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ACHA CONGRATULATES: MANDY SCHOENST

    When Mandy Schoenst won the American Cutting Horse Association Open Classic Champion award in 2018 riding Sneak A Smoothie, she may have raised a few eyebrows because she is a woman – and a very young one at that. Nevertheless, by the end of the year, she had accumulated more points than all the familiar trainers showing in that class.
    Yet Schoenst says she did not show in the male-dominated class to make a point. Nor was it out of ego to prove she could do it. Instead, it was because Schoenst had to compete against the professional trainers since she had previously shown horses for another owner. She never really intended to become a trainer, but circumstances put her in a position of riding horses for someone else prior to the 2018 point year.
    “I needed a job,” said Schoenst. Simple as that. She says she started trading and showing horses for other people just to make a living. Although she does not regret showing in an Open class, she says it was “misplaced” because she was still learning how to show at the professional level.
    Most trainers agree that perfecting your showmanship on a young horse usually does not work, but in this case it did. The Open Classic class is restricted to horses that are either five or six years old. Schoenst bought Sneak A Smoothie off of Facebook as a five-year-old in December. The mare is by Smooth As A Cat out of Sneakin Cee by Maxi Lena out of Lynx Melody. Schoenst owned her throughout 2018 and still does.  
    Schoenst is very humble about how she won the championship. She says she simply went to more shows. Of course, the number of shows alone does not win championships. Schoenst steadily progressed in her showmanship skills as the year continued. She obviously has talent, but Schoenst suggests that she would have preferred not to be classified as a trainer if circumstances had been different.
    “I was out of my league as far as knowledge and ability, but it made me grow as a rider,” she says. She credits her competitors and mentors for helping her.
    When the year began, the young lady says she was going too fast and getting in her horse’s way. The struggle was not the mare’s fault according to Schoenst.
    “We didn’t do really wonderful at first. We were doing well to mark a 68,” Schoenst confessed. She added that she never felt she was judged unfairly for being a woman. She credits trainer Lonny Morris with helping her learn how to mark more than a 68. With Morris’s advice and more show experience, the scores began to rise. “Once I slowed down, the mare could do her job.”    
    Another person who receives a lot of credit from Schoenst for helping her is Donnie Shore. Schoenst remembers winning a top ten buckle in the ACHA Youth in 1997 when she was just eight years old. She said that as a child she and her sister never left their horses with a trainer, “but Donnie was always there to help us.” Not only is Donny Shore credited with helping her as an eight-year-old but also for recently pulling her back into the ACHA after her stint with other events and other associations.
    Schoenst is happy to be back. She says she feels like the people in the ACHA are more “friendly and inviting” than in other horse sports and organizations. She hopes to continue cutting because she thinks it is something she can do with her five-year-old daughter as a family activity, and she is positive about the future of the ACHA.
    “If we can maintain our morals as a family organization, it will grow when cutting gets bigger again. If we try to change, we will lose what we have. We just need to stay the same. Let everybody else hang themselves. Then the people who want to go to a weekend show will come here.”
    Schoenst offers a bit of advice to other competitors. She recommends that you not cut corners when buying a horse. In her opinion you should “buy a good horse and enjoy it. It is money well spent.”

Article by:  Raena Wharton

Keeping it in the family!  Ron Wright, one of the Founding Directors of the American Cutting Horse Association, is presented with a commemorative plaque listing the 1985 ACHA Founding Board of Directors by current ACHA President, Mike Combs. Mike's father, George Combs, was also a founding director. Ron Wright's son, Phil Wright, has ridden with Mike Combs since he was in the Youth!

Ron Wright, ACHA Founding Director, presents the Founders Open Trophy to John L. Dublin. John won the $1000 Added Founders Open class at the American West Texas CHA Labor Day Bash in Sweetwater, TX. Pictured left to right:  Alvin Turner - AWTCHA President, John L. Dublin, Ron Wright, Mike Combs - ACHA President.

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