From Trailer Accident to Champion- Kyla Jackson and Cadillac In Black Win L2 Horsemanship at AQHA Youth World
By: Brittany Bevis
Our readers will likely remember a story we shared last week about Kyla Jackson, who would be making her first appearance at the AQHA Youth World Show this year. She was supposed to attend in 2018, but a trailer accident on the way to the show sent both she and her horse back home to California.
Well, everything is turning out alright this year, because she was just named the Champion in the largest class of the horse show- L2 Horsemanship- with 167 entries!
Last week, Kyla told us that she has a little different perspective about showing following the accident. “I have different perspective, for sure,” she says. “Every time I went in the ring, I didn’t go in to win. I went in to get through the pattern and to try to get better as I went. I wanted to get to know him better each time I went in.”
Kyla tends to be a cerebral rider that focuses more on the mistakes in her performance as opposed to reflecting on the good parts. She says her trainer, Nancy Renfro, has helped her to become a more positive rider. “The first time I went in, I had a really bad turn, and I was really worried I wasn’t going to make it back. I was really scared and so that’s all I was worried about.”
“Nancy always encourages me, because I tend to put myself down on very little things, like the turn. That’s all I worried about. If I got to go back in the finals, that’s all I was going to focus on trying to fix for the entire pattern. She tries to encourage me and get me looking at the positive parts.”
Luckily, Kyla and Caddy got their second chance in the finals and were able to improve upon their earlier performance. “I really liked his corners, because he likes whipping around them, and our turns were really good this time. Also, I’m really proud, because his lead changes have gotten a lot better. I’ve been working on them for a while. Also, I’ve never gone on the rail without stirrups before, so that was definitely new to me.”
Coming up next for 15-year-old Kyla and 8-year-old “Caddy” is another big challenge. Tomorrow morning, they will compete in what is quite possibly the most competitive class at the show- 14-18 Trail finals. But Kyla feels ready. “I really trust Caddy in Trail, and I know we can do it.”
The Reserve Champion was Caroline Nielson with Theonlykisstoenvy. Third was Ella Petak with Gettin Hot. Fourth was Lillian Woodruff with Sleepinwithmybootson. Fifth was Lauren Raad with Scooter Brown.
