From Austria to Florida: A Whirlwind Month Spent Showing Horses in the US!

EC Blog by: Cathrin Gutmann

1 month, 6 states, 4 horse shows, 1 new foal, and countless memories

The trip had been planned for quite some time. Finally, we could make it work so we could all come to the US, together as a family. Taking the trip would be my husband and I, our four-year-old daughter Emilie, and our employee Tatyana.

On December 27th, we took our flights from Vienna to Washington and then from Washington to Tampa, Florida. On that second flight, I began studying my Trail patterns for the next morning, because my class was second to go the next day! It started out exciting!

This year, adding Trail and Western Riding with my horse Onlyafraid Inthedark, aka “Jellybean,” is my challenge, and I’ve already had great fun and success at the Florida Quarter Horse shows. At our first show in Tampa, we attended with two of our horses and their trainers: Onlyafraid Inthedark with Michael Colvin Performance Horses and Boys Move Over with Show Stop Farm.

The weather was great in Tampa, and we enjoyed that a lot because it was really cold at the time back at home in Austria. In addition to the sunny skies, it was great to see all of our American friends again. With a show being that well-organized and having as many entries (especially the Trail was big) as well as great prizes, we couldn’t have had a better time.

I was especially very proud of our little daughter showing in Leadine for the first time. She loved it and made many friends in and out of the show pen.

Overall, it was a very successful show for us. Onlyafraid Inthedark was the High Point Green Horse as well as the High Point Senior Horse at the Florida Gold Coast Circuit. We were also circuit champions in Novice Amateur Western Riding as well as circuit champions in Senior and the reserve circuit champions in Amateur Western Pleasure. At the Florida Gulf Coast, Jellybean was the Reserve High Point Senior Horse as well as circuit champion in Amateur Western Pleasure. We already picked up a few points for the 2016 show season. In addition, we won two beautiful tack trunks.

After the horse show in Tampa, we had three days off. We used those to drive up to Orlando to visit Disney World. It was a first for all of us at Disney World, and we enjoyed it a lot. I think we’ve seen all of the Magic Kingdom and met almost every character.

We drove on to Venice after that and cotinued showing at the Fox Lea Winter Circuit and the Fun In The Sun Extravaganza. This time, our third horse, Hot Boy Gone Lazy, aka “Bentley,” and trainers Jay and Kristy Starnes joined us for the first maturities of the year. The entry numbers were even higher than the previous show and the quality of horses was very good. Even though the rain made it harder this time, we still had a great time and could continue showing our horses very successfully.

Onlyafraid Inthedark was once again named High Point Senior Horse as well as circuit champion in the Novice Amateur Western Riding at the Fox Lea Winter Circuit. We also were Reserve Champions in the Fun In the Sun NSBA Open Non Pro Western Riding behind Jane Humes and her wonderful horse Dunit On The Range. Nancy Sue Ryan and Boys Move Over were the circuit champions in Junior Hunter Under Saddle at the Fox Lea Circuit.

One horse who absolutely stood out at the Fun In the Sun was our 4-year-old Hot Boy Gone Lazy, who won the Fun In The Sun NSBA $10,000 Ltd. Horse Maturity with Jay Starnes. I bred, raised, and started Bentley at Gut Jaidhof Performance Horses  in Austria before he came over to the US in August of last year. He is by No Doubt Im Lazy and out of the mare Blazing Ryanna by Blazing Hot. It was his second horse show in the US at and the first one for him to show in the open division with Jay. Having my whole family there to celebrate that win with me was very special for sure. Bentley and Jay also won a circuit championship in Green Western Pleasure at the Fox Lea Circuit.

After the shows in Venice were over, we drove through Florida to the East Coast to visit friends in Vero Beach. Then, we went on to South Carolina to visit Jay and Kristy’s barn and spend some time there, which we really enjoyed. From there, we drove on to Georgia to visit Michael Colvin and to spend some time exploring Atlanta and the Georgia Aquarium. Finally, we went to our final destination, Masterson Farms in Tennessee,  where one of Jellybean’s babies was born just a few days prior to our visit. We loved visiting the beautiful farm and took many pictures of our little filly Augusta while we were there.

On January 28th, we took a flight back from Memphis through Newark to Vienna. We ended a successful and beautiful trip with lots of great family memories!

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