Linda Crothers was once a regular at the AQHA World Championship Show. Then a few years ago, the Marshall, Virginia, trainer decided to take a break from Quarter Horses. However, she readily came back when she received a call for help from her friend Sandy Vaughn.

Sandy had been training 4-year-old IE Sumthing since the Gold Coast ended in January. In March, the AQHA Professional Horseman was out working “Lucky” one late evening.

“It was one of things that I really don’t know what happened,” Sandy said. “I was out riding him, and it was about the time we were feeding. I usually don’t take a horse out after we start feeding. But I was changing leads on him, and I think I was like a bronc rider. The more he bucked, the more I marked him, the more I spurred him trying to stay on. Then finally I decided it’s time to get off and so then I bailed.”

Sandy broke five ribs, punctured a lung, fractured her scapula and did some damage to a knee and groin muscle.

“He’d never done it before and has never done it since. But that’s when we named him Lucky because he’s lucky to be alive. I was so injured I could absolutely murder him for bucking me off,” Sandy said with a smile.

During her recovery, Sandy continued to lunge and work a little with Lucky, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to show him. That’s when she called Linda.

“I was honored to do this for Sandy,” Linda said. “I was really honored to have that opportunity because I had kind of quit doing the Quarter Horses for a while and took a little break.”

But besides the opportunity to show Quarter Horses again, it also provided the chance for Linda to achieve a goal she had never reached before.

“I always wanted a hunter world championship,” she said. “I had the jumpers and both hacks but in hunters I had only won second a couples time. I always wanted the hunters. I love the hunters.”

On November 11, Linda and Lucky passed through the Gateway of Champions hoping to accomplish that dream.

“He just walked into the ring, picked up a nice canter, a nice rhythm and everything came up as I hoped it would,” Linda said. “He was good. Everything just worked.”

Linda was so confident in her horse that as they called out the placings at the end of the class, she was certain they had won.

“It was great to finally win it,” she said with a smile.

Later that evening, Linda came back in the senior working hunter to win another world championship, this time aboard Cheryllee Sargent’s Supremotee For Me.

“I certainly came back with a bang,” Linda said of her World Show wins. “What a way to come back and get two world championships. I can’t believe. It was great.”

Does this mean that Linda will now be a regular again on the Quarter Horse show circuit.

“Probably,” she said. “I had a good run the first time. I think I can have another good run again. We’ll see.”