Kirstin Kutchuk & Babys Got Blue Eyes • Photo by Kristin Pitzer

Reiners Shine at APHA World Championship Show

Citizens of Fort Worth, Texas, were seeing spots at the Will Rogers Memorial Center as the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) World Championship Show kicked off Sept. 20. Horses from many different disciplines were scheduled to compete through Oct. 1. On Sept. 25-27, the reiners stepped into the spotlight.

Kirstin Kutchuk rode David Warner-bred Babys Got Blue Eyes (Spooks Gotta Whiz x One Stylish Chic x Playin Stylish), who is registered in the APHA as I Think I Gotta Whiz, to a 212.5, which gave the duo the Amateur Reining World Championship. Kutchuk praised her 5-year-old mare for her part in winning the title.

“She is my four-legged daughter,” said Kutchuk, of Temecula, California. “I bought her and got diagnosed with cancer shortly after. She went to Shawn Flarida, and Shawn trained her for me for the [National Reining Horse Association] Futurity. I went and showed there as a bald lady.

“I brought her home [afterwards]. I was still pretty sick during that time,” she continued. “I just missed her so much. I really feel like she helped me get whole and healthy again. She’s so special.”

Kutchuk, who boasts lifetime earnings of $83,166, was looking forward to competing with her mare in limited age events next year.

The Reserve Amateur Reining World Championship went to homebred stallion Chics Dig Gunner (Colonels Smoking Gun [Gunner] x Smart Scooter Chic x Smart Chic Olena) and Tracy Higginbottom, of College Station, Texas. The duo scored a 210.5 for the title.

Solid Paint-Bred Reining

Chant For Diamonds (PT) & Ashley Kelkenberg Luffy • Photo by Kristin Pitzer

The solid paint-bred horses class was not very big, but it was packed with talent. Ashley Kelkenberg Luffy showed two horses, Diamonds In My Dreams (PT) and Chant For Diamonds (PT), against Glenn Kaplan and No Wright To Smoke (PT) (Doc N Smoke [PT] x Wright On Racket [PT] x Lenas Wright Stuff [PT]).

The World Championship went to Kelkenberg Luffy and Chant For Diamonds (Like A Diamond [PT] x Doc Otoe Chant x Doc Otoes Dude) after the duo scored a 214.5. Kelkenberg Luffy and Diamonds In My Dreams took home Reserve. Both horses are owned by Julie Moran, of Cave Creek, Arizona.

Diamonds In My Dreams (Like A Diamond [PT] x Brennas Dream x Magnum Chic Dream) and Kelkenberg Luffy were the 2016 APHA Solid Paint-Bred World Champions, and although the gelding did not defend his title this year, the trainer was happy to see Chant For Diamonds, or “Carson,” get his turn in the limelight.

“He really deserves it. He tries so hard,” Kelkenberg Luffy said. “He’s just such a little pony that sometimes they don’t mark him. I’m really happy that he won.”

She estimated the stallion’s height at a little under 14 hands.

“He just never looks like he’s going very fast because he’s so little,” she added with a laugh.

Kelkenberg Luffy was very happy with both horses’ performances.

“Both of them were really good. Both of them had some good parts,” she said. “I thought Carson really liked this ground. Usually, that’s a hard thing for him. He just stopped really big and tried really hard. We’ve had trouble with him all year long with a little tendon soreness, so for him to come out and just be so good in there was awesome.”

The 8-year-old stallion and Diamonds In My Dreams will both be showing with Moran in the Amateur Solid Paint-Bred.

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