Paige Stopperich Wins First Amateur World Title with Cowboys R Hot in Equitation

By: Brittany Bevis

20-year-old Paige Stopperich achieved a milestone this evening at the AQHA World Championship Show winning her first World Championship title in the amateur division. Back in 2013, Paige rode her horse, Cowboys R Hot, to win Youth Equitation. Tonight, she and now nine-year-old “Larry” came back to win again, a little older but much wiser.

While making her plan of attack with trainers, Michael Colvin and Clint Ainsworth, Paige focused on two key words: elegance and flow.

“I really wanted to make sure everything flowed really well and that when I did my hand gallops that everything was really consistent and strong,” she says. “I wanted to utilize the space of the ring, just because he’s so big. I really wanted to show off a pretty picture and make sure I hit my center line when I came around from my two-point to my posting trot.”

Because Larry is such a large horse, (he reaches 17.2 hands tall!) and Paige is petite, it’s important that she maintained adequate contact with his face coupled with enough impulsion from behind to make sure he rode properly through the bridle. Another key point she focused on during this pattern was keeping even hand placement. But, when it came time for rail work without irons, Paige felt more than ready. 

“We always do a lot of no-iron work, because there is always room for improvement. So, when they asked us to drop our irons, I felt really confident and prepared. That was one of the hardest rail works I’ve done. We did a lot more than I was expecting.”

Paige isn’t the only member of the Stopperich family who had success today. Her mother led Invested Pine Asset to place third in L2 Amateur Showmanship this morning. Also, she will be returning to the L3 finals later in the week. “She hasn’t shown here since 2009, so today was a really exciting day for the family.”

Following Horsemanship on Thursday with Larry, Paige will hop on a quick flight to Alabama where she has a NCEA Collegiate Equestrian meet. She’s a rider on the South Carolina Equestrian team.

The Reserve Champion in the class was Julie Cole with Size Matters. Third was Ariel Herrin with Challaging Details. Fourth was Jessie Godin with Forrest Green. Fifth was Trista Mallow with Shezaddicting.