Morning Congress Trail Champions are Alyssa Hill/So Noticed and Troy Lehn/A Chrome Cookie

By: Brittany Bevis

Trail classes are done for the day here at the All American Quarter Horse Congress, and we had the opportunity to speak with two newly crowned Congress Champions!

Alyssa Hill rode her 5-year-old, black gelding, So Noticed, to win Novice Youth 14-18 Trail with a score of 232.50. This is not only Alyssa’s first Congress Championship title, it’s her first trip to the Congress and her first major horse show, period!

Alyssa and “Danny” have been a team since February of last year. They currently compete under the guidance of Kip Larson Performance Horses and have so for the past three years.

“This is our first big show, actually,” Alyssa says. “We’ve mostly been staying local in Washington. I showed Paints before I showed Quarters, and I’ve only been showing Quarters for a couple of years. I thought I was ready to come to the Congress, and this is my last youth show, because I will be an amateur next year.”

Alyssa has been riding and competing since she was 12 years old, but she’s relatively new to the Trail discipline. Although she was a bit anxious at the onset of her pattern, her nerves were quickly eased once Danny approached the first obstacle. “In the beginning, he felt in the zone before I even started,” she says. “At first, I was kind of nervous in the first jog over, but then I felt like he was going to take care of me; I could just tell. Then, I relaxed a little bit. My favorite part was probably the first lope-over. Honestly, I felt like I had great timing over that.”

Alyssa’s favorite part of her pattern is the fact that it was completely clean. No ticks to be heard, a first for she and Danny. “He didn’t hit any poles! We’ve never had a clean Trail pattern, where we’ve never hit one pole. I honestly wasn’t expecting anything, because I’m so new, and he’s so young. It’s totally unreal. I wasn’t expecting this when I woke up this morning.”

Later in the show, this pair will compete in Novice Youth and Youth classes in a variety of disciplines: Hunter Under Saddle, Western Pleasure, and Horsemanship.

The Reserve Champion in this class was Brooke Granzow with More To Zip. Third was Taylor Ale With Life’s Good. Fourth was Taylor Burgess with RL Talk About Sudden. Fifth was Sarah Eberspacher with Late Night Hook Up.

Then, in Junior Trail, Troy Lehn won his first Congress Championship title, in a Western discipline, with A Chrome Cookie. Troy was in the saddle this morning for owner Alexandra Chavez.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to win Trail here at the Congress,” he says. “This gelding stuck out to me from the beginning. From the first time I rode him, I had a feeling that he was going to be a great Trail horse, and it turned out to be true!”

Troy purchased A Chrome Cookie for Alex, here at the Congress, two years ago. In addition to the benefit of being double-registered, Troy was struck by this gelding’s stride and overall look. Coming up next, the duo will compete in the 4 and 5-Year-Old Trail Stakes next week.

Last year, Troy and A Chrome Cookie won Green Trail and Green Western Pleasure at the APHA World Championship Show. Earlier this year, they won BCF 4-6 Year-Old Trail at the NSBA World Show.

Troy and A Chrome Cookie scored a huge 239 for the win today. The Reserve Champion was Joni Naas with No Doubt I’m Somethin. Third was Thad O’Boyle with Aint I Sumthin. Fourth was Robin Frid with Imma American Made. Fifth was Robin Frid with No Question I’m Lazy.