Competing against the best
By Melissa Piche Times Contributor
Photos Courtesy of Alie Chernoff
Alie Chernoff of Strathmore will be demonstrating her riding abilities at the 2023 American Quarter Horse Youth World Cup in Bryan-College Station, Tex. from June 29 to July 8.
Every two years the event hosts 16 nations from around the world to compete for gold medals in various quarter horse competitions ranging from cutting, reining, horsemanship, ranch riding, trail, western riding, hunt seat equitation, hunter under saddle and showmanship.
Members, human and equine, are eager to be back in the saddle (pun intended) as this is the first live event since before the Covid pandemic began. 2018 was the last in-person event and a virtual event was held in 2020 where competitors from 13 counties participated.
Chernoff began competing when she was 13 years old. She got her start with competition when she was involved with 4-H and the passion continued to grow.
This will be Chernoff’s last year that she is eligible for the youth category bringing mixed feelings for the rider as she will be aging up into the adult category.
“I’m excited to be ending this year with being able to go to the Youth Cup,” said the 18-year-old.
She will be competing in team events at this year’s World Cup with team members from Ontario, Saskatchewan, B.C. and Nova Scotia. Chernoff is eager to attend this event as a team because “I’ll get to compete with other girls that love riding as much as I do.”
The three events Chernoff will be competing in are reining, cutting and ranch riding.
“I’m very excited about this one (World Cup Championship) because I get to compete in two other events that I normally don’t get to compete in,” she said.
Having never competed in cutting before, she has been getting extra training in order to be fully prepared.
What makes this competition different from others is that the athletes will be riding horses that they haven’t been able to ride before. All teams get drawn a set of five horses that they will ride for each event making it a true example of the riders abilities.
For more information and to follow along on Chernoff’s journey, as the event will be live streamed online (www.aqha.com/disciplines/showing/shows/championship-shows/youth-world).