Like Father, Like Son: First John Simon Foal Wins First World Champion Title in 3-Year-Old Non Pro Western Pleasure

By: Brittany Bevis

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. As Erin Bradshaw loped up aboard I’m Johnny Cash to receive her World Champion title in Non-Pro 3-Year-Old Western Pleasure, the soulful sounds of the country legend’s “Walk The Line” filled the John Justin Arena tonight at the APHA World Championship Show.

It may have seemed like déjà vu, because just the night before, Erin rode a similarly colored tobiano stallion to a World Champion title in Classic Amateur Senior Western Pleasure, John Simon. Not only did both father and son receive World Champion titles here at the APHA World Show, I’m Johnny Cash, aka “Cash,” was the first John Simon foal ever born and is now the first to win a World Champion title.

“This horse is the only three-year-old there is,” Erin says. “His oldest foal crop is two, and this foal was a test breeding. Actually, we raised his mother, and his grandmother was my sister’s walk-trot horse when we were youth kids. It’s kind of neat, because it’s keeping it in the family, because we raised both generations. Cash’s mom is Modeling My Assets by Frozen Assets.”

“This was her first foal, and we have another full sibling on the ground. It was special because I was there the day he was born, and I’ve been there through the whole journey. It meant a lot.”

Erin was very pleased with Cash’s performance this evening saying he definitely takes after his father in both movement and temperament. “It really means a lot to have raised a World Champion,” she says. “I cried! It was amazing. Cash is very honest. You can pull him off the rail, and he isn’t going to go anywhere. He’s just like his dad. He doesn’t spook. He’s the best-minded horse.” She would also like to recognize the hard work and dedication put into this particular horse by her boyfriend, Scott Weiss. “Scott did all the training with Cash,” she says. “He broke him out and did all the work himself. His talent is really recognizable in the show pen; he gets them so broke for everybody else to ride. He’s really worked hard on this horse for me, because he knew I wanted to win something with him.”

“For him to place in the top five in the Classic Amateur Junior Western Pleasure and win the Non Pro Three-Year-Old, I think it will raise the bar a little higher for his babies and get people more on board who might have been a little hesitant because his offspring are just getting started in the show pen.”

Erin touches on the fact that although John is nine years old, he is, for all intensive purposes, still a junior stallion with his oldest foal crop just entering the show pen as two-year-olds. “We bought John as a show horse. A lot of people don’t understand that we didn’t purchase him as a breeding stud. That’s why he got a late start on his breeding, and that’s why there aren’t a lot of his babies in the show pen yet.”

Cash is owned by Erin’s father, Terry Bradshaw. Although he couldn’t be here in person, she feels “he will be completely beside himself!”

The Reserve World Champion in the class was Callie Foster with Imagine Mea Hotrod. Third place was Tim Snapp with Scenery. Fourth place was Joseph Brewer with Good At It. Fifth place was Megan East Hogan with A Jellybean Impulse.

Following the class, the Senior Western Pleasure was won by Jeffrey Gibbs with Lopealicious. The Reserve Champion was Sara Simons with Beyond Sensational. Third place was RJ King with Inthesweetshop. Fourth place was Shannon Gillespie with Seems Like Heaven. Fifth place was Scott Weiss with John Simon.