Dan Yeager/Cee Money Win Select Showmanship; Angela Fox/The Company You Keep Win Amateur Showmanship
Dan Yeager and Cee Money
By: Brittany Bevis
Who ever said Showmanship is a female-dominated discipline certainly hasn’t met the dynamic gentlemen who swept top placings at the Quarter Horse Congress this morning. In the Select Amateur Showmanship, Dan Yeager led Cee Money to his second Congress Championship title of the horse show.
Dan and Money, a six-year-old gelding, are the returning champions in Select Showmanship from last year as well. Just the other day, the pair was named the Congress Champions in Select Horsemanship, on his birthday!
“You don’t even dream this big,” he says. “Words can’t describe it. I’m so excited. He is such a great horse, and he just gets better and better in the all-around events, which I like to do.”
Although this particular pattern had an unconventional start, Dan and Money weren’t thrown off guard. “We started with the horse’s head to cone A, which isn’t something we do a lot. That way, we could show off our back, because he’s a great backer. Then, because he’s so light with maneuvers, I did my 450 degree turn and was able to do my half circle at an extended trot and he stayed right with me. I’ve had horses in the past that don’t do that as well, but he is there the whole way. That’s what makes him so good in Showmanship. He is attentive the whole time.”
Not only were Dan and Money representing the gentlemen well this morning, the top four competitors in Select Showmanship were all men: Joe Whitt, Patrick Riley, and Phillip Roos. “I think, as a gender, we are representing well and I love that!” he says. “We did ourselves proud!”
This afternoon, Dan and Money will compete in Select Western Pleasure to conclude this year’s Congress competition. The Reserve Champion is the class was Joe Whitt with Safe Havens Version. Third place was Patrick Riley with Solo Invested. Fourth place was Phillip Roos with Technical Nat Image. Fifth place was Anne Wilson with Laziness.
Sixth place was Jodie Cormier Nolen with Absolutely A Love. Seventh place was Michele Brickham with Endless Breeze. Eighth place was Jo Ann Niffenegger with Crown Royal Hour. Ninth place was Cheryl Kolb with Dancing Western. Tenth place was Farley Barbera with Hot Jazzin Zippo.
Angela Fox and The Company You Keep
In Amateur Showmanship, Dan’s best buddy, Angela Fox, was named the Congress Champion with her horse, The Company You Keep. “George” is just four years old, and his very first horse show was actually the 2014 Quarter Horse Congress. “He’s only been showing a year, and this is definitely the first big win he’s had,” Angela says. “I’m very proud of him.”
George was bred and raised by Donna Morgan of Pilot Point, TX. He is by One Hot Krymsun and out of Morgan’s famous mare, Zipped Tight. “When I got him, just over a year ago, he had a different name, and I didn’t care for it,” she says. “I was pondering what I was going to name him. He was a little bit of a rebel and a nobody at Highpoint; he was in training but wasn’t trained yet. I thought I should name him something that would [encourage] him to act like all the famous horses he lives with. I came up with The Company You Keep, hoping someday he would act like that.”
“Also, I’m really excited because all of the horses at Highpoint have nameplates on their stalls and the ones that are NSBA World Champions, World Champions, or Congress Champions have their titles above their names. His is kind of a sad sign, because it doesn’t have any of those things on it, so I’m super excited to go home and get his sign that says Congress Champion!”
Brittany Lofton and Lil Bit Western
Angela and George also placed tenth in Amateur Horsemanship just yesterday and will compete in Amateur Equitation later this week.
The Reserve Champion was Brittany Morgan with Lil Bit Western. Third place was Patricia Bogosh with Earn An Invitation. Fourth place was Eric Mendrysa with Only By Moonlit. Fifth place was Ashley Hadlock with Touched N Moonlite. Sixth place was Sarah Lebsock with Version Of Goodbar. Seventh place was Jordan Ferguson with Baileys N Chocolate. Eighth place was Anya Podolak with Accountable Interest. Ninth place was Molli Lyn Jacobs with Taylored By Deluxe. Tenth place was Thad O’Boyle with Aint I Sumthin.
