Congress Evening Horsemanship and WP Champions Include Gil Galyean, Harley Huff, and Dan Yeager

By: Brittany Bevis

The final three Congress Champions of the day have been crowned this evening in Columbus, Ohio. First, Harley Huff rode GW Jack Bar to repeat her AQHA Youth World Show Horsemanship win, this time in 15-18 Horsemanship. The Reserve Champion was Carli Pitts with Hot Lady Born Lopin. Third place was Deanna Green aboard Blazinmytroublesaway. Placing fourth was Alexandrea Albright with Best Gift Yet. Fifth place was Livvie Van Lanen with All But Sudden.

Sixth place was Sarah Orsak with Huntin By Moonlite. Seventh was Kacie Scharf with A Movin Machine. Eighth was Chelsea Gorius with Bens Chocolate Chip. Ninth was Lauren Diaz with Pleasures Impulse. Tenth place was Grace Brown with Invitation To Ride.

Meanwhile, over in the Celeste Arena, Gil Galyean rode Rewind And Repeat to win Junior Western Pleasure for the Dempze family. Jenna Dempze, who rode “Rerun” just a few days ago to be named Reserve in the Non Pro Open Maturity, was very pleased with tonight’s performance. “He was really steady, really good in his top line again, and really soft,” she says. “The longer they work him, the better he gets. He’s so much fun to have around. He has a big personality, and he’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime horse.”

“Overall, he is really eye-catching. You want to watch him. For how big he is, he’s really slow and soft. It takes a really special horse to be that big and stay correct and also be slow.”

Last year, Galyean and Rerun were named the Congress Champions in Junior Western Pleasure as well. Also, Jenna and Rerun claimed a Congress title in Amateur Western Pleasure; the pair will show in that class on Friday. Jenna and Gil will also campaign a two-year-old, Special N I Know It, aka “Rocket,” in the 2-Year-Old Open and Non Pro Open Western Pleasure Stakes finals coming up this week.

Because Rerun is five, this will be his last year in the junior division. Next year, he will move up in the ranks and may look at adding a new event. “Gil has played around with a lead change, but nothing real serious,” she says. “We’d talked about maybe doing more of that this winter. I think he would be really pretty at that too.”

The Reserve Champion in tonight’s class was Taft Dickerson with She Sure Is Hot. Third place was Katie Green with Bestseatnthehouse. Fourth place was Cleve Wells with Cool Poco Dot. Fifth place was Tate Oakley with Flashy Lookin Touch. Sixth place was Brad Pitts with Cool Lookin Moonie. Seventh place was Brandon Burr with You Bet Ima Batman. Eighth place was Jay Starnes with The Lopin Machine. Ninth place was Ty Hornick with Lazy Holla Dayz. Tenth place was Adam Wainscott with Cool Shoes Zippo.

Finally, last, but certainly not least, Dan Yeager rode his gelding, Cee Money, to win Select Amateur Horsemanship on his birthday! The Reserve Champion in the class was Kathy Tobin with Heza Radical Zip. Third place was Debra Sharp with SL Miss Alli. Fourth place was Kim Allen with Zips Fancy Talk. Fifth place was Kim Neas with Rumors Are Hot.

Sixth place was Carrie Ann Geldner with Must Be A Detail. Seventh place was Teresa Balkcum with Pawn Star. Eighth place was Jan Bruner with Blazin Occasion. Ninth place was Anne Wilson with Laziness. Tenth place was Susan Wilcox with Ty One On Ty.