Ernest Branson and A Good and Hot Machine Win Novice Amateur Western Pleasure
Novice Amateur Western Pleasure Congress Champions Ernest Branson and A Good and Hot Machine
By: Brittany Bevis
After eight splits, two semifinals, and a finals, 170 competitors were narrowed down to just one. But it wasn’t an easy task for the judges. The final decision had to be split by the tiebreaker judge. In the end, Ernest Branson and A Good and Hot Machine were named the Congress Champions. The Reserve Champion was birthday boy, Dan Yeager, with Cee Money.
Just a few weeks prior to the Congress, Branson and his six-year-old mare named “Goodie” won their division at the AQHA Novice Championships East in Tennessee. After that success, the only logical decision was to head north to the All American Quarter Horse Congress.
“I’ve had her for three years, and I’ve been riding her since January. I bought her as a three-year-old that was never shown. Danny [Desmond] bought her as a yearling, and he’s the one who brought her up and showed her to me. He said she’d never been shown and never been in the pen, but I fell in love with her.”
“My trainer, Dave Archer, started riding her when she was four. I tried showing her once, but I didn’t have the skills to show her, so I took a year off and started riding her again in January.”
Ernest Branson with daughter Courtney Archer, trainer/son-in-law Dave Archer, and friend Danny Desmond.
Branson remarks that he’s been coming to the Congress for many years, since his daughter Courtney was just 13 years old. He’s had the opportunity to witness her win a Congress Championship, but he has never won a similar title, until tonight.
“This is unbelievable,” he says. “She was so smooth, and she did everything I asked her to do. She was unbelievable today.”
When it came down to the final two placings, Branson thought the decision could go either way.
“I know Dan has been riding for a long time,” he says. “He’s a great rider, and that’s a really good horse, so I didn’t know. My family said they knew the first judge was a tiebreaker judge, but I didn’t know!”
Congratulations to all of the competitors in the Novice Amateur Western Pleasure Finals tonight!
Happy Birthday Dan Yeager!
Novice Amateur Western Pleasure-
1- A Good N Hot Machine/Ernest Branson
2- Cee Money/Dan Yeager
3- Onlyafraid Inthedark/Cathrin Gutmann
4- Hes Pretty Good/Elizabeth Waszgis
5- A Moonlit Goodbar/Jamie Billings
6- Promiseme Everything/Jennifer Wargo
7-Itsthemoonshinetalkn/Denise Hawkins
8-Cutelicious/Candace Jussen
9- RR Whisper My Future/Robert Stein
10-Only A Summer Breeze/Lee Looney
