12-Year-Old Claire McDowall Wins First Congress Champion Title in Novice Youth Trail 13 and Under

By: Brittany Bevis

For those of you who’ve never met 12-year-old Claire McDowall, you’re certainly missing out. This spunky, spirited, young equestrienne is the daughter of judge, trainer, and AQHA Professional Horseman, Kelly McDowall and Marnie McDowall of Colorado. Claire’s partner in crime is The Ultimate Zip, a 23-year-old gelding, who proved this morning that he still has a bit of get-up-and-go left after all these years.

Just a few moments ago, Claire rode “Hewey” to win her first major award, a Congress Champion title in Novice Youth Trail 13 and Under with a score of 229, a full three and a half points ahead of the rest of the field. Claire describes Hewey as a Trail Master, who might be a bit lazy, but still remembers to pick up his feet every now and then.

“Hewey is really lazy,” she says. “Probably, the only class he really loves is Trail. He is really old, but he can still be really perky, so that’s pretty much why we still show him.”

“I would say the gate pole [was my favorite obstacle], because he always picks his feet up for that. Sometimes, he hits everything except for the gate pole! It’s pretty funny… Also, probably the lope pinwheels [were my other favorites], because he likes to go slow around them.”

The most challenging part of the pattern for Claire and Hewey were the transitions between obstacles, especially the stop to lope. “He was feeling kind of lazy today, so I had to focus on that.”

Other advice given to Claire by her father/trainer included instructions to look up, not run through the pattern too fast, have fun, and remember all of the obstacle work they had done during the previous week to prepare. Although Claire was confident that her pattern would receive a good score, she had no idea she was about to be named the Congress Champion. How does she feel? In a word, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”

“My favorite class is Trail, well now because I’m a Congress Champion, and because Hewey really likes it and he’s really good at it. It’s harder than most events, and he is the best at it. I like it because it’s a challenge.”

When her mother and brother arrive from the airport this afternoon, Claire has plans to collect her winner’s payout and gift certificates in order to do some shopping in the trade show.

“Probably the first thing I’m going to do is get my Congress jacket, which is free for the first time ever!”

Novice Youth Trail 13 and under-

1-The Ultimate Zip/Claire McDowall

2-Convoy Of Gold/Sloane Vogt

3-Just Say Gold/Mackenzie Doescher

4- RL Sudden Style/Lauren Gralla

5-Zip Back N Yak/Peyton Crenwelge