Wednesday Winners at 2015 NSBA World Show Include Crawford, Yeager, Graham, Roberts, and Searles

By: Brittany Bevis

From the Showmanship pen to the Western Pleasure arena and back over to the Trail pen, classes have been underway at three different venues today at the 2015 NSBA World Championship Show.

Kili Crawford rode her new horse, Chasing A Dream, a five-year-old gelding by A Dream Remembered to win their first NSBA World Championship in the BCF 4-6 Year-Old Limited Non Pro Western Pleasure. The Reserve Champion was Katie Mitchell with A Catered Affair. Third place was Ron Shelly with Get Her Vitals.

Crawford’s gelding she calls “Skittles” is triple registered with AQHA, APHA, and PtHA. She’s owned him for a little over a month now.

“We’re starting the all-around classes with him, but we decided to stick with the Western Pleasure for this show,” Crawford says. “I’m glad we did, because he came to play today. We’re hoping to teach him Western Riding, Trail, and Horsemanship.”

“I’ve very excited! I’ve never won a cup before. That was kind of my goal coming to this show.”

Dan Yeager and Cee Money were named the NSBA World Champions in Select Showmanship this morning. They’ve had past experience in the winner’s circle in this particular discipline. Yeager and 6-year-old “Money” were also the Select Showmanship Congress Champions in 2014. This is the first NSBA World Show they’ve been to as a team.

“Last night, I schooled the pattern just so I could understand the maneuvers and where to place them,” he says. “Then, today I just softened it up about 15 minutes before I went in. I really wanted to show off his back, and I thought it was a good venue to do it.”

Later on in the show, this team will compete in Select Western Pleasure and Select Horsemanship. When the NSBA World Show is complete, they will head to Amarillo for the AQHA Select World Show. “My World Show is in two weeks, so I’m trying to gear up for that!” Yeager says.

The Reserve World Champion in Select Showmanship was Martha Lou Oltjen with Credit Rate. Third place was Christine Hocutt-Senteney with Bellieve He’s Blazing.

Karen Graham rode Jan Bruner’s 11-year-old gelding, Blazin Occasion, aka “Bucky,” to win the Color Open Trail. Later in the Color Non Pro Trail, Bruner and Bucky placed fourth.

“Karen’s whole pattern was so beautiful,”Bruner says. “It was just soft and very cadenced. It’s like they were in tune and flowing all the way through.”

This is Bruner’s first trip to the NSBA World Show, and she’s having a fabulous time thus far. During the AQHA portion of the show, she placed third in Select Western Riding, so she’s looking forward to competing in the NSBA World Show version of the class as well as Select Horsemanship. Also, Graham will hop in the saddle once more for the Open Western Riding.

The winner of the Color Non Pro Trail was Hillary Roberts with her 11-year-old double-registered gelding named Chrome On My Zipper. Not only did Roberts win today’s Trail class on “Long John,” she was named the champion in the BCF 3-Year-Old Open Non Pro Western Pleasure yesterday with For One Knight Only. This busy lady also plans to compete in Amateur Western Pleasure and the Non Pro Western Pleasure Maturity aboard Whatscookingoodlookin.

“This is always a really busy show for us,” Roberts says. “I’ve never really shown a lot of color classes, so it was fun to get to do a color class and get to show against some other horses. We had a really good pattern, and I felt like we were soft and connected through the whole thing. I really like cool trots, so I really liked the zig zag into the box. Also, I liked the triangle because that was something I had at the Youth World last year, so that was fun to get to do again.”

Jim Searles rode a pretty, red roan filly named Ona Good Kiss to win the 2-Year-Old Intermediate Open Western Pleasure for owner Susie Johns.

“We bought her as a yearling from Jan Pittman, and Susie sent her straight to Arizona,” Searles says. “We broke her as a team at the ranch between Deanna, Chris Holbin, and I. We took our time and had no expectations. The goal was to definitely do the Trail and Western Riding with her, but she’s so strong as a two-year-old that we decided to do Western Pleasure.”

Searles praises “Honi” (the Hawaiian word for kisses) for her natural talent, elegant movement, and ease of preparation.

“She’s 100 percent natural and has a real good cadence with a real good front leg,” Searles says. “She’s probably one of the easiest two-year-olds we’ve ever broke out.”

“She’s so good minded, and she really enjoys her job. To be honest with you, she takes very little preparation. She might be on the line for 5-10 minutes. Then, we pull her out of the stall, lope around, and go in.”

In the 2-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure, Kenny Lakins repeated his earlier win from this week aboard Available By Invitation. The Reserve Champion was Jay Starnes. Coming in third was Brad Ost with Lookin Good In Red.

Congratulations to all of the big winners today!