2022 8th Annual Functional Horsemanship Arena Challenge Results

The 8th Annual Functional Horsemanship Arena Challenge concluded on 1 October 2022 with ths year's event saw 25 riders competing across the four competitive divisions of Stockhorse, Open, Intermediate and Novice. This year's event also probably saw the highest level of horsemanship demonstrated as a group.

This event was not an obstacle challenge but evaluation of the horse and rider through a series of tasks, usually 12-15, commesurate with their competitive divisions. Since I design the courses, the things I asks the rider and horse to do are pretty much designed on what I consider important, hat I try get sorted out on my horses.... control of the front and back end (8 foot turn around box and switch back pole bending for example) and responsiveness (lead departures, leg yields for example). The judges are also evaluating softness.  Photo above right is Don Carpenter, who won last year's Stockhorse Division.  Don is a retired rancher from Arizona and competes in Team Roping and day works on a couple local ranches.  

In this year's Stockhorse Division, I placed four roping dummies inside a circle. The riders were required to through a head or heel loop on the dummy depending upon the color of the roping dummy staying outside the circle. The dummies were placed to make the required shot a little bit difficult. This was the best we could do to replicate roping calves out of a rodear. Photo above is Debby Hale from Deer Lake, TX, who the Stockhorse Division, on the basis of her strong showing in the roping and flag work. She was a past winner of the Horsemanship Award and finished second in this year voting. Debby competes in Team Roping and Ranch Sorting events. 

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to host a Challenge this year, so I started late advertising and rounding up support, but several of the usual supporters came through. Tom and Valerie Buchino of Covenant Special Projects donated $200 gift card for the Stockhorse winner and a $100 dinner card for the Open winner. Animal Health International provided items for prizes as well as bulk items as a donation to Perfect Harmony Horse Rescue. Tractor Supply gave three nice prize package, and Eclectic Horseman provided magazines for the rider's bags.

Growth of a horse and rider in many ways come from taking them out of their comfort zone and asking them to do things they may not have done before. Over the years asking riders to back in a serpentine or circle, ide pass over L shaped ground poles, dismount and back their horse on a soft feel, or blindfold their horse and lead him out a gate along with more common tasks have pushed competitors to work on these things in prep for the next year's challenge which increase the riders and their horse's communication. That's kinda the goal    of the whole thing. Photo above is Celeste Hudgens (left) from Santa Teresa, New Mexico won the Open Division. This was her first year competing in this event, however she competes in AQHA, Reining and EXCA events throughout the year.

After the competition, while the riders ate a lunch of brisket tacos, tamales, rice, beans, nachos and desserts provided by my wife, and my niece and her significant other who came in from Phoenix to help, we tallied up the scores as the results were: Stockhorse winner - Debby Hale - Deer Lake, TX; Open winner - Celeste Hudgens, Santa Teresa, NM; Intermediate winner - Paola Talamas; and Novice winner - Mark Schleicher, Carr, Co. Paola also won the Horsemanship Award voted on by the competitors and judges on who best exemplified the best attributes of horsemanship. Photo above is Paola Talamas shown warming up in the round pen. She won the Intermediate Division. She also won the Horsemanship Award, riding a young horse in a snaffle bit.

Sometimes a span of 4 or 5 points separated several riders, but the 2nd through 6th in each Division included: Stockhorse - Don Carpenter, Erin Weich, Celeste Hudgens, Jessica Bailey and Mark Schleicher. Open - Robin Lackey, Eric Weich and Donna Diller; Intermediate - James Utterback, Nikol Endres, Kay Lee, Jessica Bailey and Marianne Bailey. Novice - Dan Bailey, Edith Deleski, Brittany Sanchez and Maryhelen Short. Photo is Mark Schleicher from Carr, Colorado shown in the turn around box. He rode in Stockhorse and Novice, winning the Novice. His horse, Tucker a BLM Mustang just recovered from a 9 month layoff after foundering.

A special thank you to Sara Tyree, guest judge and Vicki Maly who also helped judge the Intermediate and Novice divisions. Both have been mainstays in this annual event. Vicki and Kathy McDaniel also provided desserts. By the time I got to the desert table it was slim pickens. I'll have to fix that next year.