Jason Martin and Charlie Cole Take Top Three Spots in Senior Western Riding with Dunit On The Range, Ima Petite Classic, and Heavenly Mac

By: Brittany Bevis

Jason Martin and Charlie Cole of Highpoint Performance Horses are no strangers to laying down record setting runs, and this evening at the 2014 AQHA World Championship Show was certainly no exception. For the tenth consecutive year in a row, either Martin or Cole has won the Senior Western Riding here at the World Show. On top of that, this is the second year in a row that the pair has swept the top three spots in the class.

Following his World Champion finish on Dunit On The Range tonight, Martin has just one thing to say, “I really think we should retire!” he jokes.

The margin separating World Champion Dunit On The Range from the Reserve World Champion horse Ima Petite Classic was only a half a point. Martin and “Rosco” scored a 235.5 and Cole and “Kramer” scored a 235. Then, Martin came in third place on Heavenly Mac with a 233.

“He is six years old, and I think it’s a pretty big deal for a six-year-old to win the Senior Western Riding here,” Martin says. “It’s so hard to be that broke [compared to] all the other senior horses. Just at this show, he’s come to the next level, I think. He’s so slow-legged that the rhythm is so slow, and it really helps your timing, when compared to a quicker moving horse.”

Martin first spotted Rosco at the Quarter Horse Congress as a four-year-old and immediately “fell in love.”

“I saw Judd Paul ride him at the Congress, and I bought him. I showed him here last year, and he was the Reserve World Champion in Junior Western Riding. Then, he got hurt and had a little injury, so he was actually off from January to September. We brought him back and had 30 days to get ready for the Congress.”

Although Rosco was a bit behind in preparation time coming into this year’s World Show, that didn’t seem to stop him from rising to the top of the pack in a very competitive group of horses. While Martin was pleased with his own run, he decided not to watch any of the other competitors ride, so he wasn’t sure how the final placings would shake out.

“I didn’t watch one horse go,” he says. “I love the fact that they don’t call the scores out, because then I can stay in my own zone. When you’re out there, and you start hearing 230+ scores, and you still have to go, it messes with your head.”

Martin’s strategy worked out in the end and rewarded he and horse owner, Jane Humes, with a World Champion finish. In addition, other Highpoint owners like Darcy and Lee Reeve with Ima Petite Classic and Susan Knapp with Heavenly Mac will be going home with their own hardware for respective jobs well done.

“Mac is really coming into his own too,” Martin says. “We had him as a young horse, and the Knapp family bought him. Last year, I was third on him as well, and I won the Congress on him last year. Mac is just coming into his own and is getting known by the judges and the people, and he is being appreciated for his own style. I think that’s what it takes, really.”

Senior Western Riding-

1-Dunit On The Range/Jason Martin

2-Ima Petite Classic/Charlie Cole

3-Heavenly Mac/Jason Martin

4-Lopin For A Chex/Jim Searles

5-Blazinmytroublesaway/Rusty Green

6-Mr Aftershock/Chad Evans

7-Elis A Sleepin/Nancy Alto-Renfro

8-The Immortal/Leslie Lange

9-Cutelicious/Candace Jussen

10-A Potential Asset/Michael Colvin