Deanna Green Wins Congress NY 14-18 Trail, Jess Bergantzel Wins Junior Trail

By: Brittany Bevis

After four hours of Trail competition, two Congress Champions were named. Jess Albion Bergantzel rode My Only Impulse to score a 230 and win Junior Trail for owner Carli Ann Quandahl. Just yesterday, Bergantzel rode “Pepper” to a fourth place finish in Green Junior Trail and won Senior Green Trail with Sheza Slow Breeze.

“I thought Pepper was very focused and quiet,” he says. “She had a lot of confidence today. For the pattern being as close to yesterday’s pattern, (they just raised up some poles and added more poles) she was really good in her transitions and really good about getting through the raised poles. She was very honest and very focused.”

Pepper was originally purchased as a 2-year-old Western Pleasure horse and Bergantzel has gradually added additional events to her repertoire over the past few years. “We didn’t show her much as a three-year-old, and last fall we started doing Trail and other events,” he says. “Carli bought her in February, and she shows in Novice Youth Western Pleasure.”

Later on at the Congress, Bergantzel will show Pepper in 3 and 4 Year Old Trail as well. The Reserve Champion in Junior Trail was Matthew Farrell with Huntin Me A Husband. Third place was Ashley Clock-Dunbar with No Nonsense. Fourth place was Nick Mayabb with More To Zip. Fifth place was Hayley Saul with Putadrinkinmyhand.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the Celeste, Deanna Green rode Blazinmytroublesaway to score a 233 and win Novice Youth 14-18 Trail. This is Green and “Buttercup’s” first class of the horse show. They also plan to compete in Trail, Showmanship, Horsemanship, and Western Riding.

Green and Buttercup were tenth in the working order this morning, so they had a very long wait to see if their big score would hold up until the end. “It was really stressful,” she says. “I was sitting in my living room watching the live feed for four hours. I kept pressing refresh on the [Horse Show Tracker] app [to see the scores]. I was checking after every horse! I was super excited about our score.”

Guiding Green through her paces today was Brad Jewett, who will be showing Buttercup later on next week in Senior Trail. Before Green entered the pen to compete, Jewett gave her some very specific advice. “When I walk up to the start cone, he tells me to check her in the face to make sure she’s soft and paying attention. In the left lead wheel obstacle, I always have to push her forward. He is very picky about how hard I push in between the poles to make sure that I hit the same spot. We worked a lot on that.”

“I really want to thank Brad for working really hard all year to get us prepared for this. I really wouldn’t have gotten this far in a year without him. We’ve had lots of progress.”

The Reserve Champion in the class was Kacie Scharf with A Movin Machine. Third place was Samantha Tarby with Vinnys Poco Sam. Fourth place was Sarah Strouse with Lil Boss Man. Fifth place was Kyra Bouma with Set To Blaze.