Individual Hall of Fame:
• Royce Crosby
• Sylvia Haines

Horse Hall of Fame:
• Blazing Hot Spots, 1998 gelding
• I Love Willie, 1983 stallion
• Joker’s Sleepy, 1960 stallion
• Ms High Five, 1986 mare – automatic induction via production record
• Ms Gunsmokes Doll, 1995 mare – automatic induction via production record

Racing Hall of Fame (voted on by ERC):
• Cheryl White
• Nellies Girl, 1975 mare

2011 Hall of Fame inductees will be recognized at the Open Awards banquet in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the 2012 National Show. They will also be recognized in the Appaloosa Journal and the 2011 Yearbook.

Watch the second ten finalists as they compete to earn your vote and their share of the $100,00 in prize money! America’s Favorite Trail Horse will air at 8pm EST on HRTV DISH channel 404. Every episode will be shown FREE on www.actha.tv simultaneously at 8pm EST. Voting starts as soon as the episode is over at 9pm EST and will be open for 48 hours per episode. If you missed any of the episodes, you can still watch it at www.actha.tv

How to VOTE:

Ten horse are showcased in each of the 10 episodes, with one horse chosen
as a winner of each $5000 episode. The 10 winning horses then proceed to
the final round where 3 grand prize winners will be awarded a total of
$50,000. Only one vote per email address per episode and voting starts
after each Tuesday night episode at 8pm EST.

Last week’s winner was Marjorie Chema riding Emmy Lee! (1/2 Spanish Arab
1/2 Oldenburg)

Every Vote counts! Pass the word! Tell us your Favorite!

www.actha.us

Thought you might be interested in meeting “Wolf” (the Appy) who has walked (both packing and being ridden) from Quoddy Point State Park in Maine to Grayland, WA — a 4-year, 4400 mile trip, 20 miles a day! The trip was made in four laps, side-stepping bad weather each year to return home/beginning the next year, as weather allowed, at the point left off the previous year.

My attached photo (the 3 horses and 2 riders) appeared in the Chehalis, WA “Chronicle” on August 18, 2011. Wolf is the only horse of the three pictured who made the entire trip. The blurb which was published with the photo explains all.

Wolf left Maine June 16, 2007 and arrived at the Pacific Ocean on August 21, 2011. Luckily the two long riders did not experience any of Washington’s famous rain while crossing the state. The rain started the day after they completed their journey.

Wolf belongs to Deb Yavorski, who had a life-dream to ride across the USA. She started out with two horses. Her “non-Appy” Walker proved to be too traffic shy to be safe and she next she bought “Mercury”, her Arab. Deb York joined Yavorski in Montana for the final leg of the trip. She borrowed the QH, “Chiquatah”. The two horsewomen met years earlier at a stable where Yavorski worked and York boarded her horse. Both women are from New York. York rode to honor her mother who passed away in 2007 from leukemia. She says she wanted to do something “extraordinary” before she passed from life (and the trip definitely qualifies in that category).

Deb Yavorski is a member of the Long Riders Guild. She plans to write a book about the trip across the country. I came away from several visits with the two women with the idea that no matter what anyone may say, America is a wonderful place – both women told me that people have been “AMAZING”! Additionally, both women firmly believe that ‘God will provide’ and have many stories to illustrate their belief.

As of today, the women have rented a car and plan to see the Olympia coast beach. (Their horses are being boarded and are resting up while the two long riders see some country and visit). Yesterday plans were being made to have a horse hauler pick up the horses for transport back to New York. The QH was loaned to York and is going back to his pasture in Montana and will work on a pack-string. York plans to get hay in as soon as she gets home and get some painting done around the place. Just business as usual! She is thinking about riding the Pacific Crest Trail in two years. Deb York retired from a job as a cable line woman in 2007; Deb Yavorski will return to her two jobs — she works for an inventory company and subs for the post office. Deb Yavorski is 49; Deb York is 57.

http://usefnetwork.com/2011KYCupReining/

$25,000 added money; held at the end of the Five Star Reining competition, CRI5* (Concours de Reining International), the sport’s highest level and held concurrently with the Rolex Three Day Event.
12 competitors including David O’Conner; Totally packed house!
He did the same routine he won App Worlds with – Desparado.

Way to go George…and Joker!

http://www2.tricities.com/news/2011/feb/07/broughton-makes-lifes-journey-back-horse-ar-824790/

At the Dodge Ram $15,000 Invitational Freestyle Reining at the National Western Stock Show in Denver on January 9, the Appaloosa horse was extremely well represented by Mr. Awesome Affair. Mr. Awesome Affair, owned by Highcrest Reiners of Dayton, MT and trained and shown by Eric La Porte of Rocky Mountain, NC, traveled 2,600 miles one way to participate. It most certainly paid off!

This event is always a crowd sell out and one of the more popular ones at the Stock Show. There were 14 participants in this invitation only event. Several were FEI medalists in international reining competitions and had also been at the World Equestrian Games as demonstrators and clinicians. Devin Warren on Bright Little Gun posted a score of 229½ mid-way through the competition. An awesome score to say the least and one most of the audience believed couldn’t be touched.

Mr. Awesome Affair and Eric were second to last to go. He performed the same routine as he did at the 2010 Appaloosa Worlds. The song was “Desperado” and Eric came in with a duster, black hat and scarf over his face. What made it even more dramatic this time was he had been out in the snow storm and walked in dripping snow! He started off with a bridle but soon removed it. Mr. Awesome Affair showed everyone that he could not only spin like a whirlwind but really get down in the dirt when he stopped. After it was all said and done, Eric and his horse scored a 229, blowing the socks off the competition and putting them in 2nd place. He definitely showed the Quarter Horses and Paints the Appaloosa would not be outdone!

The other part of this competition is the People’s Choice Award. This is determined by the audience reaction to each contestant. After the winners are announced each rider is brought forward to be judged by the crowd. Initially Eric tied with Aaron Ralston, who placed 3rd in the competition, and who did his routine bareback with a small bosal to a medley of Christmas music performed by Mannheim Steamroller. Eric was determined to be 2nd in this phase also.

After the competition, Eric and his horse had several people follow him out to the barns to ask questions and take pictures. It was a great day for the Appaloosa!

You can see some photos that I took while on the shoot on my club’s sidesaddle website www.georgialadiesaside.com , both on the blog and on the past events page.

Romeo and I have been partners for almost twelve years, and I have to say he has been the best horse I’ve had in the over twenty-five years I have owned horses. We (Romeo and I) have competed in hunter/jumper, combined training, and dressage shows… in astride saddles and in sidesaddle. We have participated in the ACAAP program for many years, receiving Top Ten in Combined Training and Certificate of Achievements in combined training, over fences and dressage. We have also received many awards at the national and international levels in sidesaddle riding.

For pleasure we enjoy driving, trail rides, hunter paces and parades. We have competed in many parades in Georgia and Kentucky. Our most memorable parade was in a sidesaddle in the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. We also participate in sidesaddle demos throughout Georgia and also at the Kentucky Horse Park once a year. Romeo and I have also volunteered our time with Special Olympics riders and horse shows.

Back to the Vampire Diaries. I was contacted by the film production company who found me through our web site, and who were initially looking for a “side saddle consultant.” This role grew over the next few days as we got closer to the shoot date, to the point where they invited Romeo in for a role with a stunt double for the actress. When I was asked to include Romeo, I knew right away that my Appaloosa could handle it. It was an 18-hour day with the scene being shot at night. There were bright lights, ladders, fog machines, and people coming and going out of the dark woods with video equipment. Romeo did not spook once. He had to canter past “dead bodies” (actors, or course!), a stuffed wolf, and an overturned wagon. He also did many takes where he had to stand completely still as the actress ran away from him. Throughout it all, he delivered a perfect performance, and was quite popular with the cast and film crew.

He was and is the perfect “spokes-horse” for the Appaloosa breed: smart, calm, gentle, and versatile. And I’m so blessed to have him!

Stephanie Hutcherson
President
www.georgialadiesaside.com

Board of Directors
www.americansidesaddleassociation.org

I attended my first Ultimate Cowboy Trail Challenge on Nov 20 & 21 in Bishop, CA. This was going to be my stepping stone to start entering extreme cowboy racing so I went to scope it out. There were 60 riders to run on the qualifying round on Sat with 16 advancing to the finals on Sunday. The age divisions were 2 youth, 2 non-pro and Pro. We had to memorize 29 obstacles within two arenas and out as well. They gave us 9 minutes to complete the course. I did it in 5:45seconds. The end result was that I won the whole darn thing! What a blast! I won the Pro division, my horse,”Dollar” won Top horse, she was the highest point earner for both days, and I won the entire Ultimate Cowboy Trail Challenge and was handed a check for $1,000.00.

I will be joining the EXCR association in Jan and hope to ride in more races throughout the year. I will also be back on the Appy circuit and my goal is to be back at the Worlds in Oct. Please note that this is a solid bay mare, and when I had to give a short bio for the announcer at the challenge I had him say “Dollar is a registered Appaloosa mare which goes to show you that it is in the bloodlines that gets you down the trail, not the color on the butt.” I know our breed wants to be recognized for our color, but perhaps we need to give those solids, who we do allow on our trails and in our arenas, to take center stage once in a while. I own 2 solids and two colored Appaloosas, and they are all my breed of choice!