Kokemiller/All About The Goods and Bull/Timeless Assets Win APHA World Amateur Hunter Under Saddle

By: Brittany Bevis

This evening was bittersweet for Taylor Kokemiller as it likely marks the last time she will show her 10-year-old gelding, All About The Goods, at the APHA World Show. In October of 2017, “Stewie,” had to undergo colic surgery. They’ve brought him back slowly, and tonight he helped Kokemiller win her first World Championship title, as an amateur, in Amateur Senior Hunter Under Saddle.

Kokemiller purchased Stewie from Laura Spell and family when he was three years old. “I was looking for a horse that I could do all-around events with, and I’ve shown him in Western Pleasure as well as Hunter Under Saddle. I’ve known Wade and Laura for ten years. When I was 13, I bought a horse from them and took it home for a while. A year and a half later, I took it back, and I’ve been there ever since. They’ve both taught me how to show, and they’ve taught me about life and how to be a good person, all around.”

Kokemiller explains how Laura, in particular, has helped her to become more poised in the show pen. “She tells me to just go show. She says to look for the spots ahead of me and to plan what I’m going to do and how I’m going to do it. She says to just go show, no matter what happens.”

Coleen Bull and Timeless Assets have just won their 26th World Show title, which currently has them sitting at the top of the leaderboard for the all-time winningest APHA horse in World Show competition. They officially broke the record at 25 World Championships earlier in the week when they won a World Championship in Amateur Pleasure Driving. Coming into the World Show, there was a three-way tie between Timeless Assets, Slide Away Sally, and One Flashy Sensation.

“It just means that he’s a really good boy!” Bull says. “It’s totally hard to comprehend. It’s unimaginable. Who would’ve thought? My girlfriend found me this horse online, and I just fell in love with him. Who would’ve thought it would’ve ended up like this?”

Bull and “Tucson” are taking a break from their typical all-around schedule this year by only competing in Hunter Under Saddle and Pleasure Driving classes. “We did something a little different this year and sent him to Jerry Erickson to work on Pleasure Driving. If you send a horse to Jerry, he’s probably going to jump them! He’s been jumping him all summer. Garth and Sonnesa [Gooding] think very highly of Jerry. He did Working Hunter here, and I was really proud of him. He was so cute. However, I got a sense of what that’s all about, and I’m pretty sure that’s not in the cards for me! I might consider Hunter Hack though…”

13-year-old Tucson isn’t done yet. He still has Utility Driving with Mason Lyon and Senior Pleasure Driving with Jerry Erickson later in the show. “He still knows his job. He knows when people are watching, and he turns it on.”