Caroline Ammons and Ginnin Score 238.5 to Win Amateur Trail at 2015 AQHA World

By: Brittany Bevis

This evening’s Amateur Trail class was a very close contest with just mere points separating the top five. However, the World Champion, Caroline Ammons aboard Ginnin, received the highest, a 238.5, to win the class by a six point margin. Their score tied the highest Amateur Trail score recorded at the World Show (238.5), which was earned by another Caroline (Caroline Gunn) with a horse also competing in the finals tonight (Design By Leaguer) in 2012. Interestingly, Caroline and Ginnin still hold the record for the highest Trail preliminaries score, also a 238.5.

The Reserve World Champion was Hayley Saul with Eye On The Ball, scoring a 232.5. Third place was Brittany Morgan with Huntin For Fun, also scoring a 232.5. Fourth place was Stephanie Kofu with Traveling Abroad, scoring a 232. Fifth place was Jeff Johns with Heza Radical Zip, also scoring a 232. Sixth place was also Jeff Johns with I Gotta Good Name. Seventh place was Cole Gower with Design By Leaguer. Eighth place was Gabrielle Capron with KM Zip Me Suddenly. Ninth place was Hillary Roberts with Chrome On My Zipper. Tenth place was Brittany Donald with Lover Treat Me Good.

Three different riders qualified to return to the Trail finals on multiple horses. Brittany Morgan rode Huntin For Fun and Lil Bit Western. Cole Gower rode Design By Leaguer and She Made It Happen. Jeff Johns rode Lopin For A Chex, Heza Radical Zip, and I Gotta Good Name.

Ginnin has had an outstanding World Show winning three different Trail classes: Senior Trail with Chad Evans, Amateur L2 Trail with Sarah Ammons, and now Amateur L3 Trail with Caroline. Considering he’d already won two gold trophies over the past two weeks, we wondered if Caroline was feeling any pressure. “I did get a little bit nervous right when he won the Senior and L2 with my sister,” she says. “For some reason, I was nervous beforehand, but when I went in, I wasn’t nervous. At first it was a little nerve-wracking, but then I got over it and realized I had a job to do.”

Caroline describes Ginnin as her “once-in-a-lifetime horse.” Last year at the World Show, Caroline and Ginnin were named the Reserve World Champions in Amateur Horsemanship. This is their first World Champion title earned as a team, and this event happens to be their favorite.

Throughout the show, Caroline and Ginnin received very early draws in all the pattern classes. Tonight’s finals was no exception. “I was first in the Horsemanship preliminaries, first in the Trail preliminaries, and second in the Showmanship preliminaries,” she says. “Those really aren’t ideal, but you just do what you have to do. I was second in the finals, and it seemed to work out today!”

Caroline’s favorite parts of this pattern were the lope-over portions, where Ginnin could show off his smooth gait. “First off, I loved that he was totally on when we went in there,” she says. “He wanted to listen. He was with me the whole way. When I pushed, he went. When I asked him to come back to me, he did. It was a fun pattern because it was up and down. When he’s listening, there’s a fun flow to the pattern.”

“His lope-overs are very pretty, because he’s slow legged over the poles, while staying clean, which is awesome. Also, he loves to spin as soon as you stop in any sort of box. He beats you to it half the time!”

This World Show has been the first to implement the leveling program with separate classes, and it seems to have worked out well for Caroline and her sister Sarah. “Normally, one of us will show at the Congress and the other will show at the World Show, because we obviously can’t show the same horse both in amateur,” she says. “But the L2 classes here were great. I’m so proud of everything they’ve done together.”