Sonoita teen Addie Tomlinson and her mare Smooth Cat Voo (Barbie) continue to make progress in the world of quarter horse competitions.
February 14 to March 1 saw the duo in Ft. Worth, Texas at the Kalpowar Quarter Horses Celebration of Champions, where Addie competed in both youth and open events.
Addie’s first event was the Non Pro Bridle class, open to both youth and adults. There were 98 entries in the class. Addie qualified in the top ten, advancing her to the finals where she won fifth place.
In her second event, Youth Cow Horse, Addie qualified for the finals and placed 13th out of 89 total entries.
“The big event was the World’s Greatest Youth Horseman,” said Kristin Tomlinson, Addie’s mother. “In order to qualify, you had to compete in four separate events: herd work (cutting), reining, fence work (cow work down the fence) and steer stopping. All four of those scores combined for a composite score. Addie qualified in fifth place. The top 12 advanced to the finals.”
In this event each contestant got one last down-the-fence run with the cow, which tacked on some extra points for the final score.
“[Addie’s] cow basically just stopped when she was ending the run,” Kristin said. “No fault of her own, just a dud of a cow. Nothing you can do, her score was not great. With that, she ended the event in eighth in the world.”
Coming in eighth was still a great accomplishment, as the top-12 finish qualified Addie for The Run for a Million, a competition to be held in August in Las Vegas. “This was huge for Addie!” Kristin said.
With Addie’s latest achievements, Sonoita maintains its record of producing talented horsemen and horsewomen along with prize-winning quarter horses, putting this small community on the map as a nationally recognized area for quality bred quarter horses.