Prime- TimeTALENT

Farley Barbera reaches over to congratulate Teresa Fletcher

after it was announced that Farley and Hot Jazzin Zippo were

the reserve Select world champions in horsemanship. Teresa

won the Select world championship on Lopin On Easy Street.

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B A C K G R O U N D P H O T O :

C H R I S T I N E H A M I L T O N

The 2008 tie-down Select world champion, he overcame abroken ankle in the spring and a surgical repair for a torn tricepsin June to qualify to compete this year. He won the tie-downwith Irish Whiskey Mix after a three-way tie rope-off.

“These guys root for each other. They’re sitting out therewhen you go in, and they congratulate you,” he said of his fellowcompetitors. “And there are smiles on their faces placing 14thand 15th.

“We have fun.”

To comment on the Bayer Select World coverage, write toaqhajrnl@aqha.org.W

WHAT SETS THE BAYER SELECT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW

apart from other shows?You just won’t find more riders in one place who compete

so hard against and who cheer so hard for one another at thesame time.

The 2009 show was no different. In AQHA’s hometown ofAmarillo on August 31 through September 6, the seventhrendition drew 1,217 entries ages 50 and up, battling for 41Select world championship titles.

Select riders often face incredible challenges to get to thisshow, and they appreciate the chance. Take Rodger Coday, anAQHA honorary vice president from Owasso, Oklahoma.

T H E A M E R I C A N Q U A R T E R H O R S E J O U R N A L N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 47

Rodger Coday and Irish Whiskey

Mix won the tie-down roping

Select world championship.

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Terry

Bradshaw showed in his first Bayer

Select World, bringing his homebred filly,

Centrisity, for weanling mares, finishing

fourth. He earned another fourth with

JMK Saucy Sister in aged mares.

You just c

By the Journal staff

Revisit all the Bayer Select World slide shows, feature stories and winning runs atwww.aqha.com/showing/shows/selectshow/index.html, or at the Journal on theRoad blog at americashorsedaily.com.

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Susan Johns of Paradise Valley, Arizona, won the 2009 SoonerTrailer Bayer Select All-Around Amateur award riding her legendarygelding, Majestic Scotch, aka “Dickie.” Trained by AQHAProfessional Horsemen Jim and Deanna Searles, Susan and Dickiewon the western riding, took reserve in western pleasure and werefourth in horsemanship.

“I haven’t won an all-around since I’ve been an amateur, only inmy youth days, and that was quite a long time ago,” Susan saidwith a smile. The daughter of AQHA Past President RobertKieckhefer, Susan and her family have been familiar faces in theAQHA show arena since childhood.

“I just don’t compete in that many classes, so (this) really wasnot expected … This really means a lot to me to win this.”

Susan has owned Dickie since November 2008 and said shefeels blessed to have him.

“I’ve ridden several horses over the years, and each horse hasa different button,” she said. “Just trying to figure out what he likesand what makes him work the best is always a challenge. He trieshis best every time.”

The others in the top-five all-around standings were: ScottMyers and Darn That Kat, Lori Bucholz and Larks Happy Days,Katherine Tobin and Mostly Chocolate, and Kim Blyth and HesAbsolutely Good.

ALL-AROUND ACCOLADES

When Vickie Kent won the 2008 Featherlite all-around amateurhigh-point award with Wonit Ona RV Version, she said her goalfor 2009 was for her and her husband, Ronnie, to win 2009Select world championships.

And it happened. Vickie won the 2009 Select showmanshipworld championship with “Version,” and Ronnie took the Selecttrail title with the gelding’s half-sister, Ill Be RV Radical, aka“BeBe.” The congratulations poured in for the couple fromGraceville, Florida, who work hard to haul and show their familyof homebred horses.

Within a week, it all changed. As the Kents watched helplessly,Version was killed and BeBe critically injured in a trailer accident.They were hauling to their next horse show.

“I would like to thank everybody for their prayers and concerns,”Vickie told the Journal. “We’ve gotten tons of e-mails and calls.”

She added: “I don’t think anyone knew just what a wonderfulhorse (Version) was. He always gave 100 percent, no matterwhat it was. He covered up a lot of my mistakes.

“We won’t give up. Somehow we’ll keep going. It won’t be thesame. You won’t lose us.”

TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY

Vickie Kent and Wonit Ona RVVersion were the Select worldchampions in showmanship.

Chuck Givens of Richmond, Kentucky, swept the top twospots in the Select pole bending finals September 4 withTrue Rancher Doll and French Kiss This. Chuck dedicated hisride to the late Henry Wright, who bred True Rancher Doll.

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Susan Johns and MajesticScotch won the Select worldchampionship in western riding.

“God put the cattle in the right place.”Alan Fletcher, Clarendon, Texas, 2009 Select team penning

world champion

“At my age, anything I can get is good.”Kent Youngblood, Lamesa, Texas, 2009 Select world

champion in breakaway and heeling

“The hats!”Kathy Hunt, Clovis, California, 2009 Select pleasure driving

world champion, on why she started showing in the class.

Karen Evans Mundy’s first year of Select competition was also

her last. The Cedar Hill, Tennessee, horsewoman is giving up her

amateur card to become a professional trainer. On September 5,

she won the hunt seat equitation with her multiple world cham-

pion Ask Me For Details. The next day, she rode The Article in the

hunter hack, her last class in the division, and won.

“It has been a long, tough decision to do this,” Karen said in

her Journal winning run interview. “But I’ve been doing this for

39 years, and I don’t really like the pressure that I put on myself

anymore. I love horses; I love horse shows. And I’ll still be around,

just in a different way.

“I’m actually looking forward to a new challenge: helping other

people to achieve their goals like I did.”

GOING PRO

Karen Evans Mundy and The

Article were the Select world

champions in hunter hack.

Scott Myers, D.V.M., of Sharon

Center, Ohio, took home world

championships in equitation over

fences and jumping at his first

Bayer Select World, riding wife

Leslie’s horse, Darn That Kat.

“Sylvester” also carried their

daughter, Mallory, to a 2009 youth

reserve world championship in

jumping. Scott also serves as an All

American Quarter Horse Congress

tri-chair.

WINNING WORDS

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