Around the Rings at the 2023 QH Congress – Thursday, Oct 19th
On Thursday in the L1 Amateur Trail, which boasted 70 entries, Ty Dougherty won not only the Congress Championship with Best to Be Zippin with a score of 232, but also a respectable 5th place with Perfectly Made and a score of 226.
What was it like showing two different horses in a big class? “A little hectic!” says Ty. She managed it with lots of help, since her husband, Kyle Dougherty, and her mom, Beckey Schooler, are both her trainers. “They and the crew at Beckey’s Place are so helpful to get everyone ready and looking good,” she explains.
The last time she had an achievement like this in Trail was at age 11. She explains she’s had Best To Be Zippin, “Dumplin,” about a year, and she’s been showing Perfectly Made, aka “Chubb,” because sometimes he’s Chubby and they have to watch his weight, since July.
We also asked Ty what it’s like working with her family here at the biggest single breed horse show in the world. “It’s a different dynamic – it make it a lot of fun and makes the wins really special,” she reveals. Ty also explains that her husband and her mom tag team and occasionally she will leverage outside help when she needs to hear a different voice. “But we work really well as a team together,” she says.
Results for L1 Amateur Trail:
Then in a huge L2 Senior Trail class, which was split out separately as a class on its own this year, Sara Simons piloted Beyond Expectation to a win, and it was an impressive win at that, considering there were 98 teams who showed.
Their final score was 245, and Sara was excited to win her first Senior Trail class at the Congress!
“I’m so excited and I was so shocked,” explains Sara. “He belongs to Lila Owens from Florida, and I’ve only had him about a year and a half, but he won the World last year in Green Western Riding and he was Reserve here in the L2 Western Riding. He’s just an awesome horse with a great mind, he’s super easy to zip in and zip out, he’s a full double so he’s done well on the Paint circuit also.”
Marshall, a 7-year-old by Machine Made, she explains he has a huge personality. “He’s all about the treats, and all the attention needs to be on him all the time, but he deserves it, he’s a special horse.” She adds that Marshall did well for Lila at Congress in the Showmanship the other day, he has Trail with her Friday, and maybe Equitation, too, as a horse who is very versatile.
“He’s done well in our program, and we really love him,” says Sara, who shares that they are going on with Marshall to the World Show.
Sara explains that the pattern was very technical and she likes that, plus she knew Marshall would go out there and show well. “He has a lot of expression, and from a judging standpoint, I think that’s special in a horse, some of them have it, some of them don’t. He’s just happy to do his job.”
Sara judged the class here last year when it was combined with the L3 Senior Trail, and it was so large, they had to spread it over two days. “It’s really not ideal, and they made it fair with lasers to assure it was fair and set exactly the same,” she says. She says having the L2 by itself will only make it bigger, and since it takes a lot to get a horse into the L3, there were a lot of high caliber horses in there.
Lila, who showed Marshall here in the Non Pro 2 Year Old class, has this to say, “ I’ve had him since he was a 2 year old, and I don’t see him going anywhere anytime soon!”
Results for L2 Senior Trail:
In the last class of the day, the L1 Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle, Susie Scott of Corrival Ranch won her first Congress Championship with Al That Matters Most, under the guidance of Scott Jones.
Susie says that winning her first Congress Championship hasn’t sunk in yet, and “Maddie May” and she have been together for a little over a year since she saw the mare by Allocate Your Assets and out of Sleepy Bombshell at the Premier as a three year old when Scott found her. “Laura and Wade Spell had her,” Susie explains. “I didn’t actually get to go to the horse show, but I saw her online and said, “I’ve got to have her,” and it’s kind of been kind of a fantasy ever since.”
They’re also going to show together in the Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle on Saturday, and as far as their ride in the L1, “We went in feeling pretty confident and she warmed up good and she handled the traffic well, and I’m just real excited about how she showed. I think she looked pleasant through the bridle, she was good in her head and neck, she kept her belly up, and she just loped her ass off!” Susie laughs.
Results for L1 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle:
