Angela Ryan and Flawless winning the Champion of Champions

The Redbud Spectacular is back and it’s better then ever.

Held at the Oklahoma State Fair Arena May,29 – June,8. Entries and stalls are up from last year, the sun is shinning and the competition is fierce. Judges for the week include Kim Myers, Jeff Allen, Terry Thompson, Jennifer Leckey, Ronnie Casper, Ronald Stratton, Dolly Chayer, Ed Dingledine, Jason Hershberger, Jeff Chapman, Jeff Petska, Luke Jones, Bob Johnson, Jessica Gilliam, Jennifer Thompson, Ann Pennington, Kim Hall, Nancy Alto Renfro, Beckey Schooler, Steven Cooper, Gary Duffy, Jay Mullen, Clint Haverty, Doug Milholland, Kristen Lilley, Roger Brazeau and Ray Conrad.

With three days of competition in each event and each class triple judged it’s great chance for everyone to get points. The show staff went above and beyond to make sure the awards this year at the Redbud really stood out. Circuit Champion awards for every class were wood director chairs and for the Open, 13 & Under, 14-18, Amateur and Amateur Select all around awards were Blue Ribbon Saddles, for the Novice Youth, Novice Amateur and Small Fry All-Around awards were a Shortys Custom Hat and for the Open Roper and Open Amateur Roper were Jody Ramer Saddles.

Roping, Barrel Racing and Pole Bending Classes got the show off to a strong start in the outdoor arena on Thursday, May 29 while Western Pleasure, Horsemanship, Hunter Under Saddle and Equitation classes were held in the Coliseum. The patterns for the Horsemanship, Showmanship and Equation included full of spins, lead changes and lots of transitions that really challenged each rider. The Trail course were designed by the one and only Tim the Trail Man Kimura.

The show staff at the Redbud is like no other.  They are easy to work with and went above and beyond to make sure every exhibitor felt welcomed from start to finish at the show. Staff members made sure all classes ran smoothly and were done by 7 each evening, just in time to go to dinner.

Jerry Wells Memorial Halter Futurity

The sixth annual Jerry Wells Memorial Halter Futurity was held on May 31, with $30,000 in added money in addition to many other generous awards from sponsors like trophies, Shorty’s Hattery hat cans, futurity medals and gift cards. Steve and Kathy Headley of Bloomington, Indiana generously donated $10,000 as Platinum Sponsors of the show.

Overall, there was an increase in participation in the 13 classes, which included Yearling Stallions, Mares and Geldings and All-Age Youth Mares and Gelding classes. New for this year was the addition of divisions, limited open and select to the yearling classes offered.

The yearling classes were judged by World Conformation Horse Association judge, Russ Smith of Whitesboro, Texas and newly approved WCHA Jerri Harmon of Decatur, Mississippi in the youth division. The winners of all the yearling classes were asked to return for the Best of Show, which paid an additional $1000.That was judged by Russ Smith as well as a randomly selected WCHA judge from the audience, Jason Smith of Whitesboro, Texas.

This year the Best of Show title was awarded to Angela Ryan of Tomball, Texas with her yearling mare, Flawless by My Intention out of Imagine Me In First bred Jim and Georgia Snow.

“It was my first time to attend the futurity and we had a blast,” Ryan says. “We saw a lot of people we have not seen in a long time and it was a great experience for my grandson to show at as well. I hope there is continued support of the event in the future and added participation because it was really a nice, well-run event. It was also great to see WCHA judges out there judging the event.”

Another big winner at this year’s show was Lonn and Kathy Smallwood of Pilot Point, Texas and their home-bred yearling stallion, Valentino by The Top Secret out of Innocent Touch. Valentino was the winner in all three divisions of the event, non-pro, select and limited open shown by Lonn.

” I think it was a great idea to have three divisions of the event to get more people to attend the event,” says WCHA judge Kathy Smallwood. ” I think a lot of people appreciated the addition of the limited-open classes. It was a great opportunity and people felt like they could win the prize money offered.”

Progressive Dinner

A tradition that everyone looks forward to at the Redbud is the Progressive Dinner, which is held on Tuesday June, 3. The progressive dinner is a big pot luck dinner where each barn is in charge of supplying food. You walk from barn aisle to barn aisle visiting with friends and eating till you can’t eat any more. It’s definitely a perfect time to relax with friends and enjoy amazing food after a busy day of showing. The Second Annual Dog show was held during the Progressive Dinner and it definitely kept everyone entertained. The dog show offered something for every dog out there. They had the best trick, best costume, prettiest dog, ugliest dog, look-a-like, dog race and high jump. The dog show had trophies and ribbons for all classes. 100 Tickets were sold for $100.00 each to win a brand golf cart. The ticket was drawn at the progressive dinner and the big winner of the golf cart was Shorty Koger of Shorty’s Caboy Hattery.

To see a live feed from the Redbud visit:  http://www.iequine.com/events/2014/05/oqha-redbud-spectacular/video_feeds/performance-arena

Click here for a schedule of events: http://okqha.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Official-Redbud-Schedule-on-Excel.pdf

Check here for results of the show as they become available: http://www.mane-events.com/Redbud.aspx

Click here for candids from this year’s show courtesy of Courtney Archer