Mount Chestnut teen wins reserve reining championship
FRANKLIN TWP — A 17-year-old from Mount Chestnut climbed on a horse he had never laid eyes on before and rode it to a championship at a national competition last weekend in Oklahoma City.
Brandon Himes captured the varsity intermediate reserve reining championship at the Interscholastic Equestrian Association Western National Finals.
Brandon, like the 12 other riders in his division, had his horse selected for him in a drawing moments before the beginning of the contest, which was held during the National Reining Horse Association Derby.
“There's multiple horse providers that bring their horses. You have a random draw. They let you in a pen. That's when the judging begins,” Brandon said. “We get a pattern and we have to do the pattern.”
He said riding an unfamiliar horse added to the challenge.
“This is the first year I've done reining competitively,” he said.
The contestants had to guide the horses through a series of maneuvers in three minutes.
“There are sliding stops, big fast circles, small slow circles and spins,” Brandon said. “You get one chance. The patterns are different for each person.”
Oklahoma is the farthest from home his love of horses has taken him.
He has been a member of the Grove City Equestrian Team, which is part of the interscholastic association, for three years and he teaches horseback riding to kids his age and younger at Camp Lutherlyn in Prospect.
There are 13,000 students on 1,300 association teams across the country.He has competed in local dressage, trail and ranch riding events and in 4-H shows.Surprisingly, the Himes don't own horses. Brandon said he leases a horse that he rides in local shows.“He has just loved them since he was about 2 years old. We put him in every sport, but he always came back to horses,” said Leanne Himes, Brandon's mother. “He just loves them.”Brandon began taking riding lessons at age 5, and winning the reserve championship shows how far he has come, she said.“You're not allowed to take your own horse. They are provided. You're not allowed on it until you enter the ring,” she said. “It's really a lot harder riding because you've never ridden that horse at all.”Just qualifying for the championship was an accomplishment.Brandon accumulated enough points from four shows to compete in a regional contest. He placed in the top three in the regional event to qualify for the semifinals, where he finished in the top six to qualify for the nationals. He was one of 12 in his class to reach the nationals.Next year, when he will be a senior at Slippery Rock High School, he said he plans to make another run at an interscholastic association title.
