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2008 AQHA YOUTH WORLD CUP YOUTH WORLD CUP TEAM CHAMPIONS BY TONYA RATLIFF-GARRISON AND CHRISTINE HAMILTON, FIELD EDITORS
CHAMPION TEAM UNITED STATES Team United States won another Youth World Cup, but it wasn't easy. The team came into Sunday's final show two points behind Team Germany. But with several placings, the team pulled out the win, scoring 185 points. Top U.S. rider was Cara Walker with 68 points. She had a win day one in hunter under saddle and seconds in day-one competion of hunt seat equitation and day-two in showmanship. She placed second in horsemanship on both days. The next high-point rider was T. Joe Jean with 40 points, coming in first in both days of western pleasure and in one of the cutting shows. Marissa Dalton wasn't far behind, earning 38 points. She had firsts in both days of showmanship and the second day of horsemanship. With the team stll overjoyed and showing off their new champion belt buckle, the Journal caught up with the team's coach, AQHA Pro Horseman Nancy Cahill, to ask her about the youth she's spent the last two years with to prepare them for the 2008 Youth World Cup. Tell me about this year’s team. They are outstanding individuals, character-wise and talent-wise. Is this one of the best teams you’ve coached? You know what, they are all so good it’s hard to separate them and every year you think this one’s better but then think back. I told them the day they came here -- which they couldn’t understand because they had never been here and I’d been doing this for 20 years -- that they could do magic. They believe me now. What kind of challenges did your team have to overcome for Youth World Cup? We had several challenges because one of our horses was very hard to keep sound. We worked on her and basically rode her stone cold out of the stall hoping she would make it through, and she pulled through for us. And we had some mistakes in some patterns. A little bit of nerves the first day. Like I say, this is 20 years worth for me and one time for them. Then they settled in and made horses better than they were. They should be really proud. These kids have been working towards this event for two years. What does this win mean for them? This win and these buckle are the exclamation point at the end of a very long sentence. Now these kids who are 12 years old and such, this is a goal now. They actually know about it. It’s super. How many U.S. teams have you coached? I’ve done them all since 1988 except for one and my daughter got married the year when they went to Australia (2004). I had to go to her deal instead. Are you going to be sad to see these kids go? It’s a tear-jerking night. You have no idea. The thank you note they just wrote me, I couldn't read for about an hour. I had to let them go away from me first so I could read it. They are just wonderful kids raised by wonderful parents. When will you start putting together the next U.S. Team for the 2010 Youth World Cup? I need to take a nap first and then we’ll start thinking about it. RESERVE CHAMPION TEAM GERMANY Team Germany is going home with a hard-won reserve championship in the 2008 AQHA Youth World Cup competition, with a combined 142-point total team points. Carolin Lenz’s accomplishments included wins in both trail classes and seconds in western pleasure, cutting and western riding. Felix Schnabel won the reining under both judges and had two top 10s in western pleasure. In fact, Team Germany had one or more riders in the top 10 in every class but showmanship and one hunt seat equitation class. As the disc jockey started the music for the post-awards banquet dance, The Journal interviewed the German coaches, Maik Bartmann and Sylvia Jaeckle. Sylvia has been a professional trainer for more than 20 years and holds judges' cards with AQHA, National Snaffle Bit Association and National Reining Horse Association. Maik trains reining horses and cow horses and is a judge with both AQHA and NRHA. These two are no strangers to the Youth World Cup – they were the coaches in 1996 when Team Germany won the overall title. What are you most proud of with this team? Sylvia: How the team worked together, how they performed, how they worked with the horses. And how they were a team – I really was proud. What challenges did you have to overcome as a team to get here? Maik: (He laughed.) The biggest challenge we had was our overweight luggage that we had to bring over. Sylvia: We had 36 pieces of luggage. Maik: It was something like 600 pounds, pretty close. How long have you been preparing for the competition? Maik: Actually, we didn’t have a whole lot of time because the (Deutsche Quarter Horse) Association made the decision a little late on the coaching. We had, if I remember right, the two of us, in January (2008) we invited almost every DQHA youth member in Germany to come to something like a testing. And then we picked the best of them. Then we had, like, five or six weekends left to get the team ready. Sylvia: They had to fill out (an application) where we asked them questions, like how much show experience they had, what classes they rode, if they were used to riding different horses. They sent those back. Then we picked 30 out of the 90 that we invited for the weekend. Maik: We had them perform patterns. It was like we simulated a horse show situation with all different classes. Sylvia: They had to bring their own horse and they swapped horses around, because I think it’s very important to see how they get along with different horses. Was it difficult to get the team together to practice? Sylvia: Yes, because we have kids from the south of Germany and from the very north. It was kind of a problem, when they have school, to get them together to work. Maik: But we were really lucky with the training at different places – at training stables and breeding stables all over Germany – they really supported us big-time, like donating horses for the training with the kids. What strengths did you feel like you had, coming here? Maik: We knew that we had strong riders. In (our monthly training clinics), we always had them ride horses that they didn’t know. But, the Youth World Cup has its own rules, and we were pretty lucky with the (horse) draw here. We knew if we drew good horses we had the right riders to show them. When you drew your horses for this competition, how did you go about deciding who would ride what, etc.? Sylvia: We had some information about the horses from the horse owners. Since we didn’t know the horses, I just had them ride to see what they could do. You can just see it, you know what the kids like and you see the horses. We didn’t change too much around, really. What else would you like the American Quarter Horse world to know about your team? Sylvia: It was so much fun to work with this team. It was a smaller group, so they really bonded. They are friends with each other and they just have been a great team. Maik: I wish we could take the whole bunch back again in two years. Sylvia and I did the same thing back in 1996 when the Youth World Cup was held in Flagstaff, (Arizona), and we ended up winning the overall. It was so much fun back then, so it didn’t take us very long when (DQHA) asked us to decide to do it again. From the kids that we started with at the very first testing, there is a nice group of young kids coming as well. We’ll see what we’re going to do in two years. Go to the results page for the team point totals and stories.
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Check out a recap of all the AQHA World Championship Shows!
2007 FORD AQHYA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW
2007 BAYER SELECT AQHA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW
2007 AQHA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW
2008 FORT DODGE VERSATILITY RANCH HORSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
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