Emily Simonson
Many youth dream of competing successfully at a Regional show, but MAHA Youth member Emily Simonson brought her own dream to life at Region X this year. You may recognize Emily's name as she is a frequent contributor to the Leader and active youth member. Emily's Region X 2005 success story began this spring. Emily and her parents determined "Baby" the mare she had been showing for several years was not going to be competitive on the class A circuit, despite the fact they adored the mare and had achieved great success in 4-H and WSCA shows with her.
The Simonson's searched for a new mount and settled on Elusive Fantacy or "Lucy" whom they purchased from Debbie Treadwell in March. Emily embarked upon putting many hours into working with "Lucy" to bring her up to show potential. Lucy had not been shown since she was a junior horse and had since given birth to three foals.
Since "Lucy" was last shown as a junior horse the biggest challenge Emily faced was moving the mare into a curb bit. When Emily first began practicing using the curb, the mare responded by throwing her head in defiance. The Simonson's had "Lucy's" teeth floated to be sure this was not the cause of the problems and then began working "Lucy" everyday in a very mild curb with a very gentle hand. Emily's determination and gentle approach worked wonders, it seemed that once "Lucy" realized she could trust her new rider she advanced very quickly. After having to scratch classes at Sarah Sands and the Youth Round Up, Emily decided to take "Lucy" to a few WSCA shows for practice. The Simonson's felt these WSCA shows were a lot of fun and good practice, plus Emily received many compliments on the beautiful Arabian she was showing! After these shows, "Lucy" was ready for the A circuit and was shown at Madison and Rice Lake and qualified to compete at Region X.
Emily and her parents decided to attend the Regional show even though they were not working with a trainer and had never shown at a Regional show before, if nothing else they thought it would be a fun learning experience. However, Emily was quickly met with success. Emily and "Lucy" were named Region X Champions in Horsemanship, Reserve Champions in Western Pleasure JOTR and JTR, and Top Five in Showmanship, all in the 13 & under age division. As Emily and "Lucy" will only continue to improve as time goes on Emily has set a new goal for 2006 - to compete at Youth and Canadian Nationals!