From AQHA Rope Horse to Small Fry All-Arounder

By Delores Kuhlwein

Last fall when Abigail Wilson’s pony was sold, her mom, Holly Wilson, knew it was time for Abigail to show a big horse.

“I don’t have the time to ride as much as I should anymore, and she needed a horse,” Holly explains.  Holly’s former AQHA rope and ranch horse, JB Solano Im All In, was too good to sit in a pasture, so they decided to see if Abigail and “Allie” got along.

Before she knew it, Holly explains, “Abigail had stolen my ride!” The pair clicked, showing together in

Leadline and Ranch Conformation at Pinto shows, then tackling Walk Trot and Showmanship at open shows.

“I had a feeling it would be a good match and that was pretty well confirmed as soon as they started to work together. Allie is just so broke and quiet and tolerant! She has really taken to being a babysitter for

Abigail,” Holly says. “I figured I’d be climbing aboard for regular tune-ups, but it was made clear to me pretty quickly that this team didn’t need Mom interfering in their mojo!”

Allie and her siblings all had earned multiple points as rope horses, as well as qualifying for the AQHA World Show. Allie herself went to the Select World as a four-year-old with her former owner, and Holly and Allie won the Heeling High Point in Minnesota for several years.  “I heeled on her at shows around the upper Midwest and won several Circuit Championships. She was super fun to rope on, but over the years I had started to encounter a few soundness issues that limited her career. That coupled with my lack of practice time eventually ended her time in the roping pen,” Holly reveals.

Now that 17-year-old Allie has filled her new role helping 7-year-old

Abigail learn to be a horseman, Holly says she still sneaks a ride occasionally and plans to show a handful of times during the year, but for the most part, Abigail has taken over.

“It’s so neat watching Abigail gain confidence! Of course, it has also given me more than a few gray hairs. Abigail loves to “trick ride,” so she is always standing on Allie or hanging off the side or sitting backwards walking around the pen,” Holly notes.  “I am so proud of how independent she has become on the mare, and equally proud of Allie. That mare just keeps on going and never bats an eye at the shenanigans. She really seems to know that her job is to let this little girl learn how to ride, and she does that job very well.”

Looking forward, Holly says Abigail wants to focus on what she calls, “the sparkle classes.”  Abigail has started to show at local open shows in halter, showmanship, walk-trot, and even Walk-Trot Horsemanship, and Holly says she loves all of it.

“So I have a feeling Allie’s next career will be as a small-fry all-arounder!” Holly says. “Allie knows this stuff – she and I were the Pinto World Champions in Ranch Showmanship Solid Horse in 2020 – so it’s more a task of teaching Abigail how to show. They already compete together in Ranch Conformation at the Iowa Pinto shows and are starting to reluctantly wind down their Leadline career. Next on the goal sheet is learning how to lope.”

 

 

 

 

 

The best part: the memories and security Allie is giving to their family. “Allie isn’t the fanciest horse out there,” Holly says. “But she is broke and safe, and most importantly FUN. She has done just about everything a horse can do – from being a pack horse in the mountains to backing into the box at the world show, to winning a halter class with her new little partner. That’s what makes a good horse in my eyes, one that you can do anything with. I’ve been so blessed to call her mine, and we are doubly blessed that she is now able to teach my daughter how to be a horseman.”