Jason Gilliam and Gone Red Instead Win Green Trail, Bailey Anderson and Zippos Kat Man Do Win Novice Youth 14-18 Trail

By: Brittany Bevis

After five hours of a Tim “The Trail Man” Kimura trail extravaganza this morning at the Congress, the first two trail champions of the show have been named. Jason Gilliam piloted Gone Red Instead to a Congress Championship in Green Trail, and Bailey Anderson rode Zippos Kat Man Do to a win in the Novice Youth 14-18 Trail.

Gilliam won a Congress Championship in Junior Trail with Only One Way to Rock, a blue roan, in 2012. This year, he decided to  go red instead.

“This is kind of a little diamond in the rough,” Gilliam says. “These people brought him to me three weeks before the Youth World, and he ended up fourth out there. [Koedi Lawley] was second in her class today. This is a horse that’s got all the try in the world.”

“Elijah” is a seasoned show horse that has competed in trail for a few years. Gilliam says all it took was a few finishing touches and polishing up to make this horse into a Congress contender.

“There were 100 plus horses in there,” he says. “He’s a show horse. You can put your hand down and show as hard as you want to show. The stuff he’s not good at, he makes up for when you can sit up and show. Koedi did all the novice stuff on her own, and it was kind of self-taught. She did it all on her own, mainly. She showed in some smaller horse shows.”

“He is a well-seasoned show horse; he just never got rewarded. I think he had some rough edges, you know. He needed some guidance. He’s a great slow horse for the walk-overs, gate, and back through. He’s an amzing trotter. His lope is his weakest gear, but he’s so snaky at the trot that he shapes and steers like a race car.”

Elijah pulled double duty today by competing in the Green Trail as well as the Novice Youth Trail 14-18. His owner, Koedi Lawley, earned a Reserve Congress Championship in her class behind Congress Champions Bailey Anderson and Zippos Kat Man Do.

“[This is my] first Congress title,” Lawley says. “It’s pretty exciting. I’m thrilled!”

Lawley also plans to compete in Showmanship and 14-18 Trail later on in the week.

“This is just one out of the way,” she says. “[Anything else] would just be icing on the cake.”

Green Trail-

1-Gone Red Instead/Jason Gilliam

2-RR Moonlite Mister/Toni Nelson

3-Tommy Lee Loper/Karen Graham

4-Definately A First/John Briggs

5-Smooth And Chocolate/Whitney Lagace

Novice Youth Trail 14-18–

1-Zippos Kat Man Do/Bailey Anderson

2-Gone Red Instead/Koedi Lawley

3-Prinzziples N Cash/Justin Melvin

4-Promotional Asset/Lauren Diaz

5-Longn For Chocolate/Hannah Lynch