Saugatuck Student Competes in All American Quarter Horse Congress by Niki McNeil
Estelle McParlan is a freshman this year. She was gone all of last week for a horse racing event in Columbus, Ohio.
Estelle describes the All American Quarter Horse Congress as, “The biggest quarter horse show in the world.” When asked what she was doing at this show she said, “It’s where my horse and I compete in certain events, and we are up against kids from all over the country. My events, or “classes” as we call them, had 60 to 150 people competing for trophies, ribbons, and money!”
Estelle further broke down the idea of what these events were by stating, “Me and my horse ‘Laredo’ competed in many different classes. The age group I competed in for these was 12-14. At the show, the judges place all of the kids, and the top 15 selected get medals. The top ten also get medals, but they also win cash prizes, and the winner gets a trophy, a belt buckle, a ribbon, and money.”
When asked how she placed in her events, Estelle said, “Laredo and I placed in at least the top ten for every class that we competed in. We competed in ten classes. We won 3 classes. The first class I won was the Western riding, where we are provided a pattern and we perform the pattern to the best of our ability. The next class we won is called ‘hunter under saddle,' where we ride our horses around the arena, they call for us to walk, trot, and canter. The judges judge the horse, its movement, and the way the rider presents it. The last class I won was equitation. In this class the judges provide a pattern, we perform the pattern, and it’s judged by the talent of the rider to guide the horse through the pattern.” At the end of the show Laredo and I earned 2,500 dollars in total, and we ended up high point. This means that I got the most points in my age division, winning a saddle and a trophy.”
With these wins under her belt, Estelle is excited to continue moving forward and improving in her classes. She can’t wait for her next competition.
Estelle describes the All American Quarter Horse Congress as, “The biggest quarter horse show in the world.” When asked what she was doing at this show she said, “It’s where my horse and I compete in certain events, and we are up against kids from all over the country. My events, or “classes” as we call them, had 60 to 150 people competing for trophies, ribbons, and money!”
Estelle further broke down the idea of what these events were by stating, “Me and my horse ‘Laredo’ competed in many different classes. The age group I competed in for these was 12-14. At the show, the judges place all of the kids, and the top 15 selected get medals. The top ten also get medals, but they also win cash prizes, and the winner gets a trophy, a belt buckle, a ribbon, and money.”
When asked how she placed in her events, Estelle said, “Laredo and I placed in at least the top ten for every class that we competed in. We competed in ten classes. We won 3 classes. The first class I won was the Western riding, where we are provided a pattern and we perform the pattern to the best of our ability. The next class we won is called ‘hunter under saddle,' where we ride our horses around the arena, they call for us to walk, trot, and canter. The judges judge the horse, its movement, and the way the rider presents it. The last class I won was equitation. In this class the judges provide a pattern, we perform the pattern, and it’s judged by the talent of the rider to guide the horse through the pattern.” At the end of the show Laredo and I earned 2,500 dollars in total, and we ended up high point. This means that I got the most points in my age division, winning a saddle and a trophy.”
With these wins under her belt, Estelle is excited to continue moving forward and improving in her classes. She can’t wait for her next competition.