $1,500 Added Three Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure and $1,000 Added Three Year Old Limited Non-Pro Western Pleasure. To view complete show results, please visit the Horse Show Tracker app or visit horseshowtracker.com.
