Hot Lopin Lily Wins Historic $100,000 Senior Trail at World Equestrian Center – Ocala

By Delores Kuhlwein

Saturday night’s $100,000 Senior Trail Finals at The Championship Show 2024 at World Equestrian Center -Ocala was one for the history books!

Not only was the purse offered to 26 prospective teams historic, but the seasonal drizzle cleared for a magnificent performance in the Grand Hotel Arena!

The trail course that included every whim of imagination, from replicas of hot air balloons and dolphins to streams of water, was created by the Man of Trail, Tim Kimura, with the help of Garry McAllister, Chad Williams, and the WEC Crew, and the average run for the course was 3 minutes and 46 seconds.

This remarkable event was also set apart by the 24 hours leading up to the finals – exhibitors had warm up poles for schooling in Arena 2 until 5 PM on Friday, then one could find nary a pole anywhere on the grounds until the Saturday evening event began, other than one for the Western Riding classes Saturday afternoon, and it was promptly stowed after they were over. No personal poles were allowed anywhere on the WEC grounds either.

Luckily, the saving grace for exhibitors and their talented horses was the ability to walk the course when receiving the pattern (at 5 PM Saturday) with the opportunity to lead the horse through to see the sights during the walk-through.

When it was showtime, the 26 teams were met with applause and appreciation for their incredible trail runs, and fans who couldn’t be there eagerly watched live via Facebook on the page for An Equine Production.

The winner of the biggest purse, $40,000, and top honors was Hot Lopin Lily with Blake Weis for owner Caroline Cavallo.  The 2017 bay mare by RL Best Of Sudden and out of Shes A Lopin Machine was the 2023 AQHA Superhorse, so this was another big diamond in her crown.

Blake explains that since he couldn’t prepare by using poles to practice, they did a lot of mental work to get ready. “We would go walk around the trees, around the barn, and this morning, I sat on her in the horsemanship pen, not necessarily working her too hard, but mentally just letting her look around and take everything in. That’s pretty much how we did it, and then honestly, the walk around (to let the horses see the decorations) helped a lot.”

He adds that the most challenging elements of the course included the walk maneuver at the end because it had water boxes beside it.  “That was pretty hard and the angle of it was interesting, and then the left lope with the diagonals was hard because it was hard to get in – the trots were set so close you had to go all the way to them and angle back, but she’s very good about lengthening and shortening her stride.”

Owner Carolina Cavallo says that Lily is a blessing to their family and so is Blake.  “He found her at the perfect time, he made her, she will stay in our family forever. She will never go anywhere. We are just so thankful for him and for her and we appreciate them both very much.”

She explains that what makes Lily so special is that she tries her hardest every single time she steps into the pen. “She is a true show horse – she likes to show, she wants to be on the trailer to go to the horse show and it just means the world to us that she just keeps delivering and keeps getting better and better like fine wine. We treat her like one of the family and she is – she’s the queen.”

Lily is so much a part of the family, Caroline says, that even though her mom doesn’t know a thing about horses, “Lily knows when Mom comes into the barn because she gives her treats.  My mom and dad are very special.”

Having a $100,000 trail class, says Blake, means so much because it’s not anything the industry normally experiences.  “Our industry needs to go this way and it’s a blessing Mary Roberts put the money up and said she was going to change the industry.  That is really awesome.”

Results through 15th place: