Bruce Vickery/Talk About Lazy and Blake Weis/The Extreme Machine Win Congress L1 Trail

By: Brittany Bevis

After a long eight hours of Trail, two L1 Congress Champions were crowned this afternoon at the 2017 All American Quarter Horse Congress! First, Bruce Vickery rode Talk About Lazy to win Senior L1 Trail for Hannah Clarke. Bruce had to run, because he was third to go in the very next class, but we had the opportunity to chat with Hannah and her nine and a half month-old son, Henry, who has hopes to compete in Small Fry soon!

“We bought Lacy as a three-year-old, and she’s seven now,” Hannah says. “This is her first win at the Congress.”

Lacy is on somewhat of a winning streak. She just came off a Reserve Championship finish in L1 Trail at the NSBA World Show a few weeks ago. But she isn’t slowing down at all. Coming up next, she will compete with Bruce in Senior Western Riding and Senior Trail and with Hannah in Novice Amateur Western Pleasure, Amateur Showmanship, and Amateur Horsemanship.

Hannah was very pleased with Lacy’s score of 230 and was confident in her ride, but she couldn’t bring herself to watch the remaining horses run their patterns. “I couldn’t watch the scores or any other rides after she went. It was very nerve-wracking!”

In particular, Hannah liked Lacy’s right lead lope overs and beautiful back.

The Reserve Champion in the class was Blake Weis with Gimmea Charlie Horse. Third was Tommy Sheets with Caught Me Looking. Fourth was Charles Fisher with Hot Time To Zip. Fifth was Melissa Jones with Chill On a Dirt Road.

Then, it was Blake’s turn in the spotlight with The Extreme Machine in Junior L1 Trail. The Reserve Champion was Brad Ost with The Monie Man. Third was Nick Mayabb with Zippinpistolgoodbar. Fourth was Gene Spagnola with Code Red Charlie. Fifth was Micah Hansen with Loping In The Knight.

Blake scored a whopping 234 to claim the top spot with the 5-year-old stallion he calls “Clyde.” This horse also had a successful NSBA World Show, winning Junior Trail and placing Reserve in the BCF. Today, he and Blake bested 111 other entries for the win for owner, Rhonda Wade.

Blake was confident he had a score that would be tough to top, but since he went early in the draw, he wasn’t certain it would hold up over time. “I went really early. I paid attention to the scores all day, until it got to the very end. Then, I went and rode and gave a Horsemanship lesson. I kept myself busy, so I didn’t keep checking…”

Blake was especially pleased with Clyde’s lope overs describing them as “phenomenal.” “He’s so pretty in his head and neck and has such great expression. Everything was really clean today. I was worried about the left fan trot, because I opted out of doing practice last night. They’d already had so many obstacles set up here [for us to practice on] so I didn’t want to over practice. He’s a stud, so I didn’t want to ride him the whole night and make him mad.”

The plan proved to be the right move as Clyde executed a smooth and precise pattern. Later on in the show, he will get the chance to take home more titles in the Junior Trail and 4 and 5-Year-Old Trail.