Exhibitors Commemorate Youth World Show Experience With Equine Chronicle “Yearbooks”
Competing at the AQHYA World Show provides different experiences for each exhibitor. For some, this may be their first time qualifying. For others, this Youth World Show might be their last.
One AQHA member is taking a little time to savor the moment with her friends after leaving the youth ranks forever and embarking on a new journey as an amateur. Kili Crawford of Colorado is an amateur newbie. 2012 marked her last trip to the Youth World Show as an exhibitor. She’s back again this year, but this time as a spectator to root on her sister and friends.
Like many other newly christened amateurs, the transition process for Crawford has had its ups and downs.
“I have times that I’m super sad, and I want to be in the arena showing with everyone else,” she says. “On the other hand, I now have the Amateur World Show to look forward to, but part of me is worried that it will never be the same.”
“You sit there and you can’t even describe what it feels like to watch everyone else compete. You feel like you should be busy getting ready or doing something, but you’re not.”
Just the other day, Crawford was chatting with the mother of a youth exhibitor who is competing in her final Youth World Show. Crawford encouraged her friend not to put so much pressure on the fact that this is her last chance to get that coveted gold trophy, World Champion title, or Top Ten finish.
“We were talking about how much pressure it is,” she says. “At the time, you don’t realize that you will have another opportunity.”
“It’s a really big deal. I think I put too much pressure on myself when it was my last year. If it was my last year again, I wouldn’t put so much pressure on myself. I would try to enjoy the experience of the Youth World, because it’s never the same again once you’re an amateur. You don’t get to do the Parade of Teams or decorate the stalls or [all of the fun stuff.]”
But becoming an amateur isn’t all doom and gloom. As a very wise man, Mr. Gordon Downey, once told this particular author, “you can be an amateur for the rest of your life.” By attending this Youth World Show as an amateur, Crawford feels she has obtained a unique perspective that she missed when she was competing at the event.
“Coming here and seeing it, without showing, you kind of realize that it is just another horse show,” she says. “I don’t think I’ve ever realized that before.”
In an effort to celebrate this Youth World, with the friends she has left behind in the youth division, Crawford came up with an ingenious way to use the Equine Chronicle to commemorate the experience.
“Ginger and Gillian Chant signed their Equine Chronicle cover to commemorate their last years at the Youth World,” she says. “We came up with the idea then and planned to [have everyone sign their ads] together this year.”
Although the Chant girls weren’t able to attend the show, Crawford decided to go through with the original plan and has accumulated 40 signatures in just four days. As she makes the journey around the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds with the latest edition of the Equine Chronicle and colored pens in hand, she’s received different responses.
“A few people ask why I want them to sign the Chronicle,” she says. “But then, when they realize everyone else is doing it, they think it’s cool. Then, I’ve had people that I don’t even know come up to me and say what a cool idea it is.”
“It’s so much fun. Everyone is calling it the yearbook of the World Show. It’s given me the opportunity to meet more people. I may have seen their Chronicle ad before, but don’t know who they are in person. I ask if they’ll sign their ad, and we’ll sit and talk for a minute.”
If you see Kili Crawford around the horse show, be sure to say hello and sign her Equine Chronicle! Check out a few of the signatures she has received so far.
