In Her First Trip to a Finals Megan Overberg Wins Horsemanship at 2013 AQHYA World Show

Not only is tonight’s win in Horsemanship notable for being Megan Overberg’s first World Championship title. This was her first time to make it back to a finals at the AQHA Youth World Show. Although the win picture has been taken and the mandatory trip to the drug tester has concluded, it hasn’t quite sunk in for Overberg that she bested 173 entries to win the World Championship today.

“I’ve never made the finals before, so I was thrilled with just that,” she says. “This is just a complete bonus. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet.”

Some say that perseverance is the name of the game when it comes to showing horses. If that’s true then the determined Overberg is the epitome of that maxim. She has attended the Youth World Show five times, and although she’s achieved numerous top twenty finishes, she’s never made it past that elusive last cut to get to the finals.

 

While just making it back to tonight’s Horsemanship finals was a feat in and of itself, even more challenges awaited as Overberg was up against some pretty impressive competition and a complicated pattern.

“When I read it the first time, I was like, ‘oh boy this is confusing,’ ” she says. “I read it a couple of times, and I talked to my trainer, Brent Tincher. He said that it was a good pattern for us. He said we could do it, so that gave me some confidence and it all turned out well today.”

The mount that helped carry Overberg to victory was 17-year-old Invitation To Show, aka”Little Bit.”

“He is very full of energy,” she says. “He makes you work, but he never lets me down. Whenever I need him to pull through, he pulls through. He’s 17, so sometimes it takes a little extra work with him to keep him going, but he is definitely special.”

Another special part about Overberg’s win this evening is that she was able to share the experience with her friend and fellow competitor, who just happened to be named the Reserve World Champion in the class.

“Rachel [Kolb] is from Ohio,” she says. “I’m friends with her, and it was really cool to be out there with her. I was just so excited.”

Up next for Overberg and Little Bit is the Youth Equitation preliminaries. We would like to wish the best of luck to this determined young team.

Horsemanship:

1-Invitation To Show/Megan Overberg- First place Intermediate

2-Remarkable Can/Rachel Kolb- Second place Intermediate

3- Zippos Petite Prince/Mary Brown

4-No Boundary/Kelsey Jung

5-Hf Tahnee Too/Lacy Watson