Jason Martin and Heza Radical Zip Score 240 to Win Senior Western Riding

By: Brittany Bevis

Coming into the Senior Western Riding preliminaries, Jason Martin was leading aboard Heza Radical Zip with a very impressive score of 240. Tonight, he repeated that performance, scoring a 240 for the win for owner, Bonnie Sheren.

Although the duo didn’t break the World Show record of a 242, earned by Charlie Cole and Ima Petite Classic, they came pretty close. However, they did add another notch to Highpoint Performance Horses’ belt with this being the 13th time a horse under the guidance of Jason Martin and Charlie Cole has won the Senior Western Riding at the World Show, in a row. This was also the first time in 25 years that Jason has had only one horse to show in the class.

Jason’s partner for the class tonight was “Troy,” aka “Perfect Pony.” Just a few weeks ago, Jason rode Troy to win Senior Western Riding and Senior Trail at the Quarter Horse Congress. This is the first time Troy has won Western Riding here at the World Show.

“For me, winning Trail was like a blind squirrel finding a nut, really. The last time I won Trail, I think we figured out was in 1997. Western Riding is definitely my favorite class to compete in. As I wind down my career, it will probably be the last class I compete in. I enjoy doing Western Riding, so I will probably do a little less Trail and just have a few for Western Riding.”

Not only is Troy very talented in this particular discipline, Jason describes him as a real sweetheart. “He’s really the kindest horse. I’ve had a lot of great horses. Vital Signs Are Good was a really kind horse as well, but this horse is always happy. It seems like he enjoys what he does.”

The Reserve Champion was Blake Weis with Snap Krackle Pop. Third was Michael Colvin with The Perfect Kryme. Fourth was Blake Weis with Dunit On The Range. Fifth was Charlie Cole with All But Sudden.