A year ago, Vickie Kent of Graceville, Florida, made it back to the showmanship finals of the Bayer Select World Championship Show, but she didn’t get to compete. Her horse, Wonit Ona RV Version, colicked during the night, and Vickie spent much of the rest of the week at the veterinary clinic. This year, Vickie made it back to the showmanship finals where “Version” justified Vickie’s faith by winning the showmanship trophy just two classes after winning the reserve world championship in performance halter geldings. After both wins, Version quietly tasted his gold trophy, his blue ribbon and then tried to blandish treats out of the drug testers, the photographers and unsuspecting passers-by. Meanwhile, Vickie was near tears just thinking about how much her horse has achieved.

Q: Congratulations. How good does it feel to come back after last year?
Vickie: Thank you. You have no idea. It feels wonderful. After almost losing my horse. I had no idea that I could even get to here, much less win the world.

Q: Were you a little superstitious about bringing him back?
Vickie: I was, but I tried to get past it – even coming here. But he has been doing great. He’s done everything that the vet said he would do. He said it would take 12 months to be 100 percent. He’s been 100 percent and he’s doing great. I just had no idea that he would come back and be world champion and reserve world  in the (performance) halter (geldings). He went out there and gave me 100 percent.

Q: How did it feel walking through the gate? Did you think about it? Or push it aside?
Vickie: I didn’t think about it at all. I just went out there and did as good as I could do. He always gives me 100 percent. He’s just got the biggest heart and tries as much as he can. He’s very forgiving of all my mistakes.

Q: You (said earlier that you) promised him cookies. Was that before or after the performance halter?
Vickie: After the performance, because in halter, you always tease them to get their ears up, and then I gave him a little treat, and then after the showmanship I promised him cookies when we got through if he was a good boy, and he was a very good boy.

Q: I heard someone say you’ve had knee surgery. That was a heavy trotting pattern. Was it tough?
Vickie: Actually I just had surgery on my knee. It was arthroscopic surgery on the meniscus. It wasn’t a replacement. I had injections, knee injections, to try to get some cushion between the bone. I have spurs on both of my knees, so I’ve been taking some medications and that’s another thing you try to put out of your mind. You think, “I’m not going to do showmanship any more. It’s too painful!” But that’s another reason I can’t believe that I won that class. It’s a painful class for me … and every time (I) go to a show, (I) look at the showmanship pattern and say, “How much trotting in the showmanship?” That was a very hard pattern when you do trotting and you do turning. Very hard, so I just can’t believe I won it.

Q: What was the most challenging part of the showmanship pattern?
Vickie: The most challenging part was backing up to the judge to hit your mark. Normally, that’s my good set is hitting the mark. Normally, that’s what I’m good at and what I’m bad at is trotting. Robin and Jenny Frid have been working with me and trying to make me stand up and trotting and act like it doesn’t hurt and even if it does, try to do better on my posture. It’s hard to stand up and hold your shoulders straight and trot straight, so they’ve done a remarkable job of making my posture look better. Because you know, when you’re hurting, you tend to bend over and they’ve just done a remarkable job.