Hannah Friedl of Austria and Rip City Zip Win Novice Amateur Horsemanship at QH Congress

By: Brittany Bevis

This evening provided several firsts for novice amateur competitor Hannah Friedl of Austria. This is the first time she has visited the United States; the first time she has competed at a horse show in the United States; her first time attending the Quarter Horse Congress; and her first Congress Champion title.

Friedl is an exchange student visiting Highpoint Performance Horses in Aubrey, Texas, and today was finally her turn to compete at the largest single breed horse show in the world.

“Charlie and Jason gave me the opportunity to show Zippy,” she says. “It’s awesome. It’s so different to the horse shows in Austria and in Europe. When we have classes, we show with about 15 or 20 entries, and it’s great that the classes are so big here.”

There were certainly more than 20 exhibitors in today’s class. Friedl bested 121 other competitors to claim her first Congress Champion title. Although Friedl admits she was extremely nervous, her fears subsided once she had the first go under her belt.

“I think my pattern was good, but my second pattern was better,” she says. “I was a little bit worried about the stop to trot, because I always have the feeling that it takes a long time to get him into a trot, but he did good. In the first go, I was first. When I saw my track, I said, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s not round!’ I was so nervous, but the second time in the finals I was not so nervous.”

Coming up later in the week, Friedl will partner with “Zippy” to compete in Novice Amateur Western Riding and Trail.

The Reserve Champion in today’s class was Juliana Blackburn-Baskin with Floating On Assets. Third place was Kristi Brown with Chicoutimi.

Novice Amateur Horsemanship–

1-Hannah Friedl/Rip City Zip

2- Floating On Assets/Juliana Blackburn-Baskin

3-Chicoutimi/Kristi Brown

4- Got The Advantage/Andrea Uglem

5-Good Cowboy Casanova/Julie Jolstad