Horsemen of Arkansas
American Horsemen Challenge Association
By Melinda Steele
Congratulations to our winners:
Wrangler Division and Youth
1st Savannah Key
Green Horse I
1st Shannon Patten
2nd Terri Griffin
3rd Michelle Mace
4th Makenna Mace
5th Lisa Todd
Green Horse II
1st Diane Dzuba
2nd and 3rd Meg Wills-O ‘Daniel
Novice
1st Terri Griffin
2nd Lisa Todd
Limited Amateur
1st Tina Taylor
Amateur
1st Corry Key
English
Tie between Corry Key
and Shannon Patten
Legends
1st Terri Griffin
2nd Lisa Todd
Open
1st and 2nd Meg Wills O ‘Daniel
In Hand I
1st Melinda Steele
2nd and 3rd Corry Key
In Hand II
1st Tim O ‘Daniel
2nd Mary Roman
3rd Melinda Steele
The Horsemen of Arkansas would like to welcome our newest members Mikenna Mace, Shannon Patten, Terri Griffin, Diane Dzuba and Michelle Mace who joined our association at our last challenge.
The May Trail Challenge had an excellent turnout including several new participants who came to compete. We began our event with a clinic led by the very knowledgeable Shelly Bill, who provided us with a wealth of information to take away. Always interesting to participants and judges are the obstacles that proved to be the most difficult. At this challenge it was the noodle fingers and the narrow bridge. Our general consensus being, our horses rely on our guidance to get them through scary situations. It is up to us to become the best confident riders we can be to help them. Often, one of the hardest things for us to do as riders is to just breath and look ahead, not at the ground.
Judge Jason Bill was kind enough to willingly offer pointers to the riders after the challenge was over. As we know, constructive feedback not only helps us grow as riders but aids the association with open lines of communication.
We would like to extend a special thank you to both Shelly and Jason for traveling all the way from the Gulf Coast Region of Texas, to Dr. and Mary Roman for allowing us to use their facilities and everyone who took the time to help work the event. We couldn’t have done it without them!
42 / Sport and Trail Magazine