A Judge's Perspective: 2018 AQHYA 14-18 Trail World Champion

Some Hot Potential and Emma Brown are golden in 14-18 trail at the #AQHYAWorld.
AQHA Judge Jonathan Meilleur walks us through what it took to be named world champions.
Emma Brown also received a $1,000 scholarship for winning the 14-18 trail world championship. This is the first year that the Dr. David McCarroll Memorial Fund has provided scholarships at the Built Ford Tough AQHYA World Championship Show. #GetThatGlobe

[@donnaarmstrong9029]

This horse and rider are both amazing.

[@theskirtrider]

Amazing! Love her shirt lol!

[@RSbarrelracingoffical-ke6wd]

Beautiful Horse Amazing Rider!! True Horseman

[@theduchess1197]

Beautiful job

[@TheKeksdosee]

Very well ridden! The horse was so attentive to the riders cue, calm and collected. It was beautiful to watch, thanks for uploading! Just a shame there are some people that have to talk negatively without knowing anything about the discipline... Anyways she deserved the title!

[@lspillar551]

This horse is beautiful and the long tail is so pretty!!!

[@danielchristopherson9434]

The lead change at 1:24 tho

[@Pepsithegoat]

Right 😍 it was beautiful

[@maciemajor6988]

Wow!,, so is this mare still for sale, how much and where is she

[@Britty0189]

Macie Major it’s a gelding, this isn’t a sale video, & I’m sure Emma would never sell him.

[@user-rj9ge4hy8t]

Who is this?

[@user-rj9ge4hy8t]

Riders name?

[@bdub78dub90]

Did you +1 the fake tail too.

[@tw_neo708]

Nah, the fake tail at this level is required attire.

[@twoonthewall]

my neighbor is a teenager with severe learning difficulties, is less than 5 feet tall and has reduced balance and coordination, he comes down here a few times per week to ride horses and is planning on doing special Olympics. These are able bodied adults who ride worse and more afraid than him.

[@Britty0189]

What?

[@pughorse1718]

that's amazing I hope he gets his dream

[@bdub78dub90]

Its a shame that trail is now western pleasure trail, absolutely stupid.

[@lazyloperboy301]

You do know that there are two different trail classes. If you like ranch trail compete in that. Why put this down?

[@SarahWRah]

I know it's the trend, but I can't get used to droopy headed horses. What a boring animal to ride, with no spark or animation.

[@comeandsitwithme4417]

Its an AQH their heads are naturally low, not all breeds or horses for that matter like their jaws being crushed into their necks. Some horses find it comfortable, also you cannot make a horse do anything, if that horses didn't like its head being low it would clearly show signs.

[@tw_neo708]

This horse (believe it or not) is collecting itself to refine the gaits that people hate so much. I love riding a nicely collected pleasure horse, as it shows a relaxed and happy horse.

[@jeanierides2232]

Another horse with a fake tail, rider with 10,000.00 in tack and clothes, nice horse trained to be a rocking horse, which cannot do a damn thing outside of an arena. So sad.

[@emilypla9245]

my pleasure horse can do many different things outside of the arena, judging horses that know what they are doing and shown well in the arena with the proper modern look is not sad they enjoy their job.

[@jeanierides2232]

@@emilypla9245 I just bet you tie a fake tail on to ride in mountains and your horse trips over every rock and crevasse oh yeah sure, you can drag a calf to fire, you can pack a deer, oh yeah sure.................

[@ranrachvl]

@@jeanierides2232 why are you being so mean? This is a video of a kid riding in a specific discipline. Can't you say something nice? Not everyone rides in the mountains. So what? Cyber bullying needs to stop.

[@jeanierides2232]

@@ranrachvl I am sad these horses are so abused. It is NOT NATURAL to make a horse move in that gait. The rider is not doing anything natural just sitting also NOT moving it’s so fake. Who on earth came up with this waste of horseflesh? I know the horsey set, we used to call them. Horse show fakes. Put that in your fako pipe and smoke it. Chump

[@bargreiner]

So sad to see the horse move like that...☹️

[@quarterhorseprofection5613]

Like what. Relaxed, collected what's so sad about that

[@just4540]

i’m an eventer and have very limited western experience so these tiny little gaits and quarter horse maneuvers look very uncoMfortable to me but wow it’s beautiful. i’d love to ride such a talented horse. just so different from the quarter horses i ride!

[@tw_neo708]

@@just4540 yeah, it’s definitely a different experience than your typical English horse. Believe it or not, these horses are even collected on this loose of a rein. In order to properly hold themselves and do their jog and lope correctly, they not only need to know where their body is, but they also need to raise their back and collect and be soft in their whole body. It takes years to train these gaits properly on a horse, even one that’s bred for it.

[@hrsnrnd10]

What is with these trail course riders looking like they are flapping their arms or over riding a sitting trot? Is this a new thing because they look absolutely stupid. If they cannot sit the trot...they should be able to lean forward and stay still. Can you imagine what the horse is feeling on his back?

[@tw_neo708]

I hate it too but she is definitely not slamming down on the horse’s back. Another thing might be the saddle. These saddles are somewhat flat and if it has a synthetic or suede seat, it’s difficult to push your seat out with chaps on. Plus, it also does look like this horse is a little choppy in the extended jog, which happens in pleasure classes. We have our bouncy horses too! I’ve had saddleseat riders, polo riders, and dressage riders on my mare and they’ve been unable to sit her collected jog. It really does just depend on the horse.

[@linagladesmith2468]

those spurs are disgusting

[@diary.of.a.equestrian1931]

That type of spur is used on almost all Pleasure type horses. Nothing is wrong or abusive about it

[@linagladesmith2468]

@@diary.of.a.equestrian1931 It doesn't matter if they are used on 1 horse, or 1,000 horses. They can still be abusive. And, by the way, I was just giving my opinion.

[@diary.of.a.equestrian1931]

@@linagladesmith2468 you just can't throw around words like disgusting or abuse for an opinion. They aren't hurting them and they aren't even that big.

[@triplem.equestrian8218]

Lina Gladesmith This horse is my horse's half brother and I have personally seen this horse being trained and shown, there is absolutely no abuse going on in this horse's life. If those spurs were abusive, and the rider was using them wrong, this horse would most definitely not do his job. His bloodlines are known for being easily angered. When horses of these bloodlines get mad, they tend to not work happily or even work at all. This horse is clearly happy doing his job, or it wouldn't be this pretty or smooth. Spurs are meant to be used for the refinement of cues, which is needed for this caliber of horse because they have so many different buttons. I have seen this rider's spurs as well, and they are very mild. Please don't assume.

[@samanthadaly4789]

those kind of spurs are only “abusive” or “disgusting” when they are used incorrectly. if the rider knows how to use them, they’re just a tool to help with precision in cues and maneuvers. this rider is using them very lightly and sparingly, and it definitely pays off well because this horse definitely enjoys his job.