Trish O'Connor wins a trip to World Quarter-horse show

By Ken Johnston
Editor

Trish O’Connor of Rainy River almost missed entering a competition to become a Quarter-horse Jockey but it is a good thing she entered because she won!
O’Connor, 19, has been around horses her entire life and often reads newsletters from different organizations, including the American Quarter-Horse Association (AQHA). This spring she read about a contest to become a jockey, but not the kind that rides horses. Rather it is much like a disc-jockey or video-jockey.
She had to do a video audition and send it to AQHA. “But I almost didn’t get entered in time. I thought the deadline was Monday and I was away at work. It was actually Friday.” She contacted them and explained her confusion and they let her enter late.
Of all the entries the top five were selected. Then it was up to the public to vote for the best two. Last Monday Trish was called and told that she was one of the two winners! The prize is an all expense paid trip to the AQHA Youth World Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Aug. 1-9th. While there Trish and the other winner will be reporters for the event, interviewing and covering all aspects of the show.
The competitors at the show come from all over the world. They compete at the local level in barrel racing, pole bending, stake racing, jumping, tie-down roping, etc. Earning points the top competitors compete upwards until they get to the worlds. While Trish has never been a quarter-horse competitor, she has done a lot of retraining of horses and has a quarter-horse of her own.
“I am very excited to be going and doing this,” she said Friday. Every day her work will be posted for all to see on the web at aqha.com.
She flies out of Winnipeg on July 31st and will have all her expenses covered. She is really grateful to all who voted for her here and abroad. She wasn’t really confident that she would be able to get enough votes to win, but credits a line on Facebook for getting the ball rolling really fast.
Trish and her co-winner will also be joined by a group of other young people called junior journalists. They will be doing all the written news coverage of the event. “It will be a great learning experience. I can’t wait!”
I addition to the media experience she is also really excited to be going to see some of the best quarter-horses in the world.
“They have also told me that they are really excited to have someone from Canada coming to do this, this year.” The other winner is from the U.S.