Sara Simons Pilots First Appaloosa to Win QH Congress Title in Maturity $10,000 Ltd. Open Ltd. Finals
By: Brittany Bevis
Sara Simons achieved a milestone not only for herself this afternoon at the 2015 All American Quarter Horse Congress, but also for the Appaloosa breed as well. She piloted the 5-year-old Appaloosa gelding, Rock My Motion, to win the Maturity $10,000 Limited Horse Open Western Pleasure Limited Finals.
What’s an Appaloosa doing at the Quarter Horse Congress? Well, new this year, the Congress Committee decided to open Hunter Under Saddle and Western Pleasure Futurities classes to the following breeds: AQHA, APHA, ApHC, ABRA, IBHA, PHBA and Jockey Club. That change, followed by Simons subsequent win, means that Rock My Motion is the first Appaloosa to have won a title at the Quarter Horse Congress.
The Reserve Champion in the class was Brandon Burr with You Bet Ima Batman for Tom Knoch. Third place was Tate Oakley with Hot Precious Lexus for Carrie Chown. Fourth place was Eric Petersen with Lotto Max for Erin Larson Girolamo. Fifth place was Brian Baker with KM Call Me Honey.
Simons and “Tex” received a check for $2,135.16 for their big win this afternoon for owners, Janis and Jordan Semmelmayer. This is Simons’s first Congress Champion title in the open division.
“He’s a fun horse,” Simons says. “He has tons of self carriage and really likes his job. He shows really well. His ears are always up, and his topline is always really good. He’s really just a joy to show.”
When the committee made the decision to include other breeds in the Congress futurity program, Simons and the Semmelmayer family needed to decide if it would be worth the trip to haul Tex up to Columbus, Ohio just a week before the Appaloosa World Show is set to take place in Fort Worth, Texas.
“They opened it up, so I thought I’d give it a try, and it worked out pretty well!” she says. “We all talked about it, as as group, and decided to come since it’s really early in the week and we can still get home for the Appaloosa World on Saturday. We will show in the Open Maturity finals and then he will go home and RJ [King] will show him.”
Tex will also compete in Non-Pro and Masters Western Pleasure and Showmanship classes with Jordan and Janis Semmelmayer. “Hopefully, next year we will do Horsemanship and Western Riding,” she says.
How does it feel to ride the first Appaloosa to a Congress Champion title? “I don’t even know…” she says. “I haven’t shown Appaloosas for very long. I’m proud for them. It’s awesome and a huge accomplishment for the Appaloosa breed. They were watching and waiting to see how he was going to get along. I was thrilled. I think this is a really good thing. Anything that will bring more people in and get more people involved is always good.”
