Rough Beginnings

April and George’s venture into the show pen was by no means an easy one. George, who came to the barn out of shape and only working occasionally as a kids’ lesson horse, had never really been shown before, and April was a rookie in the arena herself.

“My first show was a disaster,” April laughed. “I had no steering in the hunter under saddle—I’m pretty sure I ran into multiple people in my first class—and then the icing on the cake was George sticking his head way up in the air. As I was walking to the lineup in that class, I was pretty certain I could never show my face at another horse show again.”

The rest of the year continued to be a struggle. Every time April seemed to fix a problem at home with George, another problem would arise as soon as they stepped foot in the show pen. It also became a mental struggle for April when she was constantly competing against riders who had years of experience and could afford the horses she could only dream of riding.

“I kept thinking to myself I can’t do this,” she shared. “I started riding and showing horses when I was in high school, which seemed like a super late start compared to the girls who literally grew up competing on the Quarter Horse circuit. And I would work so hard on something at home only to get to a horse show and have it all fall apart.”

It wasn’t until April started practicing showmanship at home that she found an event that she seemed to click with George in. Of course, that journey wasn’t an easy one, either. One of the first times April went into the showmanship pen, George dropped his shoulder on a square corner, tripping April, who immediately fell in the dirt.

“I got up and finished my pattern but once again was so embarrassed,” she shared. “I remember trying to avoid eye contact with everyone as I walked out the end gate and rushed back to the stalls.” some people, it meant so much more to April. It meant that she and George were finally coming together as a team. And as they grew as a team, they started to include new events to their lineup, like the horsemanship.

A few placings here and there turned into consistent top 10 placings, and April finally found herself at her first major horse show—The 2012 AQHA Level 1 Championships held at the Southpoint Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“This was our first huge horse show,” April explained. “At this point I still dealt with the internal struggle of comparing myself to the level of she could trust in the show pen. She was also starting to become a confident and experienced showman. Around that same time, the duo went from not being able to get a single point to earning so many points in the showmanship, they could no longer compete in the novice division and had to head into the amateur division.

“I knew we had to step up in the amateur division. It was really intimidating at first. I had a taste of success in the novice youth division, but I was now competing against my idols,” she shared. “I wanted to win and decided I wasn’t going to let our limitations hold us back. I decided that we were going to do this, we were going to be competitive in this division.”

It was that moment April finally realized she and George belonged in the horse-show world.

“When April stepped up into the amateur division her mindset finally started to shift,” Dana shared. “She realized she had everything those other riders showing had, and she became really determined to not just compete against them but beat them. She started putting in even more hours at the barn and would just keep working on something until it was finally where she wanted it.”

The team’s hard work paid off, and April says one of the best moments of her show career didn’t happen in the arena, it happened right afterward.

“I had just finished my pattern and George was really good. We ended up doing really well in both the level 2 and level 3 divisions,” she said. “I was walking back to the stalls when my mom and Dana approached me and told me I qualified for the AQHA World Show.”

Nationally qualifying for such a prestigious event seemed so out of reach for April just a few short years prior, but she had finally made it and wasn’t going to take this opportunity for granted.

At the beginning of her riding career, April’s only goal was to get to a horse show. Even if it meant taking a