Friday was an exciting day at the 2022 Nutrena West Level 1 Championship Show, with Trail, Equitation, and Hunter Under Saddle as highlights! Today also 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 keeps “The Tuna” at home in Ramona, California, and she had entered the show mostly for Rookie Western Riding, as she says that class 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!” Morgan also won the Rookie Western Riding on Wednesday, May 18th, and she says she was over the moon about that. “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.”
In the Hunt Seat Equitation arena, Alli Dahlgren grabbed first place in the L1 Am Hunt Seat Equitation on Suddenly Im Strutin, aka Bailey, and this win was something especially significant for the team.
“This was something I’ve really been working hard towards,” she explains. “I had a bad go last year and tough luck at the World Show, and I really wanted this redemption ride, so I was kind of channeling that the whole time.”
Dahlgren says she bought Bailey about a week before the COVID-19 shutdown happened, and she hasn’t been showing him that long. “Only about a year,” she says, “and he was pretty green when we got him. It has been a really fun journey with him; we’re both learning a lot along the way. He’s taught me a lot of lessons and vice versa, and he’s super special. I love this boy.”
Some highlights of Friday’s Level 1 Classes:
L1 Amateur Trail:
1st – Kaci Rodriguez with Movin The Chains
2nd – Charlotte Green with Mechanic Parkin Only
3rd – Hayden Jung with Moonlite Cruiser
4th – Brook Hokana with Titos And Tonic
5th – Elise Guerra with Ima Good Bar
6th – Katherine McArthur with Sweet Talkin Irish
Rookie Amateur Hunt Seat Equitation:
1st – Kristi Perea with CPrealsureshestheone
2nd – Caitlyn Kauffman with Slow Ridin
3rd – Nickie Kennedy with Cookies N Crime
4th – Roby Harden with Im Just Too Hot
5th – Olivia Rangel with Sweet Touch
6th – Torin Enevoldsen with Hezsimplythebest
L1 Amateur Select Trail:
1st – Kathy Huspeni with Sugaray
2nd – Patty Goodwin with So Noticed
3rd – Rebekah Rosa with One Dynamic Krymsun
4th – Kathy Neal with In Zippos Image Too
5th – Danette Merritt with My Lazy Assets
6th – Barbara Bouma with Set To Blaze
L1 Amateur Walk Trot Hunt Seat Equitation:
1st – Kerri Chalberg with Jukebox Jive
2nd – Kayla Larkin with Lazy In My Levis
3rd – Sarah Williams with On The Other Side
4th – Sheila Mundahl-Prins with Pretty Lazy Am I
5th – Melissa Kinyoun with Huntinforvitalsigns
6th – Christina Miller with This Chocolates Hot
Rookie Amateur Hunter Under Saddle:
1st – Alyssa Todora with Ultimate Flatline
2nd – Autumn Patterson with Legacy Won
3rd – Melanie Koby with Redwood Original
4th – Melissa Kinyoun with Huntinforvitalsigns
5th – Michelle Parker with Lazy Southern Belle
6th – Michele Guerra with Living A Double Life
L1 Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle:
1st – Sue Love with PDF Righteous In Red
2nd – Ginger Marshall with KM Bos Pretty Boy
3rd – Maggie Kenoyer with Good To Kno A Cowboy
4th – Melanie Koby with Redwood Original
5th – Teresa Hanson with Watch My Irons
6th – Charlene Holcomb with Keenonmymechanic
L1 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle:
1st – Susan Phillips with Certainly Platinum
2nd – Maggie Molever with Ima Inpulse Assets
3rd – Allison Dahlgren with Suddenly Im Strutin
4th – Karla Ness with A Spot In the Dark
5th – Kayla Larkin with Lazy In My Levis
6th – Alyssa Todora with Ultimate Flatline
Rookie Amateur Trail:
1st – Kathleen Morgan with AGR Award Our Asset
2nd – Sarah Clymer with Zippen In My Sleep
3rd – Samantha Shaner with Im Good Anyway
4th – Monica Veuger with Ima Katie Leaguer
5th – Brook Grobosky with Lazy In The Dark
6th – Taylor Deppen with Flat Otto Money
L1 Amateur Walk Trot Hunter Under Saddle:
1st – Linda Gluckman with Hope To Be Hot
2nd – Sarah Williams with On The Other Side
3rd – Jennifer Pasquetti with RR I Told You So
4th – Melody Ponce with Lookin For Chocolate
5th – Keri Chalberg with Jukebox Jive
6th – Holly Beaton with Maiden Irony
L1 Amateur Hunt Seat Equitation:
1st – Alli Dahlgren with Suddenly Im Strutin
2nd – Kristi Perea with CPrealsureshestheone
3rd – Torin Enevoldsen with Hezsimplythebest
4th – Nickie Kennedy with Cookies N Crime
5th – Rebecca Ries-Walter with Some Mechanics R Hot
6th – Brook Grobosky with Lazy In The Dark
L1 Amateur Walk Trot Trail:
1st – Christina Miller with This Chocolates Hot
2nd – Roy McQuaig with Bridled
3rd – Joann Trejo with PR The Bay Asset
4th – Marykay Lightfoot with My Options Are Hot
5th – Michelle Parker with Lazy Southern Belle
6th – Staci Cupps with Hoo Dat Sleepin
L1 Amateur Select Hunt Seat Equitation:
1st – Toni Ward with Good Cowboy Casanova
2nd – Brenda Schlote with Zippo Del Oro
3rd – Ginger Marshall with KM Bos Pretty Boy
4th – Patty Goodwin with So Noticed
5th – Kristen Wiese with Captain Crunchh
6th – Amber Thompson with Not Impulsive