APHA World Champions Include Minnis, Overway, Landy, Olsen, and More

By: Brittany Bevis

Here at the 2021 APHA World Show, Melinda Minnis led her double-registered stallion, Hesa Classic Secret, to win Amateur 2-Year-Old and Over SPB Stallions.

“PJ” is an AQHA and APHA solid paint bred stallion that’s currently in training with Kelley Stone-Wainscott and Adam Wainscott. “She has trained all of my horses for 15 years now,” Melinda says. “It’s amazing what she can do with a horse in a very short period of time. He’s double-registered, so he will head to the AQHA World Show in the fall.”

Melinda’s stallion is massive, and he’s good-looking to boot. “His conformation is phenomenal,” she says. “He’s the whole package. He has a beautiful head and neck. He has a big hip and really correct conformation and no soundness problems in his legs at all. We waited on him and held him as a yearling to let him grow. I think a lot of these babies that are shown as Halter horses grow so fast that they need to be turned out for a year and be babies.”

Winning Amateur Yearling Stallions was Hes All Cool and Robin Robinett. The winner of Amateur Yearling Geldings was Made In Its Likeness and Susan Drawdy. Winning Amateur 2-Year-Old Stallions was FVR Stylin Phil and Gena Viator. The winner of Youth Performance Halter Mares was Especially Lazy and Ella Storc

Winning Amateur 2-Year-Old Geldings was Intriguing Secret and Andrea Olsen. Andrea is very proud of “Wally,” because he is a homebred gelding that’s a fourth generation of her breeding program. He’s by Im The Secret and out of Oh So Intriguing, by Kid Coolsified.

“He’s a beautiful horse, but I love his disposition and personality,” she says. “He’s quiet and kind of has a sense of humor. He’s goofy and likes to have fun. He will be the first to notice what you’re doing and is very curious.”

“I think he’s super deep through the heart girth. I like his neck and, of course, his head is beautiful. He’s very balanced overall, and I’m really proud to say that he’s a horse I’ve bred.”

Fitting Wally for Andrea is Joshua Larman.

The winner of Amateur SPB Yearling Geldings was KR Hes Xtra Cool and Jolene Wadds. Winning Youth Performance Halter Geldings was Hes Double Platinum and Morgan Hobson. The winner of Amateur 3-Year-Old Stallions was Fake News and Natasha Bothwell.

In Walk Trot Showmanship, the winner was All In Red and Anna Overway. 12-year-old Anna lead 9-year-old “Zeke” to their third World Championship title of the horse show. Their other two came in Walk Trot Hunter Under Saddle and Equitation. They also won two Reserve titles at the Pinto World Show last week. “He’s been a really good boy at these shows. He listens well and is very calm.”

“I started doing Leadline when I was four years old,” she says. “I get nervous in some classes, like Trail, but not in other classes, like Showmanship. It’s one of my favorite classes. My trainer, Heather Brower, tells me to be in sync with my horse and, before the stops, to be soft. She says to be snappy and show off what you can.”

Reserve in the class was Danson To The Music and Journey Frericks. Third was Onlyalilblackvelvet and Shelby Kee. Fourth was LF Black Gold and Cadence Coates. Fifth was Fabulous Assets and Marley Smith.

Meredith Landy rode her five-year-old gelding, All Good, to win the 4 and Over Non Pro Hunter Under Saddle Sweepstakes. A multiple World and Congress Champion, “Jameson,” is an old pro in the pen by now, and Meredith says he’s like a dream to ride.

“You put him on the rail, and he loves to do his job. It’s just like flying on a cloud- a big black cloud! I will tell you this. It was a really deep class. In that class, there were probably horses that had won 40 or 50 World titles. Every single one had multiple World titles, so it was a bit scary.”

Assisting Meredith with preparations for the APHA World Show is her trainer, Stacy Huls, who will also show Jameson here at the show. “She has told me to be really soft with my transitions and showed me how to use my left rein to keep him collected nicely. Mostly, he marches around the arena and does his job. I just need to stay soft with him, which makes him happy, and that keeps me happy too!”