Do-It-Yourself Amateur Kathleen Morgan wins two Level 1 West Championships
Blazing the Way
By Delores Kuhlwein
Do-It-Yourself Amateur Kathleen Morgan and her mare AGR Award R Asset win two Level 1 West Championships
Friday, May 20th at the 2022 Nutrena West Level 1 Championship Show brought lots of happy tears and first experiences for many of the Level 1 exhibitors, and Kathleen Morgan was no exception.
Her win on AGR Award R Asset in Rookie Amateur Trail was tremendous, considering she had almost scratched the class the night before. Morgan bought the mare as a three-year-old from Trainer Tonya Brown, and the Level 1 West Championship Show is their third show together.
Notably, Morgan keeps “The Tuna” at home in Ramona, California, and does her own training. She had entered the show mostly for Rookie Western Riding, as she says changing leads is her mare’s specialty.
So it caught her completely off guard to win the Rookie Amateur Trail, especially since her practice the night before wasn’t so hot. Morgan says the course was set in the paddock area of the Equidome, and other really great riders were doing well, but she was not.
“I called my husband and I said, ‘I’m going to scratch tomorrow, I just can’t make her do something that I feel that she can’t do’,” she explains. “They have more poles out here in the paddock than they have in my pattern, and I think it was blowing my mind. But my husband said, ‘Just sleep on it and wait until tomorrow to see how she is, and just take your time with her’.”
So that’s what Morgan did, going slowly and letting the mare accept what was going on, deciding that it would just be good practice for them. “I just took my time and she was really good in the pen with a couple of ticks, so I didn’t think I won!” she exclaimed.
Morgan also won the Rookie Western Riding on Wednesday, May 18th. “She’s a good lead changer and winning the Rookie and third in Level 1 was a big accomplishment, because I was showing against professionally trained horses. I’m just over the moon.”
Good luck to Kathleen Morgan as she continues her journey with AGR Award R Asset!
