AQHA World Performance Halter Wins Go to Grant/Inspirado, Laney/Upgrade To Escalade, and Roark/Most Appealing Dream

By: Brittany Bevis

The last of the Halter classes have wrapped up here at the 2014 AQHA World Championship Show, and there are three new winners to congratulate.

First, Todd Grant led the massive bay stallion named Inspirado to a win in Performance Halter Stallions for owner Angie Watts Schmeck. “Pedro” is by De Renzo and out of MBJ Mini Obvious. One interesting fact about this multi-talented horse is that Pedro obtains his required performance points by regularly competing in timed events like barrel racing and poles.

The Reserve World Champion in the class was Rick Skelly with Hez Unstoppable, a sorrel stallion by Heza Stemwinder and out of Telusives Coolest, for owner Ellen Jost. The third place team was Ross Roark and MTKS Touchdown for Sydney Miller. Fourth place was Jason Smith with Certainly A Vision for Jamie West Oakley. Rounding out the top five was Luke Castle with Intersection for Dan Fox.

In the Performance Halter Geldings class, Buddy Laney was at the lead of Upgrade To Escalade for owner, Timothy Guelich. “Grady” is by OHK Krymsun Zip and out of Ima Goin On Impulse. We had the chance to speak with Guelich’s daughter, Sydney Miller, to find out more about this “true all-around good guy.”

“He does Western Pleasure, Horsemanship, Showmanship, and has been started in Trail and Western Riding, so he really is an all-around horse,” Miller says. “I showed in Amateur Performance Halter Geldings last week and won.”

“He is super easy, so we keep him at home. Michael Casas works for us, and he fits him and gets him completely ready. He really does all the work. He does a great job with him.”

Although Grady didn’t compete in any other events here at the World Show, Miller has plans to continue developing his skills in Trail and Western Riding. Also, she would like to continue competing in his signature events, Western Pleasure and Showmanship, unless he finds a new owner before the 2015 show season begins.

“I think it’s great that we are encouraging horses to continue [to show in performance events] in order to get qualified for the World Show, and they have to keep getting their points,” she says. “It can’t be that they earned their points five years ago. He’s actually my parents’ horse, so they show him as well. My dad showed him at the Select World and was third.”

The Reserve World Champion in the Performance Halter Geldings class was Gretchen Mathes with Invested In Cowboys, by RL Best of Sudden and out of Bonita Sonya Pine, for owner Lisa Mazurka. Coming in third place was Doug Landon with Im Plumb Obvious for Mary Culley-Murphy. Fourth was Ross Roark with Sleepin In A Ezchair for Pamela Holmes. Fifth place was Ted Turner with Done With A Clu for Angie Watts Schmeck.

Finally, the last Halter class of the show was the Performance Halter Mares. The World Champion was Ross Roark with Most Appealing Dream for the Alderson family. Last week, Andrea Alderson led the four-year-old mare she calls “Roxi” to a win in Amateur Performance Halter Mares. Roark’s performance today is a repeat win from 2013, when he and Roxi won the Alderson family’s first ever AQHA World Championship with a home-bred. Like the other two World Champion Performance Halter horses crowned today, Roxi regularly competes in performance events, specifically Western Pleasure.

The Reserve World Champion in the class was Gretchen Mathes with Fantastic Invitation. Third place was Jason Smith with Onlythebestchocolate. Fourth place was Jeffrey Pait with Escape The Drama. Rounding out the top five was Kerry Winter with Lighten Up Rainbo.

Performance Halter Mares-

1-Most Appealing Dream/Ross Roark

2-Fantastic Invitation/Gretchen Mathes

3-Onlythebestchocolate/Jason Smith

4-Escape The Drama/Jeffrey Pait

5-Lighten Up Rainbo/Kerry Winter

6-Miss Krymsun Kash/Larry Hansch

7-Im The Best/Pierre Briere

8-Kioux/Buddy Laney

9- Moneys Moxie/Keith Miller

10- Ms Mae Flash/Christa Baldwin

Performance Halter Geldings-

1-Upgrade To Escalade/Buddy Laney

2-Invested In Cowboys/Gretchen Mathes

3-Im Plumb Obvious/Doug Landon

4-Sleepin In A Ezchair/Ross Roark

5-Done With A Clu/Ted Turner

6-Suddenly My Time/Christa Baldwin

7-Rockstar Elusion/Wayne Halvorson

8-Invited To A Goodbar/Gene Parker

9-Absolutely For Me/Elizabeth Knabenshue

10-Invitation Forever/Chris Thompson

Performance Halter Stallions-

1-Inspirado/Todd Grant

2-Hez Unstoppable/Rick Skelly

3-Mtks Touchdown/Ross Roark

4-Certainly A Vision/Jason Smith

5-Intersection/Luke Castle

6-Mechanic/Tim Finkenbinder

7-Ultimo Minuto/Tom Robertson

8-Definitely All That/Kathy Smallwood

9-I’m A Tuff Bueno/Randy Jacobs

10- Bartendin Baron/Jamie Stover