Two Showmanship Wins For Colvin Crew: Courtney Allen and Good As Expected, Jillian Stopperich and Invested Pine Asset

By: Brittany Bevis

The Colvin crew scored two Congress Champion titles in Showmaship classes today at the 2014 All American Quarter Horse Congress. Courtney Allen was named the Congress Champion in Youth Showmanship 15-18 with her horse, Good As Expected. Then, Jillian Stopperich won Youth 11 and Under Showmanship with Invested Pine Asset.

We caught up with both ladies back at their stalls in the Gillian Barn, where trainers Michael Colvin and Clint Ainsworth were hard at work preparing other horses and riders for their upcoming events later today.

“I’ve been showing Jackson for two years now,” Allen says. “He was really green at everything when we first started, but Showmanship was definitely our strong class. Now, we’ve been working on everything else; we do Trail, Horsemanship, and Halter also.”

Allen has been training under the guidance of Colvin and Ainsworth for the past four years. In addition, she is active in the collegiate equestrian arena as a Horsemanship rider for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks Equestrian Team.

Allen has achieved Congress Champion titles in Equitation with her previous horse, Men Only, but this is her first Congress title earned with Jackson.

“I thought Jackson did a really good job at doing all the maneuvers today,” she says. “He was right there with me and wasn’t resistant to anything. I could just tell he was happy about going through it. He was definitely on the same page as me, which I was definitely happy about.”

Also back at the Colvin stalls, taking a break before her next class of the day, was 11-year-old Jillian Stopperich. She and her horse “Ulysses” were named the Congress Champions in 11 and Under Showmanship this morning. This pair has only been a team since March, however they recently attended the AQHYA World Show where they placed fourth in Youth Showmanship and won both the Intermediate and 13 and Under divisions of the class.

Always the perfectionist, Stopperich admits she wasn’t thrilled about her first trot-off departure, but the remainder of the pattern passed her inspection. Still, she didn’t expect to be named the unanimous winner.

“I didn’t expect to get first under all four judges!” she says.

This is Stopperich’s first Congress with Ulysses and her second Congress with Colvin. The pair also competes in Equitation, Horsemanship, Western Pleasure, and Trail. In fact, they have two Equitation classes to compete in this afternoon, and we wish them the very best of luck.

Youth Showmanship 15-18

1-Good As Expected/Courtney Allen

2-HF Lazy Lopin Diva/Madison Thiel

3-A Perfect Pleasure/Sydney Scheckel

4-Zippos Kat Man Do/Bailey Anderson

5-The Gurl Next Door/Sarah Miller

Youth Showmanship 11 and Under-

1-Invested Pine Asset/Jillian Stopperich

2-Vinnys Poco Sam/Jessica Mcallister

3-RL Rumble Man/Jacqueline Potwora

4-Zippo Lightair/Sydnie Ochs

5-Hotroddin Renegade/Jaleesa Caroccio