PG . 16
AQHA FEATURE
excited chattering dialogues that could be heard morning and night , especially in the one and only lift that serviced the whole hotel as they were under renovations ! Each team was allotted a host family who met us at the hotel . Our host family Steve and Mardi who were very welcoming , they supplied us with chairs , tables , eskys and water for our tack room , came to watch the kids ride and compete , and then Steve drove a 6 hour round trip to take Holly , Olivia and myself back to Dallas on the last day .
Arriving at 3pm , to the hotel , with just enough time to get checked in and settled into our rooms , then we were whisked away ( on one of the many ) bus rides to the Brazos Expo to join in on a dinner and dance held by the American AQHYA that also incorporated they YES seminar ( Youth Excellence Seminar ) that was running at the complex at the same time as the clinics were being conducted . Back on the bus at 10pm with a 20 minute ride back to the hotel .
Friday morning we were back on the busses to the Expo for breakfast and the all important Welcome Ceremony and Horse Draw !! Once we received our horse list we headed down to meet our fine steeds . It was HOT , but the barn was well ventilated with each horse , all 180 of them , having their own personal fans blowing on them . There were huge big overhead fans that kept the air moving , but as you can imagine everyone was sweating . Australia had a great bunch of horses , but were soon to discover that only three from the five were ridden horses . One came to us that was only for Showmanship , however the owner soon said that she felt confident that our team would be able to get him ridden , which we did for trail , he was as quirky as the owner had suggested lol ! One of our other horses had sore front feet , so she could only be used for Showmanship , an event she had never done before , so Holly and the team had 10 days to teach her , while also teaching another horse that had never done Showmanship as well . We had an all-rounder college horse , a ranch horse that was also a great all-rounder , and a little reiner / rancher that learned to be a HUS , HSE , Horsemanship as well as doing the ranch classes .
The first two days were filled with HSE , Trail and Horsemanship clinics and free ride time where Holly got to organize her riders and horses . Monday we headed to Steelcreek Ranch where the cutting competition was to be held . The day consisted of clinic 1 and first cutting show , lunch , then clinic 2 and the second cutting show . Olivia receiving a 6th and 4th then Cora receiving 4th then 6th , starting our tally with a great 44 points !
Tuesday was filled with Ranch , Showmanship and Trail clinics and free time , then the Reining horses arrived . Wednesday the first draw for the Reining class , then the first Trail show seeing Cora place 13th , then onto the first reining show which say Clare place 2nd under judge one and 3rd under judge two . Thursday was show one for Showmanship , Charley 2nd and Maddi 9th , HUS Cora 10th and Maddi 5th , and no placings in the HSE . Horsemanship Cora 8th , Maddi 6th and Charley 5th . Then Ranch Riding Cora 2nd , and Maddi 8th .
Friday the second show reining horses were drawn with a reining clinic to follow , then the second reining show where Charley placed 9th and 11th . Then we had the second Trail show where Cora placed 10th and Charley placed 13th .
Saturday was the second show for Showmanship Charley 3rd and Maddie 10th , HUS Cora 15th Chaley 6th Maddi 5th , HSE Charley 2nd ( on our little rancher ) and Maddi 10th . Horsemanship Charley 3rd and Cora 14th . Followed by the last class of the event Ranch with Cora 3rd and Maddi 15th .
Sunday was our Awards Brunch , where we were awarded runner for YWC 2023 . Congratulations goes to Team American for their win , but our Aussies certainly made them work for the it .