The All-American Quarter Horse Congress attracts 8,500 horses and 600,000 people to Columbus, Ohio for two-weeks of competition.
Among attending this year's event, held in mid-October, was Yorkton rider Lee Isaacson Sliva."It was the first time I ever had horses good enough to go," she said.
Unlike some major shows, Isaacson Sliva said, "you don't have to earn points to go to this show," but she still wasn't making the trip without a horse she felt was good enough to truly be competitive among the thousands attending, adding she feels she has "been around long enough" to know when a horse is that little extra special to compete on such a major stage.
"I don't think I'm barn blind, just because it is in my barn I think it's good enough," she explained.Isaacson Sliva's experience is actually quite deep in spite of 小蓝视频 just past 30.
"I've been on the quarter horse circuit 10-years, but I've been showing since I was 10, so that makes it 21-years," she said.
Isaacson Sliva rides in the Hunter Under Saddle class.
"Basically the horse has to be very big, very graceful and has to be very quiet," she said, adding the horses are judged as if they'll be going over jumps eventually."
She noted few actually ever progress to equestrian jumping though.
To get the size and scale the judges seek Isaacson Sliva said both her horses are actually mixed blood horses. Her gelding is three-quarters thoroughbred, and the mare she rode in Ohio is half thoroughbred.
Among all the exhibitors at the Congress Isaacson Sliva said she believes she was the only Saskatchewan competitor.
"I'm pretty sure when they read out my name in was the first time they read out Saskatchewan," she said.
The reason few horses make the trip for there is simply one of distance, reasoned Isaacson Sliva.
"It's so far to go. If we had to drive straight through it would have been 25-hours," she said, adding "that's why it goes back to having a horse good enough to go."
When it comes to the showring Isaacson Sliva is something of a road warrior, racking up a lot of miles attending events.
"This year I went to a lot of shows; 15 I'd guess," she said, adding those shows took across the three Prairie provinces, as well as to Minnesota, North Dakota and Oklahoma, before heading to Ohio.
Isaacson Sliva said the Reichert Celebration in Tulsa, Oklahoma was an excellent training ground for the Congress.
"That's a pretty prestigious show," she said, adding her results in Oklahoma gave her the confidence for Columbus. "Both of my horses did very well."
The highlight of the Congress for Isaacson Sliva came aboard Too Hot To Duplicate, a four-year-old gelding she purchased this summer after seeing him at a show in Oklahoma. She said people talk about knowing a mate on first sight, and that was the way it was with the horse they simply call 'Stretch'.
"I said to my mom we have to have that horse. He was so beautiful. He has a big floating stride," she said, adding they actually "left the show without him."
Isaacson Sliva added her Mom has always been there with her.
"I think she kind of lives vicariously through me. Sometimes I think she's on the back of the saddle riding with me," she said, adding without the support of her parents and husband she couldn't show horses as she does.
As for Stretch, Isaacson Sliva couldn't get the gelding out of her head, and while expecting she could not afford the horse made the call to his trainer, and was surprised to find him for sale at a price she could live with.
The purchase proved a good one as Stretch qualified for the show final at the Congress out of 90 entries, 78 of which actually attended. With so many entries the class was broken into smaller groups, with the top-three advancing to the final. Stretch, who is trained by Annalise Larson in Minnesota, made the cut.
In the final four judges evaluated the animals.
"It was pretty exciting. He was first on the first judge's card out of the 78," said Isaacson Sliva.The second judge had Stretch fifth, and things were looking very good, but the third judge didn't place Stretch, and the fourth judge had him sitting 10th.
"He ended up sixth
overall," she said. "We came up just a bit short."
Isaacson Sliva said ultimately placings are a matter of opinion.
"You can do all your homework. You can think you have the best horse, but it comes down to four judges' opinions," she said.
Isaacson Sliva's three-year-old mare, BMQ French Kissed, simply called Paris around the barn, was in even tougher competition, with 130 in the class. In a preliminary group of 20, Paris "did not make the cut."
"We were really disappointed. I thought she was on the bubble of making it."
Isaacson Sliva said a show is certainly part luck. In a preliminary cut you could be in with a world champion horse, or a bunch of horses that are really up to Congress standards.
"Fifty per cent of this show is luck, and 50 per cent you've got to have a really good horse," she said.
So where does that leave the rider in the equation.
"Really when you're in the class you've just got to sit there and enjoy the ride. There's not much you can do," said Isaacson Sliva.
While Isaacson Sliva has won championships in the past Stretch's sixth is a riding highlight."You can't compare. It's like a totally different league," she said.
Isaacson Sliva said it is certainly a greater challenge for Canadian horses going to the Congress."We're a little bit geographically challenged," she said. "We're not at the American shows all year, and the quality is a bit better because there's just so many more horses down there."
Isaacson Sliva said the scale of the Congress is near daunting. With more than 8,500 horses entries "it's the biggest show in North America for our breed," adding it is likely the biggest show period noting "quarter horses are the most popular breed.
The showing schedule is also a long and tedious one.
"Being that I had two horses, I was showing every second, or third day, and you have to practice a lot when you're down there," she said.
Since competitions were in the ring from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. each day, practice time was allotted from midnight until 6 a.m., "when you could take your horse in the showring to get them used to that pen."
As a result Isaacson Sliva said she'd go back to her hotel at nine, sleep a few hours, then head back to the Congress in the middle of the night to ride her horses.
The workload with two horses, was "kind of the reason we sold the one we had down there," said Isaacson Sliva, adding after the show the eventual buyer, from Pennsylvania, came up and made an offer because they liked what they saw.
Isaacson Sliva said the sale was not easy.
"I'm still feeling a little bad about it, but it made sense to sell her, and she went to a really good home," she said.
So while Isaacson Sliva sold a mare for good money while at the Congress, she admitted there really aren't big cash prizes to chase.
"It's more about earning the respect of peers and doing well than it is about the money," she said.
And, Isaacson Sliva hopes to continue doing well at the biggest shows in the quarter horse world.
She is already planning a return trip to the Congress in Ohio next fall.
"I'm also going to be getting him (Stretch) qualified for Worlds," she said, explaining the World Championships for the breed at in Oklahoma City in November 2011. "It's not as big as the Congress because you have to qualify for it (earn points at other shows over the year) Your out there with the best of the best."
