Oklahoma- Competition Time!

The day we have all been anxiously awaiting... The AQHYA World Judging Contest! We woke up this morning with butterflies in our stomachs, from excitement and nerves! Our hard work and dedication throughout this summer finally paid off when we stepped into the arena under the bright stadium lights. 

With a pep talk and prayer led by Advisor Mr. Van, the girls were motivated and excited to compete. Not to mention, the turquoise jewelry they proudly sported in honor of Knapp. 

We listened to our favorite pump up songs in the car ride, including the classic "Eye of the Tiger"!

One last team huddle! 

The horses were BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

The team placed 18th overall, and Lauren received 8th place and a medal for Reasons. 

We are so proud to have had the opportunity to compete at such a prestigious contest amongst many talented competitors.  It has truly been a memorable experience that we will always value! 

To celebrate the fun filled day, we dressed up and went to Bricktown for dinner. 

Thank you to everyone who has helped us along this journey to Oklahoma! We are truly blessed and grateful for this opportunity. 

Oklahoma City Day 1- Travel Day

Today we traveled from Sacramento to Oklahoma City! There were lots of fun, memorable moments and many more to come! Here are some photos from the day including reasons in the airport, and selfies with our FFA Advisor Mr. Van! 

Tomorrow we will be exploring Oklahoma City and relaxing before the big competition on Monday! 

We are incredibly excited to be here and couldn't have done it without the support of everyone reading this. THANK YOU!

Reining by the Bay

Last Wednesday and Thursday the girls took a trip to the Silicon Valley to practice at Reining by the Bay! The trip started with a trip to the beach complete with sand crab races, a tour of UCSC and Pizza My Heart!

Then it was off to Palo Alto for the night where our lovely hosts took us out for Frozen Yogurt. At 7:00 we were up and off to Woodside for a day full of excitement at Reining by the Bay! After the show we went to Redwood City to tour Silicon Valley Clean Water with Coach B's dad and learn the science of wastewater treatment.

After the girls got to tour Stanford and see the Facebook headquarters on the way home! 

FIVE more days until we leave for Oklahoma!

Atwater Practice

Last weekend the girls went down to Atwater and stayed at Coach B's parents' house. They judged a class at Krough Ranch and then went to Shawna Dahls' Foundation Quarter Horses in Mariposa and admired her beautiful horses! 

At Shawna's a halter got caught in the tree so Elsa and Lauren decided to take it upon themselves to retrieve it. However they didn't realize they were about to anger a tree... let's just say the tree won.

After that Trish and Elsa got to ride a horse for the first time! Moses and Joe did a great job letting the girls ride and relax! 

 Only FIVE more days until we leave for Oklahoma!

PCQHA Summer Celebration

The girls got EIGHT HOURS of practice at the PCQHA Summer Celebration Show in Rancho Mureitta last Friday! It was a long day, but they got to see classes of halter, western horsemanship, western pleasure, western riding, and reining! They even got exposed to exciting world of cutting! It was just what they needed especially since there is only one month until we leave for Oklahoma! 

The girls are starting to get nervous, so give them some love! If you aren't following us on Facebook yet please do! https://www.facebook.com/wphshorsejudging?fref=ts

Write some words of support and lets get them ready to compete at worlds! The more excited they are the more likely we are to bring home a world title! 

Horse Expo

The team took a trip to Cal Expo in Sacramento for the Horse Expo! We talked to many potential sponsors, and visited many of the booths.

(From left to right) Lauren, Coach B, Elsa, Harper and Trish and the lovely Jill from LMF Feeds!

Cosequin asked Lauren to give a set of reasons in return for a sponsorship! What a deal!

End of Year Banquet

On Wednesday, May 27th, the Woodland Pioneer FFA Chapter held their end of the year awards banquet. The team was recognized as state champions and Briana delivered a wonderful speech about our year. It was a great evening and ceremony!

The team even gave Briana a customized blanket with team pictures!

Brookside Equestrian Park Visit

Today we went to Elk Grove to visit an AQHA Show at Brookside Equestrian Park. We practiced different performance classes, including trail and Hunter Under Saddle. We also worked on tack identification, and Briana taught us about different parts of the saddles and bridles.
It was a fun filled day! We can't wait to visit more barns and shows this summer.

Team Pictures!

From Left to Right: Harper Gray, Lauren Millang, Elsa Naranjo, Trish Tran and Coach Briana Hamamoto. Featuring Harper's horse, Tazz!

We had a fun evening taking team pictures at the arboretum and Willow Creek Horse Park!

May 21

It has been an exciting week! The moment we have all been waiting for...

The Arrival of Our State Championship Bowl!

It was a wonderful day for our team, and memory we will cherish forever!

We received our first major sponsorship from TS&L Seed Company today as well. We would like to thank them for their support and generous donation! 

Thank you to all who have donated on the Go Fund Me Account. The team truly appreciates all of the love and support we receive from our community, friends and family! 

The team will be meeting with the Daily Democrat tomorrow for an interview. Stay tuned for an article! 

Welcome to Our Blog!

Our story begins in 2013, when four girls at Pioneer High School FFA Chapter were first introduced to the horse judging world. We started off with what we like to call "beginners luck"...  placing first at the Chico State Field Day, and placing in the top five of every other contest in the season. With a newfound passion for judging and the creation of a new "FFAmily", we could not wait to see what the future held at the 2014 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo State Finals. Unfortunately, this is where our luck ended. We were disappointed to find that we had not placed at all. With a burst of motivation and determination to bring home more blue ribbons next season, we agreed that this was not the end of Pioneer's Horse Judging Team. We soon began practicing again, in preparation for the next judging season.

We practiced close to 8 hours a week, judged over 150 classes of horses, gave close to 100 sets of reasons, and travelled over 800 miles throughout this season. With hard work, determination, compassion, hours of practice, and the support from our coach, we triumphed as State Champions. 

From Left to Right: Coach Briana, Elsa, Lauren, Harper and Trish

Despite some of the harder times we encountered, we found peace in mind knowing that we were blessed with a guardian angel by our side. Briana Hamamoto, our mentor, best friend and coach, from the Atwater FFA Chapter, was a state champion horse judger in her high school career. She was coached by Beth Knapp Williams, an advisor from Atwater FFA. Beth lead many teams to victories and state titles, but most importantly, left a lasting impact on her students, the FFA chapter, and community. She was an inspiration to many, including Briana and the Pioneer Horse Judging Team. Cancer took Knapp's life at age 31, but her passion and strength will live forever. Our team had discovered a new goal, to win State Finals for our angel Knapp. 

While sitting in the Awards Ceremony at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, we felt confident that we had a chance to place in the top five. We had a solid day of judging, winning the sub categories of Halter Judging and Reasons. The anticipation kept us on the edge of our seats, as we listened to hear the results in the loud auditorium. "And the second place high team goes to....Woodland-Pioneer!" We were proud of our accomplishments, and decided we were ready to come back next year and take home a silver bowl and state championship title. After awards ended and we received our tabulations packet, we had noticed there was a missing score card for one of Harper's classes. Being only 14 points behind the first place team, we knew that if we could find this card, we had a chance of winning it all. We journeyed to the tabulations office and spent hours waiting, as the State Staff searched for the missing score card. The card was soon discovered, with a score of 49 points, allowing us to win the competition by 35 points. It was as if Coach Knapp was watching over us the entire time. 

As this situation was less than ideal, we are very grateful that our team was able to receive a State Championship title. We truly learned the valuable lesson of patience and maturity, and we are thankful for the honor to represent California FFA. As we are now the top horse judging team in the state of California, we qualify for greater opportunities. We plan to travel to Oklahoma City to compete in the American Quarter Horse Youth Association World Show in August. We also plan to complete at the the National FFA Contest in Louisville, Kentucky in October. We will be dedicating our summer to fundraising in hopes to cover the expenses. 

We have created memories that will last a life time, and we are looking forward to what the future holds, with our angel Knapp watching proudly from above.