#ThrowbackThursday- Top 10 Favorite Moments From 2013 APHA/AQHA World Shows

By: Brittany Bevis

Because this Throwback Thursday falls right at the start of the 2014 APHA and AQHA World Championship Shows, we thought it would be fun to relive some of our favorite moments from last year’s events by taking a look at some of our most popular photos. Click on the title of each image to read more about the original story.

2013 AQHA World Show Top 5 Photos:

1. New AQHA World Show Western Riding Record For Charlie Cole and Ima Petite Classic, Score of 240

This photo captures the pure excitement on the face of horse trainer Charlie Cole when it was announced that he and Ima Petite Classic were named the World Champions in Senior Western Riding. The competition was truly fierce that night with the top 15 horse and rider pairs returning for the finals having accumulated over 50 World or Reserve World Champion titles among them.

Cole’s surprised reaction is due to the fact that he claimed the number one spot over the Reserve Champion pair, Jason Martin and Vital Signs Are Good, by only a half a point.

“Jason said that prior to tonight [the highest score] was a 238.5,” Cole said. “Jason had it for a minute at 239.5, and then I had it at 240. That’s the highest ever. It’s kind of surreal, because I’ve been close so many times on that horse, and I’ve just never done it. I’ve never had the ride I wanted to have in the finals. I knew when I was done tonight that I had it, but was it enough? I was trying to beat one of the greatest western riding horses ever.”

2. Nancy Sue Ryan and Whenonlythebestwildo Win Junior Hunter Under Saddle– It was clear by the look on Nancy Sue Ryan’s face that her win in Junior Hunter Under Saddle aboard Whenonlythebestwildo, aka “Big Winnie,” was very special. It was a unique maternal connection that prompted her tears of happiness; Ryan had the opportunity to show the horse’s grandmother in the past.

“Her grandmother [Something Catchy] went to the Congress six times and was first or second every year,” Ryan said. “She won the Hunter Under Saddle Futurity there, and she was a World Champion here. She was All-Around Champion at the Congress as a four-year-old.”

“[There’s] not a lot [of similarities between the two]. Catchy would twitch her ears. If they ever did… that wasn’t a good sign. Winnie doesn’t have any of that. She’s got the Luke brain. She totally trusts me. It’s taken a while to get her to understand that I’m going to be nice to her, and she likes that a lot.”

3. Stephanie Richardson and Kickin Axe In Levis Win Amateur Horsemanship

We love this photo of a very exuberant Stephanie Richardson sharing her excitement with the crowd following her win in Amateur Horsemanship at the 2013 AQHA World Show with her home-bred gelding “Charles.” As Richardson made her victory lap around the arena with her arms outstretched, it was apparent that this win had special meaning.

“This is my first World Championship title,” Richardson said. “There are no words. I’m so excited and so proud of Charles. He is an amazing horse. I’ve worked so hard for this. I wanted this forever. I didn’t want to leave the arena; I just wanted them to let me stay out there!”

“I bred him at home, and I still have his mother, so he is very special to me. I got to breed him, raise him, and train him.”

4. Josh Weakly Wins Fifth Title of AQHA World Show

The 2013 AQHA World Championship Show proved to be a very successful one for Josh Weakly as he claimed his fifth title of the show with Giancarla in Amateur 2-Year-Old Mares. He was also named the World Champion in Amateur Weanling Fillies with FG Coco Chanel, the World Champion in Amateur Aged Mares with Elusive Premonition, the World Champion in Amateur 2-Year-Old Geldings with Gamechanger, and the Reserve World Championship with Call Me Maibe in Amateur Yearling Fillies.

We also loved his comments about his still then unborn son Jax. “We wondered, with Kaleena’s active participation in amateur all-around events and Josh’s focus on halter classes, what are they hoping will be the discipline of choice for soon-to-be-born ‘Baby Jax’? ‘I’m hoping for a tractor baby that maybe doesn’t do the horses,’ Weakly said. ‘Maybe we’ll have a tractor salesman and not a horse-shower. That’s too expensive!'”

5. Theresa Moran and Vital Signs Are Good Win Amateur Western Riding–

Last, but certainly not least, we love this photo of Theresa Moran embracing family and friends in the stands following her first World Championship achieved in the Amateur division with her then 13-year-old mare “Lucy.” Looking forward to 2014, Moran was very excited about some up and coming Lucy offspring.

“She will have six yearlings, three weanlings, and one baby coming next year (2014),” Moran said. “The three weanlings are all by Lazy Loper, so they are all full siblings to VS Flatline.”

2013 APHA World Show Top 5 Photos:

1. Spotted at 2013 APHA World Show: Awards Presenter Banks Ready! 

After a long stay in the hospital and extensive physical therapy following a horrific car accident in 2012, former AjPHA Youth President Banks Ready returned to the show pen as an awards presenter in the Weanling Stallions class at the 2013 APHA World Show. Many of his fellow competitors and friends in the industry were thrilled to see his smiling face at the horse show again.

2. Coleen Bull and Timeless Assets Win Masters Am Sr. Hunter Under Saddle

Every time APHA gelding, Timeless Assets, has entered the pen at the APHA World Championship Show to compete in Hunter Under Saddle he has been rewarded with either a World Championship or Reserve Championship finish. Last year’s win with his owner Coleen Bull marked his third World Championship in the discipline. How can the now nine-year-old gelding keep winning year after year? Bull is convinced it all comes down to good care, a balanced approach to training, and maintaining a happy attitude.

“He gets good care, and he still likes his job,” Bull said. “I think a lot of it is the training. Garth and Sonnesa [Gooding] just know the right balance of pushing him but not pushing him too much so he still enjoys what he does. Some of it is just his personality. This was the first class that he kind of figured out what I wanted. He gives so much all the time. He can just kind of click into this Hunter Under Saddle mode. He perks his ears up and says, ‘Hold on Mom. We’re going!’ And he takes me for a ride.”

3. Happy Dance!

This great photo captures the pure excitement of the moment when an exhibitor is crowned a World Champion. Lisa Cherry did a little happy dance after winning the Amateur Working Hunter class at the 2013 APHA World Show with her horse Tommys In Town.

4. Friends in the Show Pen 

Last year, Rachel Landman was named the World Champion in Novice Amateur Showmanship with her horse The Big Invitation. Something that made her win even more special was the fact that she got to share the experience with her friend and fellow competitor, Marissa Hurst, who came in Reserve with DG One Sonny Image.

“Marissa is a local,” Landman said. “She lives in Austin, and I’m in Dallas. At a lot of the shows that we go to, she’s always there, and she does the same events as me. Over the last year, we’ve become friends. She is such a sweet girl.”

5. A Bittersweet Win in Junior Western Pleasure, In Memory of Beth Beuchler 

Mike Hachtel’s win in Junior Western Pleasure at the 2013 APHA World Show was truly bittersweet because there was one person missing from the stands. When Hachtel was announced as the winner aboard A Scenic Cheerleader, the entire crowd watched as he tipped his hat towards heaven, but many people might not have known the significance of that gesture. Wade and Laura Spell and the entire crew at Spell Show Horses certainly did. A Scenic Cheerleader, aka “Pom Pom,” belonged to the late Beth Buechler, a longtime client of theirs who lost her battle with cancer.

“During the last two weeks of Beth’s life, we were there,” Wade Spell said. “We took care of her. When we were getting ready to leave, her husband said she was leaving her two favorite horses to Laura in her will. She wanted to make sure that we got her show saddles and work saddles and her two favorite horses of all time [A Scenic Cheerleader and Indy Machine].”

“This was not just a good lady. This was an extra special lady. She stood by me when I first started and when I went to my second World Show. Every time she has been with me, no matter how good or bad I did, and we took care of her too, no matter what.”

“She left A Scenic Cheerleader to Laura in her will, and we decided to leave it in Beth’s name until after the World Show. This was supposed to be her last little hurrah, but she couldn’t quite make it that far…”

We’re looking forward to capturing many more Top Ten worthy moments at the APHA World Show and AQHA World Show this year. We’ll see you soon!

The APHA World Championship Show began November 5th in Fort Worth, Texas and will continue through November 15th. The AQHA World Show will take place in Oklahoma City from November 7th-22nd.