Angie Cannizzaro and Wearin Only Moonlite Win Congress Open 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure Stakes

By: Brittany Bevis

Like many of the western pleasure classes that have taken place thus far at the Congress, the Open 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure Stakes was a true nail-biter until the overall placings were announced. The judges seemed to be split in multiple directions favoring Cannizzaro and Wearin Only Moonlite, Gil Galyean with Michelle Bauer’s Don’t Stop The Lite, and Rusty Green with Adam Kober’s Lope The Line. Scoring the top spot this afternoon was Angie Cannizzaro with Wearin Only Moonlite for Valerie Gabor.

Cannizzaro explains that although having a maiden horse wasn’t a requirement for this particular class, the horse she showed, “Moonie,” did in fact make his debut here at the Congress. This 2-year-old is by Only In The Moonlite and out of a Potential Investment mare.

“He is probably the only horse in the class that hasn’t been shown prior to this,” she says. “This is his maiden debut. He is just super cool. He has so much self-carriage, and he is so pretty to look at. He is so much fun to show. He is just freaky good both ways.”

Moonie was purchased as a yearling, and he spent a considerable amount of time in the hands of Cannizzaro’s assistant, Brooke Wolff.

“My assistant, Brooke, has spent hours and hours on him calming him down, getting him quiet, and getting him to where he trusts people. He was quite the challenge.”

“Sometimes, we call him ‘Grasshopper’ or ‘The Big Hopper,’ because every once in awhile he will skitter around. He is known for that. He means no harm. He just gets scared every once in awhile.”

2-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure Stakes–

1-Wearin Only Moonlite/Angie Cannizzaro

2-Don’t Stop The Lite/Gil Galyean

3-Rusty Green/Lope The Line

4-Chex This Hot Amiga/Cole Baker

5-Spyderman/Tim Zuidema

6-Lopen Assets/Karen Hornick

7-Lotto Max/Eric Petersen

8-Sleepy N I Know It/Pat Heeley

9-Take Me Home Tonite/Jeff Cochran

10-Shesa Hotroddin Gal/Shane Pope