Carli Pitts and her trainers/parents, Brad and Vicki of Evansville, Indiana, believe that it’s bad luck to change barn names on a horse. So when they bought RL A Sudden Escort after the All American Quarter Horse Congress last year, they knew he’d keep the nickname “Bo.” And sure enough, he brought them plenty of good luck – and a gold world champion's trophy on Friday, August 7. Carli, 13, and Bo, 6, topped the 88-entry performance halter geldings class at the 2009 Ford AQHYA World Championship Show. As the announcer began calling placings, starting with the lowest ones, Carli said, “I was just thinking, ‘I hope it’s not me, I hope it’s not me.’ And then once they got to third place, I was like, ‘OK I don’t care what I get now.’ I ended up getting first, so it was amazing.” The pair has earned a youth performance Register of Merit, with points mostly in horsemanship, and they now compete in showmanship and performance halter geldings. 

Q. What appeals to you about performance halter?

Carli: It gives other people that have really nice horses, but they don’t have halter horses, (a chance to) still do well.

Q. What’s Bo’s personality like?

Carli: He can sometimes have an attitude. I mean, everybody does, I guess. He’s really like a person. He loves all kinds of food. He is hungry all the time; he likes to sleep.

Q. So when you go back to the stall, he’s a new world champion, what’s he going to get to eat?

Carli: He’s probably going to get a lot of mints and maybe some carrots if we have any. He’ll like that.

Q. And what will you and your parents do to celebrate?

Carli: We’ll probably go out to eat. We love to eat, you know.

Q. Mints and carrots?

Carli: (laughs) Yeah. We’ll probably go out to eat and just hang out with my family, because my grandparents are here also.

Q. Have you been to the Ford Youth World before?

Carli: Yeah, I was here last year and the year before that.

Q. And were you able to place those years?

Carli: No, we did really well, but we didn’t get anything.

Q. So how does it feel to be a first-time world champion?

Carli: I can’t even describe it.

Q. Is there anybody you’d like to thank?

Carli: My parents, of course. And my trainers – they’re the same people. And my sister (Bailey), she has helped me a lot, practicing the halter and everything. And all my friends at the horse shows; they’ve always said, “Do your best.” And all my friends at school; they’ve been supportive. Basically, everybody that has said “Good job.”

Q. So how many people have congratulated you since you left the arena?

Carli: Oh, I don’t even know. Since I came out of the arena to (the Journal interview area), every single person that I’ve passed has said “Congratulations.”

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Carli plans to show Bo at Congress and, if he isn’t sold, she’ll then hand the horse’s lead shank over to her brother, Dominick, which should make a cute sight. “He’s 8, so he’s really small,” Carli says.