For most people who take a hiatus from showing horses, there’s a bit of a learning curve. A period of adjustment is often needed for the changes that may have occurred in each discipline. But that’s not the case for amateur competitor Tom Clopp, of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Clopp, who enjoyed a successful youth and amateur career in the pen had not competed for nearly 10 years when his former coach and longtime friend, Jenny Jordan Frid, reached out to him to invite him to a birthday party for Texas trainer Bruce Vickery.

“I have been good friends with Bruce Vickery for years,” Clopp said. “I hadn’t seen him a long time, and Jenny told me I should come down for his surprise birthday party. To make a long story short, seeing everyone and talking about showing gave me the itch. A month later Bruce and Anthony called me and said we found you a horse to get you started back up. The rest is history.”

Clopp purchased Lazy Illusion (Deion), a 2013 bay gelding by Lazy Loper and out of the well-known Certain Illusion, just before the March To The Arch Show Circuit and they hit the ground running. Since then they have been competing in Showmanship, Western Pleasure and the occasional Horsemanship class, with the help of Vickery, Kayla Kohler and Amanda Jackson.

“We have had some awesome results,” Clopp said. “I have been the circuit Champion at every major circuit I have shown at. I also won the Level 2 Showmanship Circuit Championship at the Big A. That was a huge accomplishment for me, as it is my favorite class. I was also the All-Around High Point at the Big A and Stars and Stripes.”

Then, at the National Snaffle Bit Association’s World Championship Show and Breeders Championship Futurity, Clopp and Deion claimed a Reserve Championship in Novice Amateur Western Pleasure; placed fourth in Novice Amateur Showmanship and 15th in Novice Amateur Horsemanship (out of 42 entries), earning the title of All-Around Novice Amateur Champions.

“Deion is quite possibly the most chill and easy horse I have ever been around,” Clopp said. “I think if Deion was a person, he would live in Colorado.”

Clopp is enthusiastic about his return to competition and about continuing to grow together with Deion as a team.

“My goal is to try hard at everything I do and be satisfied with the outcomes,” he said.

His favorite class (by far) is Showmanship.

“As a young kid, my horses were not great movers,” he explained. “They weren’t bred to do the events I wanted to do. In Showmanship, however, I was always able to be competitive. I think that was the foundation of why I love it so much to this day. You don’t have to have the best horse to be able to win.”

As a child, Clopp had neighbors with a few horses that were always out in the pasture.

“I dreamed of having one myself,” he recalled. “I would sneak down and get on their backs and try to ride. I wouldn’t be that brave now. Once I got caught doing that and begged enough, my parents built a small stable and we each had a horse and trail rode mainly. They got me involved in 4-H and once I showed a few times, I was hooked.”

Clopp started off showing a borrowed pony by the name of Cocoa, who now belongs to his sister-in-law, and then Give Em A Thrill, a 1993 APGHA gelding by Dressed To Thrill.

He bought Zip’s Last Two Cents (KC), an AQHA chestnut gelding by Zips Chocolate Chip from Troy Oakley with the intention of sending him to Robin Frid to compete in all-around events.

“Robin told me to take him home a while and get to know him. He eventually sent KC to Texas from Pennsylvania, where he lived at the time. That October they traveled to Columbus, Ohio to compete (for Tom’s first time) at the 2009 Quarter Horse Congress.

“Amanda Gately was working for Robin and they must have worked their tails off,” Clopp said. “I had never shown at the Congress, it was my first show ever with the Frid crew.”

But that didn’t stop them from earning a Reserve Championship in Novice Amateur Western Pleasure and placing fifth in Novice Amateur Horsemanship.

Clopp and KC returned in 2010 to claim a Congress Championship in Novice Amateur Horsemanship.

“I am still shocked that they were able to do so much with me in so little time,” Clopp said. “Robin, Jenny and Mandy really formed my foundation for showing at a national level.”

In the years to follow, Clopp also showed Ima Custom Cruzer and Clearly A Good Bar, both AQHA geldings, placing in the top five at NSBA World Shows, before deciding to take a break.

Born in Warren, Pennsylvania, Clopp earned an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Youngstown State University in Ohio. He works as a corporate account director for Medline Industries, a privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies.

“I am a skin health specialist, so basically, I sell wound care products for wounds that won’t heal,” Clopp explained. “I work with all of the large corporate groups of nursing homes, home healths, hospices and long-term acute care hospitals. The job has come in handy, and those that know me, call to help when one of their horses get injured. I have healed a lot of wounds.”

Amateur Profiles are part of InStride Edition’s editorial content. If you know someone who would make a good subject for an amateur profile email Corrine Borton, Editor, at: CorrineBorton@InStrideEdition.com.