Pokemon Trail Takeover at AQHYA World Show!
Somebody found a Picachu!
By: Brittany Bevis
You’re probably familiar with the Pokemon Go craze that has taken over the World recently. As it turns out, Pokemania is spreading to the AQHA Youth World as well!
Evidence of the takeover was discovered yesterday during the Trail preliminaries here in Oklahoma City. Tim “The Trail Man” Kimura’s course was overrun with a number of Pokemon creatures, including a bright, yellow Picachu that made a few appearances at the top half of the course by the trot poles and at the entrance to the box.
In case you haven’t been watching the news or participating on social media this month, the Pokemon Go game is an app that was launched on July 6th and reportedly made more than $14 million across all mobile platforms during the first week of its release. Some news reports indicate that more users are playing Pokemon Go than are using Snapchat and Twitter… Remember this article we wrote a few months ago? A Pokemon Go Horseback Adventure!
Can you spot the Pokemon in this shot?
We caught up with Tim Kimura to find out how his course became a full-fledged Pokestop!
“I played Pokemon Go a bit,” Tim says. “I wasn’t addicted, but I thought it was fun to watch as it worked! Many kids showed me how to play and many of my older friends are players… I thought it was a trend right now and knew it was going to be popular to have some Pokemon out there.”
“Picachu seems to be the most popular, and a few of my friends brought me Pokemon to use on the course too. Being yellow, Laker Monkey enjoyed having a buddy to hang out with all day.”
Hillary and Trump keep a watchful eye on the course.
The creative genius of Tim “The Trail Man” didn’t stop there. Competitors were lucky enough to have their patterns presided over by none other than presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Pokemon… presidential candidates… what else could fit into one course? According to Tim, this preliminary course had three themes.
“One of the five colored obstacles represented the Olympic rings with blue, black, yellow, red, and green,” he says. “The bottom of the course represented Team USA with red, white, and blue along with the election obstacle with Donald and Hillary’s faces on top of the wagon wheels. The third was Pokemon Go, which was added around the course.”
With all this excitement in the prelims we wondered what Tim has in store for the finals later this week…
Laker Monkey hanging out with Picachu
“The finals are always challenging, and I’ve got two days to ponder what I will create for the kids. I’m sure my brain will conjure up another epic course… I first started drawing World Show courses in 1996, so after 21 years of drawing for AQHA I must challenge myself again!”
We chatted with a few Pokemon playing competitors here at the Youth World, Cheyenne Augsburger and Molly Moden, to find out if they’ve discovered any rare creatures around the show grounds. Yesterday, Cheyenne was the youngest competitor to return to the Trail Shootout with her horse, Huntin For Candy, aka “Scamper.” The 11-year-old says she noticed all the Pokemon on the course during the walk-through.
“I’ve been too busy to play here at the Youth World,” Cheyenne says. “I usually play when I’m in the car. I’ve caught ten. The most rare one I’ve caught is the one with two heads that looks like an ostrich.”
Another Pokemon Go player, Molly Moden, also competed in Trail yesterday with her horse Blazeless and is showing in the Showmanship preliminaries today. She started playing the game a week after its official release and has caught 97 Pokemon so far! Her most rare capture is a Lickitongue.
Bonus Trail points if you can name all three Pokemon at this obstacle.
At Molly’s pre-World Show Boot Camp, she and fellow Youth World competitors, Sydnee Gemar, Austin Gemar, Jamie Cook, and Emily Maul, convinced horse trainer Jeff Mellott to assist in catching a few Pokemon. “My trainer is Jeff Mellott, and we got him to drive us around during our World Show Boot Camp to catch them,” she says. “We also taught Tim Kimura how to play at a Trail clinic. I’ve looked here some days, but I haven’t had time to walk around a lot. I know there are a lot of Ponytas around here…”
Keep an eye out for Ponyta here at the Youth World!
In case you’re wondering, a Ponyta is a horse Pokemon, so it’s only natural they would be hanging around here at the Youth World Show. Apparently, the Ponyta is a Fire Horse Pokemon with hooves ten times stronger than diamonds that can trample anything in its path. It’s also capable of jumping extreme heights, has sturdy legs, and is known for its speed. Sounds a bit like our American Quarter Horses…
Don’t be mistaken; this game isn’t just for kids. We have it on very good authority that a couple of Texas-based horse trainers are fans of Pokemon Go, however, they declined to participate in this article. Don’t worry gentlemen; your secret is safe with us…
