Afternoon Congress Champions Include D’Onofrio/Just Good Enough, Vroegh/Krymsun Belle, and Roberts/For One Night Only

By: Brittany Bevis

We had the chance to chat with three more Congress Champions this afternoon. 12-year-old Bella D’Onofrio led her 17-year-old gelding, Just Good Enough, to win 11 and Under Showmanship in spectacular style.

Bella and “Roany” compete under the guidance of Missy Thyfault and have for the past three years. This is their first Congress Championship title; however, they do have a previous NSBA Championship in 11 and Under Trail. Bella and Roany will try to repeat, and possibly better upon that performance, later this week in 11 and Under Trail. This afternoon, they’re headed over to compete in 11 and Under Equitation.

Showmanship is by far Bella’s favorite class, because Roany is “very good at it.” Also, it doesn’t hurt that she gets to wear a beautiful, sparkly outfit! Her favorite parts of the pattern today were the square corner, stop, and back.

Bella is a hometown girl from right here in Columbus, Ohio, so she had a huge fan club attend the show to help cheer her on. “My mom, dad, aunts, uncles, grandma, grandpa, and cousins all came!”

The Reserve Champion was Caroline Fredenburg with Zippos Hot Jet. Third place was Violet Shetler with Flaunting Her Asset. Fourth was Kyla Jackson with Good For The Ladys. Fifth was Cheyenne Augsburger with Dynamic Allnite Long.

Mallory Vroegh led her six-year-old mare, Krymsun Belle, to win her first Congress Championship title in 15-18 Showmanship. “I’ve been Reserve like eight times but never won it. It feels amazing! It’s been a long time coming, so that makes it even sweeter. The Youth World Show was rough, but we re-gathered after that and it all came together at the NSBA World Show.”

We had the opportunity to interview this poised 16-year-old when she led Belle to win 14-18 Showmanship at the NSBA World a few months ago. Her success is even more impressive by the fact that Mallory and Belle haven’t been a team for that long. “I’ve always had a different horse every year. It’s one of the perks of having a horse trainer as a mom!” she jokes.

Showmanship is Mallory’s favorite class because the focus is on the athletic ability and poise of the handler. “I love that you must have athletic ability,” she says. “It’s very much about you, so you don’t need to have a million dollar horse to win the class.”

“Our strong part is being able to go out there and go fast. She’s a big-strided mare, and I have long legs, so it was important for us to show off our fast circle. Then, through our turns, we wanted to be soft and pretty. There’s a part that needs to be fast, but there’s a time to slow down as well.”

Mallory and Belle will show in NYATT Showmanship and 15-18 Trail coming up, and she will show her other mare, Cash McCool, in NYATT Horsemanship and 15-18 Horsemanship.

Hillary Roberts scored a big win this afternoon in the Non Pro Western Pleasure Maturity aboard her horse, For One Night Only, aka “Sid.” Hillary and Sid have been on a roll since coming together for the first time as a team at the Congress last year, and it seems destined that they will continue their streak.

“He’s really good in that pen, and my prelims were very good, so I felt like I just needed to get in there and repeat our performance and have the same type of a ride,” Hillary says. “He was pretty close to perfect, so it was a lot of fun.”

Given their level of success over the years with multiple Congress Champion titles, World Championships, and an NSBA Horse of the Year accolade, we wondered what keeps “Sid the Kid” fresh and on his game, show after show.

“It’s different every time. It just kind of depends on the show and where we are. Being that it’s the Congress, it takes quite a bit of prep. There’s a lot of riding in the middle of the night. There was riding in the middle of the night, last night…”

“I felt like he was pretty locked in this time. I feel like riding in the overhang is about as good a prep as any with all the traffic and the breeze blowing.”

Later in the show, Sid will compete in Amateur Western Pleasure, Junior Western Pleasure, and the Maturity Open Western Pleasure Finals with trainer, Rusty Green, this evening.

The Reserve Champion was Darcy Reeve with A Certain Vino. Third place was Lacy Watson with RR Magical Moonlite. Fourth was Sharnai Thompson with Rock County Kid. Fifth was Abbey Rawlings with A Lazy Holiday.