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Horsing around
Equestrian event sees record participation
Monday was a lucky day for Mercedes resident Helen Brymer and her horse Rodder.
The equestrian duo was one of the human/horse pairings who walked away with a blue ribbon during the horse show at the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show.
Event organizers said there were a total of 376 entries in 23 different class events.
Brymer, a longtime equestrian and RGV Association member, knew winning her class of 59 entrants wouldn't be easy.
"Not with that many (people)," said Brymer, who along with Rodder took the top spot in the Halter Geldings 4 and Under class. "I've been doing this for years."
Many of the classes evaluated by judge George Betancourt were dominated by young children. All horses were evaluated on consistency in a variety of areas, including jogging, walking and reverse walking. In some classes, contestants were asked to ride around cones and scored on sharpness.
Of the 23 events, there were seven that had at least 20 or more participants, which forced the committee to split the competition into two sections.
"This year has been a tremendous year," Betancourt said. "They've done very good. Some are very competitive and they've improved a lot."
The youngest handler may have been 7-month-old Cutter Tredaway of San Manuel.
Despite only being a toddler, Cutter was riding his horse Tango as if he'd been doing it his entire short life. The blue-eyed Cutter fit right in with the rest of the group, wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, blue jeans and a black cowboy hat while holding a piece of straw in his left-hand strapped to his saddle.
Escorted by his mother, Sharolyn Tredaway, Cutter participated in the Walk and Trot 8 and Under competition.
"He loves to ride," Sharolyn said. "He rides every day at the ranch."
Cutter is no stranger to the spotlight, as he's participated in pageants before. But this marked his first horse show, Sharolyn said.
"The kid is gonna be something else," Sharolyn said of her son, who was fast asleep in his stroller no more than 45 minutes after his moment in the livestock show spotlight.
