Trail

A win worth waiting for

by Christine Hamilton
The American Quarter Horse Journal

With 159 entries, trail was one of the biggest classes at the 2012 Built Ford Tough AQHYA World Championship Show. To get to the finals, riders had to make it through the prelims and a “shootout” round – 21 made it back.

And Tim “The Trail Man” Kimura had a tough pattern waiting for them August 8.

“The biggest challenge was all the high poles; it was like a hunter hack class out there!” said Taylor Brown of Strathmore, California.

She and her gelding Just Hit Town were 13th in the go, and they watched several riders struggle through the pattern: “The high poles were getting everybody.”

On top of that, Just Hit Town was feeling fresh: “He was a little crazy this morning, so we didn’t really go over any poles. He was a little high energy. I was very surprised at the outcome of our pattern.”

But their pattern was good and Taylor was “very surprised.”

She explained: “I was just really happy with him. He was picking up his feet. We hit one pole and that was it. It was really awesome.”

The judges thought so, too, scoring it a 222.5; Taylor had won her first Ford Youth World championship

Taylor got the 20-year-old gelding from her aunt, when Taylor was just 13.

“I just wanted to start showing again, I had stopped showing for about six years,” she said. “I just got back into it. I have loved him ever since; we’ve just clicked. We had a great year.

It’s her fifth time to show at the Ford Youth World. When the Journal caught her for her Winning Run interview, the win still hadn’t really sunk in yet: “It’s pretty unreal!” Taylor said.

“I’m most proud of him. Trail is our main thing; he loves it; he’s great at it. He’s like the old man – he’s 20 years old and he can fix issues I have and I can fix his issues we get along great. It has clicked from the beginning.”

Taylor’s family, parents Mitch and Liz Brown, sister, Lauren, and brother, Ryan, were all on hand to cheer her on, as was her best friend, Allie Henry. Taylor especially thanked her trainer, AQHA Professional Horseman Kellie Hinely of Ontario, California.

As for her showing plans now?

“Come back and do it again next year! It was amazing and I’m so happy it happened.”