BY SHELBY VOHSEN, JUNIOR JOURNALIST
“If it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be riding today,” said Samantha Jostes, 17, of Dyer, Indiana. She was speaking about her former trainer, Brock Haywood.
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| Samantha Jostes, with Classic Gold Pine, has overcome many hardships on her way to Ford Youth World. |
Samantha Jostes got her first horse when she was 8 years old. When she needed help with her horse, she met Brock.
“My horse was kind of crazy,” Samantha said. “We found this young guy about 20 years old at the time, and he started riding her for me. He would do reining maneuvers on her and show me how to do them. Ever since then I’ve been reining.”
This eventually led to a strong bond with Brock. Then something terrible happened.
“Brock had a brain aneurism. He had been in a car accident a year earlier,” Samantha said. “They think that might have been the cause of it.”
With Brock’s untimely death, Samantha promised to do something to honor his life.
From that point on, she vowed to show at the Ford AQHYA World Championship Show and the All American Quarter Horse Congress in reining to honor Brock.
Samantha and her family bought Colonels Sugar Chic as a yearling from Brock’s mother; the mare was the last horse Brock ever bought.
There were times when Samantha didn’t think that she could keep that promise.
“All last year my name was never called,” Samantha remembered. “It was really hard because I wanted to do so well for Brock, that not hearing my name and not placing was tough. There were so many times when I said, ‘What’s the point in going to another show, when I’m not even going to place?’”
However, Samantha fulfilled that promise in 2006, when she showed Colonels Sugar Chic in the reining here at the Ford Youth World.
And this year, Samantha is showing another one of Brock’s old horses, Classic Gold Pine, again in the reining.
“He helped so many people and touched so many lives,” Samantha said.
