Erin Mask and RR All In Win First AQHYA World Champion Title in Trail

By: Brittany Bevis

We have another first-time World Champion, folks! The last three winners we’ve interviewed: Alexandrea Albright in Showmanship, Abbi Lynn Demel in Horsemanship, and now Erin Nicole Mask in Trail won their first World Championship titles here at the 2016 AQHYA World Show.

Erin and her gelding, RR All In, aka “Gil,” scored a 233, which was a full three and a half points ahead of the rest of the field. The Reserve World Champion was Deanna Green with Blazinmytroublesaway, scoring a 230.5. Placing third with a 228.5 was Clara Johnson with The Maintenance Man. Fourth place was Emily Maul with Hez Raising The Bar. Fifth place was Natalie Alcorn with Chocolates Hot Asset.

Sixth place was Kacie Scharf with A Movin Machine. Seventh place was Caroline Latture with Eye On The Ball. Eighth place was Emma Edwards with This Is Why I’m Here. Ninth place was Killian Mullen with More To Zip. Tenth place was Sabrina Janis with Ima Money Magnet.

15-year-old Erin and Gil have been a team since 2011, around the time she attended her first Youth World Show. “I’ve never made the finals here in Trail,” she says. “Gil is the only horse I’ve ever shown in Trail or Western Riding here. He can definitely make things a challenge for me, but today he was really good.”

“Everyone said my lead change was really good, but when I did my lead change, I didn’t get set up really good for the next set of poles, so he left kind of long. But, he came back good and finished that well. All of his trots were good. He didn’t hit anything. We only hit one walk and the sidepass. We had some trouble last night with our sidepass and the lopes by the gate, but he was really good on those today.”

Erin and Gil currently compete under the guidance of trainer Tommy Sheets, whom she gives much of the credit for helping her achieve this win. “He’s done all the work. I owe it all to him,” she says.

In addition to winning Trail today out of a field of 135 horses, Erin and Gil were also finalists in Western Riding, and last night she rode  Figured Out Vegas to place 17th in Ranch Riding. Now, she and her horses are headed to Tulsa to compete at the NSBA World Championship Show next week.

After the final results were in, the announcer took quite a long time relaying the choice of the judges’ top pick. While Erin held hands with fellow competitor, Deanna Green, we asked what was going through her head.

“I was just really happy to be in the finals. We all want to do well, but I was really happy to be in the finals, because I’ve never been in them before. I was thinking that I was going to be really happy either way. I’m speechless… this is still unreal.”