Darcy Reeve and A Certain Vino Crowned Congress Champions in Amateur Western Pleasure

By: Brittany Bevis

The dynamic duo of Darcy Reeve and A Certain Vino have done it again, winning their third Congress Championship title of the horse show and Vino’s fifth title overall. This afternoon, after four extremely tough splits in Amateur Western Pleasure, Darcy and Vino were named the Congress Champions.

Earlier at the show, Darcy and Vino won the Non Pro Limited Maturity Western Pleasure, Non Pro Open Maturity Western Pleasure; Karen Hornick won the Open Maturity Western Pleasure; and Ty Hornick was Reserve in Senior Western Pleasure.

“He’s shown so many times that I’m glad the schedule was spread about,” Darcy says. “We showed on Saturday, so he got two days off before today. I love this pen so much, because of the size, so I felt like I could let him move out and we weren’t so cramped. I was really comfortable letting him go forward.”

Darcy’s mom and dad weren’t able to attend the Congress this year, but they’ve been supporting their daughter’s efforts from home. “After the Amateur Trail this morning, he called right away, and I didn’t even know he was watching! He’s watching on his computer at work.”

Darcy rode her other horse, Ima Petite Classic, aka “Kramer,” to place fourth in Amateur Trail this morning. “I was really happy with that!” she says.

Now that Vino’s Congress journey has come to a close, it’s time to rest up and prepare for November when Vino will compete in Amateur Western Pleasure with Darcy and Senior Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show.

We wondered, with so many big wins under their belt, how this team chooses which belt buckle will adorn it… “I have a system,” she says. “I hang the recent year’s buckles up on my wall at home, so I will hang up the buckles we won this year. Then, if we win more the next year, I take those down and replace them. So these will hang up all next year, until hopefully we win another one!”

“On Kramer [Ima Petite Classic] I have to wear his World Show buckle, and on Vino I have to wear his Western Riding buckle. It’s always the same. I don’t know why! I have two belts, and I can’t let one horse see the other’s buckle!”

The Reserve Champion in the class was Jenna Dempze with Rewind and Repeat. Third place was Sharnai Thompson with Rock County Kid. Fourth place was Angela Wade with Huntin Big Dreams. Fifth place was Courtney Chown with Chum Machine. Sixth place was Kaleena Weakley with No Question I’m Lazy. Seventh place was Gabriella Salamone with The Best Cookie. Eighth place was Justin Billings with A Moonlit Goodbar. Ninth place was Jamie Oakley with Flashy Lookin Touch. Tenth place was Ty Paris with I’m Sleepin Single.