APHA World Western Riding Champions Include Desarae Gilley, Jill Silverberg, Kelli Foster

By: Brittany Bevis

This evening at the 2015 APHA World Championship Show, three new World Champions were crowned in Western Riding classes. First up, Jill Silverberg rode Send Roses Please to win Novice Amateur Western Riding. The Reserve Champion was Spencer Chelwick with Goodnight Charlie. Third place was Belinda Crisp with Sheiks Winning Colors. Fourth place was Kristina Hermanson with Total Assets. Fifth place was Betsy Leaguer with Dirty Maybelline.

In the Classic Amateur Western Riding Desarae Gilley rode A Sudden Legacy to win their first World Champion title in the discipline. The Reserve Champion was the returning Reserve Champion from last year, Tami Dietrich-Dobbs with Seems Like Heaven. Third place was Jill Silverberg with Send Roses Please. Fourth place was Christine Weiser with Nighttime Sensation. Rounding out the top five was Ashley Wildes with Heza Texas Hobo.

Desi and “Cheeks” have been a team for the past eight years. They currently compete under the guidance of Carly Veldman Parks and Wade Parks. “They’ve taught me so much that I don’t even know where to begin,” she says. “The biggest thing is just being precise, riding smart, and making sure I hit all my marks and don’t lose count. It seems to work out well for me. I think counting kind of keeps my mind off other little things I could be worrying about.”

Earlier in the show, Desi and Cheeks placed fourth in Classic Amateur Showmanship and third in Equitation. Later on in the show, they will compete in Trail and Western Pleasure, and Wade Parks will show Cheeks in Senior Trail. After a slightly disappointing run in Horsemanship last night, Desi had a very strong feeling that Western Riding was going to go much differently today.

“He felt amazing today,” she says. “I felt like he knew he had to redeem himself from Horsemanship. He’s definitely tired, but he felt really good. I just knew it was going to be a good day. I was joking with everyone at the barn, because I went to Target to go shopping, and I brought back two five pound bags of carrots. I just felt like he was going to be really good today and he would deserve a lot of carrots. I don’t know about all ten pounds, but he will get some!”

“Trail is my favorite class, but I think Western Riding is Cheek’s favorite. When I bought him, I would put him on a longe line and he would just naturally change leads loping around. He just thinks it’s fun. Sometimes too much!”

The winner of the Masters Amateur Western Riding was Kelli Foster with Fleets Serenity. The Reserve Champion was Sid Karr with Ucanttouchthis. Third place was Kathy Schexnayder with Sharp Dressed Zippo. Fourth place was Betsy Leaguer with Dirty Maybelline. Fifth place was Belinda Crisp with Sheiks Winning Colors.