2018 Youth World Cup Report
Holly Gutterson
What can I say...YWC was
one of the most amazing
experiences all of Team
Australia will ever have,
and it far exceeded all of
our expectations.
Youth World Cup is so
much more than a horse
competition, We all went
focused on working as a
team and competing in
well known events, but
what we came away with
was a strong bond with
people from all over the
world that communicate, share, sup-
port and socialise through a common
love that links us all together - the
Quarter Horse!
Throw 200 teenagers, coaches and
trainers from all over the world with
individual skill sets and experiences,
to sleep, eat, train and ride together
and you get - what we all now know
as YWC. The best fun and comrade-
ship you could imagine! Trading gifts
and shirts and making friends, being
interviewed and filmed, all added to a
fantastic atmosphere.
After a very long 15-hour flight we
left Australia and winter behind and
entered Texas and summer. Training
started straight away and during our
first days the riders got to practice
and get loads of lessons on some
amazing horses at Robyn and Jenny
Frid’s Show Barn and Johnny Mitch-
ells Cutting Barn. It was a bit cool
that Johnny is an Australian living in
Texas and was once actually himself
a YWC rider on the Australian Team.
This week was fantastic and we all
learned so much. But these were not
the horses we would get at the actual
competition.
On arriving in College Station, and
getting settled into our hotel with
the other 18 countries all arriving
too, we began to really get excited.
First job was to get our “lip-sync”
competition performance polished.
While we all sweated dancing Craig
was sunning himself on the deck
chair. Apparently with little dancing
experience, ours while not winning
was a popular performance! This
competition and dinner on our first
official night was a load of laughs and
got everyone in a great mood for the
10 days too come.
The Opening Ceremony,
with each country’s
team being introduced
and the national
anthems playing and
flags flying, was an
emotional and really
proud part of the
whole competition. After
the Opening Ceremony we drew our
team of five horses and the riding
began. While we weren’t expecting
a team of polished show horses we
were certainly presented with a
challenge of figuring out our team.
We had an 18.2hh gelding - that was
easy he was the Hunter; we had a
22-year-old mare that did every
event and was as honest as they
come - she became our all rounder.
Then we had a 2 year old that could
not be ridden - again easy he could
only do Showmanship, and the other
two seemed to be pretty green Ranch
horses.
We travelled by bus to a private
Cutting facility for the day of cutting
competition, where our two riders
Holly and Matt were teamed up with
specialised cutting horses and their
trainers to get through the competi-
tion. This day was one of my personal
highlights. The day of Reining compe-
tition was a similar situation, where
specialised Reining horses were
provided along with their trainers
to coach the riders through this part
of the competition. The privilege for
all riders to get access to such spe-
cialised horses and coaching on
these days was amazing.
Thanks to team dynamics of pitching
in, guidance by our coach extraor-
dinaire Pauline Stuart Fox, daily
counseling sessions with Craig Rath
and sheer determina-
tion we came away with
some amazing results,
particularly given that
one of our horses was
vetted out part way into
the competition and we
had to start from scratch
with a new one. This was
a team event and Aus-
tralia came away with a
worthy 4th place overall
behind a very formida-
ble USA team, and very
strong performances from
Germany and Canada.
All that said Matt
Frieberg deserves
a special shout out
being an amazing
talent in the Aus-
tralian Team. Matt
received two 1st
place performances
and two Overall High
Point Awards in Trail
and Reining.
Families and supporters from all
over the world decorated parts of the
spectator stands and the cheering
was intense, the classes were large
and the competition fierce, but we all
came together at the end of the day
caring for our horses, having water
fights in the heat, chilling in the
stables and having meals together -
YWC was a very special experience.
Our coach Pauline Stuart Fox did
an amazing job and was very diplo-
matic getting us all onto horses and
through our events and we really
appreciated it. Pauline has an amaz-
ing wealth of knowledge and was
fun to travel and compete with. Kim
Johnson our Manager was awesome
and kept everyone in check, she had
the hard task of keeping us all fed,
watered and behaving. Craig Rath
was just like one of us! He was fun
and made all the teams rush to be
on the bus in the mornings that the
Australians were on - he controlled
the volume on the speaker!!!
I think I can speak for the whole
team that YWC is one of the most
amazing experiences a Quarter
Horse Youth can ever have. YWC
creates more friendships, memories
and opportunities than we could ever
have imagined and we are all grate-
ful to have been a part of it.
September • October • 2018 • The Australian Quarter Horse Magazine • 21