Novice A
With seven entries, all from Texas, the Novice A class was the largest at the show. When the dust settled, Lisa Harding and Sandhaven Celebration, an Australian Stock Horse owned and bred by Sandhaven Performance Horses, were Overall Champions. Lisa was also Champion Open Rider in the Novice A level. She and Sandhaven Celebration came in third in Dressage (64.48%) and first in both Ease of Handling (66.11%) and Speed (2:19.4).
Young rider Madison Waller rode her Lusitano gelding Diablo DC to a first-place victory in Dressage (67.18%), a third place in Ease of Handling (65.56%) and a fourth place in Speed (2:50.8) to win Overall Reserve Champion as well as Champion Youth Rider and Champion Amateur rider for the Novice A class.
Lisa Harding and Sandhaven CatCandu, another Australian Stock Horse bred and owned by Sandhaven Performance Horses, came in third place overall, with a fifth in Dressage (64.48%) and second in both Ease of Handling (65.70%) and Speed (2:20.4). Christine Potocki kept herself quite busy, riding three horses (Australian Stock Horse Sandhaven Viper, and Andalusians RDL Zanetta HGF and Brillante RDL) in the Novice A class, while Michael Vermaas rode Andalusian Alazan HGA.
Novice B
The lone entry in the Novice B class, Texan Prissy Rumel and her Half-Andalusian Morita AAA earned quite respectable scores (61.55% in Dressage, 63.06% in Ease of Handling, and a Speed time of 2:40.83) on their way to the Novice B Champion Open Rider award.
Intermediate A
Carlos Carneiro, a California resident and native of Portugal, and his Lusitano stallion Flash won the four-entry Intermediate A class, with first-place finishes in Dressage (66.67%) and Ease of Handling (71.71%) and a third-place finish in Speed (2:43.95).
Texan Jade Watts Gonzales and her Quarter Horse gelding Fineleehetouchedme came in second in Dressage (62.01%), Ease of Handling (69.08%) and Speed (2:35.53) to win Overall Reserve Champion and Champion Amateur rider.
Jade’s sister Deidra Keithley rode her Gypsy Vanner Kiss
My Angel to third-place finishes in Dressage (61.39%) and
Ease of Handling (66.58%) and came in first in Speed
(2:16.10) to finish third-place overall (she and sister Jade
were tied, with 9 points each, but Jade’s slightly higher
Dressage/Ease of Handling average secured her the
familial victory.
Jade and Deidra's mom Terri Watts also competed in the Intermediate A class on her Lusitano gelding DEM Latte Con Leche, and Deidra's young daughter Lily rode Kiss My Angel in a special Lead Line Ease of Handling class (talk about cute!).
Intermediate B
Carlos Carneiro and Lusitano Cielo da Cartuxa, owned by Sierra Nevada Lusitanos, swept the five-entry Intermediate B class (Dressage = 68.08%, Ease of Handling = 75.40%), in the process turning in the fastest Speed time of the event (2:07.1). Two competitors each earned nine competition points: Illinois resident Mario Contreras and his Andalusian Maximo finished third in Dressage (60.58%), second in Ease of Handling (66.85%), and fourth in Speed (3:00.4) and Texas resident Lisa Harding and Australian Stock Horse Sandhaven Shameless finished fourth in Dressage (60.06%), third in Ease of Handling (65.66%) and second in Speed (2:13.8). The tie breaker of combined Dressage and Ease of Handling score brought Mario the Overall Reserve Champion title.
Meanwhile, Andrea Galbraith McNeal and her Andalusian stallion Dylan Cassimoro came in second in Dressage (61.48%) and third in Speed (2:28.5) to earn the Champion Amateur Rider award. Dawn Metzger and her Andalusian Corrado M had a very successful second WE competition experience, making great strides in their approach to the retrieve a pole obstacle in particular.
Kim Peterson riding CDC Memoria, owned by Julie Alonzo
Photo by Michael T. Photography
Mario Contreras and Maximo traveled from Illinois to compete.