Bittersweet Win in Amateur Equitation For Sunni Chernega and Nearly Chocolate

By: Brittany Bevis

Tonight’s win in Amateur Equitation was certainly bittersweet for Sunni Chernega. It was not only her first time winning a World Champion title; it also marks her last horse show competing under the guidance of horse trainer Jason English. Sunni will be getting married on December 12th and plans to relocate to Austin, TX, making a barn move necessary. From this point forward, she will be training with Reid Thomas.

“This is my last show with Jason, so it’s very bittersweet,” she says. “I asked Jason, a couple of months ago, if he minded bringing me out here, because it’s just me. It’s a one-way ticket, because Curly isn’t even going home. He said he didn’t mind, as long as I won!”

“He has poured his soul into me,” she says. “I wanted so badly to go out and get him a trophy. I’m leaving on the best of terms with his blessing.”

Sunni’s partner for the class this evening was her 7-year-old gelding named Curly; they’ve been a team for two and a half years now. Although they haven’t been competing together long, they’ve quickly made a name for themselves in this discipline. They recently won Amateur Equitation at the NSBA World Championship show earlier this year and placed 7th at the Quarter Horse Congress.

“I think Curly is a pleaser,” she says. “If Curly knows what you want, he wants to do it. He is a sweet horse, and he doesn’t cause any trouble. If we make a mistake, it’s because I wasn’t clear on what I wanted. He’s always been like that, even before he was super-broke in all-around events.”

When Sunni looked at this evening’s pattern, with its leg yield trot portions, she was excited to try out a new maneuver she’d been practicing since this time last year. “When I first looked at it, it looked really difficult, but it rode really well,” she says. “Last year, I went home from here wanting to practice the leg yield. I did it so much that I think I drove Jason crazy! I wanted to perfect it, and it’s not perfect yet… When I saw that in the pattern, I was looking forward to at least trying it out.”

“When I came here last year and saw the level of competition, I felt like I could canter, hand gallop, and change leads, but [the leg yield] was the one missing piece, and I felt like we would run into it somewhere important.” Sunni’s gut feeling turned out to be correct with not one but two leg yields in both directions in tonight’s pattern.

Tomorrow, Sunni and Curly will compete in Horsemanship preliminaries.

The Reserve Champion was Ariel Herrin with Challaging Details. Third place was Sydney Shafer with Thumbs Debut. Fourth place was Michelle Forness with Stretch Machine. Fifth place was Julie Cole with Size Matters. Sixth place was Maria Salazar with Winkin For Chocolate. Seventh was Taylor Brown with Absolute Best Asset. Eighth was Johnna Letchworth with Izzy A Jack Bar. Ninth was Sydney Carpenter with Invested By Surprise. Tenth was Angela Fox with The Company You Keep.