Turning Up the Heat at the 2017 Star Spangled Classic
EC Blog by: Stefanie Fricke
The annual Star Spangled Classic Paint Horse Show recently concluded at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA. Hosted by the Washington State Paint Horse Club, this three-day, 6-judged show continues to be the largest Paint Horse show in the state each year, bringing together some really nice, competitive Paints from all over the state and beyond. This was the first Paint show I attended since retiring my gelding after the end of last season, so it was definitely a shift to being just a spectator. Good thing there were a lot of great horses to watch!
In addition to the competition, the weather was also hot, reaching temperatures higher than expected. While it was a bit too hot for my liking, it meant we got to show the majority of our classes (Trail, Western Pleasure, Hunter Under Saddle, Equitation, Horsemanship, Western Riding, and Reining) outside, which I know was a big hit with the exhibitors.
It was great to see the number of entries and class sizes increasing, a positive sign for showing, not only in our region, but overall. Novice youth and novice amateur classes were consistently the biggest throughout the show and experienced the biggest growth from the previous year. In a class of 12 Novice Youth Horsemanship riders, Macie Soderquist came out on top with Im A Mega Sensation, and in the Novice Amateur, with 13 shown, it was Top Hats Only and Robin Ewing winning.
The ranch classes were also good sized, continuing to grow in popularity. In the Open Ranch Riding, with nine showing, Riverama QT Star won, shown by Nicole Hutchings for Gloria Grove. In the ever-growing Amateur Walk-Trot division, there were 19 horses in the Pleasure, which Meagan Fahlman won riding Kreme De La Krymson. In Open Performance Halter Geldings, Traci Olney’s gelding, Special Te Forces, took top honors out of 15. The green horse division also was strong and in the Western Pleasure, Don’t Be Lazy, shown by Monica Webb for Robin Gorman, came out on top.
For the first time at this show, and I think overall in our region, riders were presented with Trail courses from The Trail Man himself, Tim Kimura. There was a great group of Trail horses that took these courses head on, including Senior class winner JZA Jewelontherange (owned by Tori White and shown by Kara Whitsell), Green class winner Hes Got Good Assets (owned by Allie Greene and shown by Monica Webb) and Junior horse winner Lawless Zippo (owned by Kimberly Basterrechea and shown by Kara Whitsell).
But, the most exciting class that also saw great numbers was Leadline, where six young riders competed! All of the riders brought their A-games to the pen. Congrats Landon Fricke (showing Brokers Lucky Kid), Braxton Wilson (showing Top Hats Only), Adalyn Feist (showing Party Color), Kara Johnson (showing Justa Lopinby The Bay), Juniper Wilson (showing Ocean Front Property) and Alyssa Lowe (showing Heza Ladies Machine). It was so fun seeing this group of kids as they’re all friends and can be seen running – or biking – around the show grounds together. APHA’s future is definitely bright with these youngsters!
Outside of the show pen, the club held a silent auction with all proceeds going to the youth club, as well as a sock drive, where they collected – from the generous exhibitors and spectators – new socks to be donated to the area’s homeless population.
I know planning is already in progress for 2018. We can’t wait to see you all there next year and hopefully I’ll have a new partner one of these days and can join you in the pen!
Pictures courtesy of Stefanie Fricke, Larson Performance Horses, Gately Training Center, Wilson Show Horses, Jennifer Feist
