A St. Mary Grade 12 student is now in the Top 10 in the world in her class after competing in the American Quarter Horse World Championships earlier this month.
Lilly Artemenko placed eighth in the youth ranch horse versatility category, riding her horse Peppy at the spring championship in Houston, Texas March 17-20.
Ranch horse versatility is a six-part event that mixes conformation, cow work, cutting, reigning, riding and trail work. It’s designed to test riders in most of the day-to-day activities they’ll encounter on a farm.
Riders and horses not only have to be perfect in their presentation, but must master pattern circling patterns, cow control, gate transitions, stop-and-go riding, and an obstacle course with bridges and logs.
The event is also meant to test a rider’s connection to their horse, she said.
“You have to have a bond for it to work properly,” she said.
“I’ve been riding [my horse Peppy] for probably a year now and he’s mended to me and how I cue. We work pretty well together. He knows what I’m asking.”
Though competition at the international championship is fierce, she had been in preparation since finding out she was eligible in January, practicing daily to help Peppy overcome his stage fright and to help the animal bond more closely with her.
“I knew that my horse liked to spook. He’s quite tricky to ride so I just needed to work on keeping him quiet and slow so I could get him to manoeuvre and transition,” she explained.
“You have to be able to trust your horse when you ask him to do something. If they trust you, they’ll still be scared, but they’ll walk through believing that you’re not going to hurt them. They have to have their own feel for the arena to trust you and do what you say.”
Artemenko competed in several categories throughout three days of competition in Houston. She placed ninth in ranch conformation, a measurement of horse balance and presentation, tenth in ranch trail, third in riding and eighth in cow work, cutting and reigning.
Though she had some difficulty in cow work, the showing leaves her eighth in the international rankings established by the competition.
“It didn’t go my way because I had never done the circling, but it was a really cool opportunity,” Artemenko said. “It was always a goal of mine to go to the world show.”
With the championship now over, Artemenko, and Peppy, are looking forward to a well-deserved break before the summer rodeo season, but each competition, she said, is a chance to grow as an athlete and a person.
“He’ll get a little break off and then right back into competition,” Artemenko said.
“It just makes me more confident that whatever work I put in, whatever effort I’ve put in will come out in the end.”
