Weekend Recap From The International With Lauren Stepaniak
EC Blog by: Lauren Stepaniak
Day three of The International started bright and early at 7:00 am with a split pen for Showmanship. Everything ran like clockwork, showing to the first set of judges on one end of the pen and then venturing to the other end to show to the second set. Winners included Jessica Baird with Cool Lookin Lady, Elizabeth Forney with One Hot Big Leaguer, Kaylyn Krutchen with Mister Spontaneous, and Kimberly Bengston with Mac N Zipple.
Immediately following the Showmanship classes, Halter began, which gave Performance Halter horses more time to get prepped up to show, which those of us who show in the Performance Halter can appreciate. Madison Taylor and This Hot Invitation has a great day winning the Youth Performance Halter Geldings under all six cards. Mark Harrell went through the lineups with his money grab bag, which was a huge hit in the very nice 22 head Open Performance Gelding class. Those extra prizes and exhibitor appreciation items are one of the things we have all come to love about The International and Mark Harrell Horse Shows.
The rest of the day has been dedicated to two pens showing with the Trail, Pleasure, and Horsemanship. I have to say one of my favorite classes I have seen this weekend was the Small Fry trail class. It was one of the best Small Fry classes I’ve seen, and some of those kids out showed us adults today! As I watched Elden Fredenburg showed one of my favorite mares, Roses Only. I looked over at the people I was standing with and said, “I hope I get mine shown that good today!” I was trying to do the math, and unfortunately I think those kids will be Amateurs before I graduate up to the Select. After watching them today, I sincerely hoped I would never have to show against them as adults…
Day 4:
Today was the final day of the 2017 International. It was a soggy loading day, but thankfully it was nice and dry inside.
The morning started with Ranch Riding and Reining before moving into Western Riding and Hunt Seat. The numbers held up on this last day and there were some tight all-around races for the coveted Equine Chronicle pages. Congratulations to the winners! They included Some Hot Potential, shown by Judd and Jennifer Paul in the Open, Caroline Fredenburg with Ima Tuff Barpasser in the 13 & under, and Kelly Rauschenbach with Really Sudden in the Amateur.
The schedule made it so everyone could pack up and get home at a decent hour, which we all can appreciate! Thanks again to Kathy Avolt, Mark Harrell, and everyone at Mark Harrell Horse Shows for another great show! We will definitely be back next year!
