2007 Congress News

Judy Davis and WD Good Fellow Come Out First in the First Hunter Under Saddle Masters
By Carly Williams, Photo courtesy Kirkbride Photography

WD Good Fella stood in a barn for sale for months before Wayne and Judy Davis showed up to look at him during May of this year. “I guess nobody else would go look at a sorrel hunt seat horse by a western pleasure stallion,” Judy Davis said. “But that doesn’t matter to me or Wayne. If the horse has good legs, it doesn’t matter to me what color they are.”

Wayne Davis never intended to buy WD Good Fella (“George”), but fate found the horse. “Wayne actually went to look at a yearling Paint out of the same mare as George. He really liked the Paint, but he kept asking about the sorrel horse next to the Paint,” Judy laughed. “He ended up buying both of them! We will start showing the Paint next year; I think he’s going to be even better than his big brother.”

In Judy’s mind, buying the two-year-old gelding was a no brainer. “We knew he would be our Masters project when we bought him. He was a really good mover and already big enough,” Judy said of her 16.3 hand horse. “On top of all that, he has a great mind. I knew that to show in a maiden class, the horse has to be really tame, especially when coming here with a crowd like the Masters has.

“When I showed him on Friday, I was just so proud of how he behaved. He acted like a horse that had been shown a hundred times. The longer I rode him, the better he got!”

At the end of the class, Judy knew she had a good ride, and that she had placed very well under all four judges, but she wasn’t sure where she would be in the overall placings. “I walked over to Trish Yamber before they read the final placings to congratulate her, because I thought she had won and I was second. I was tickled to be second, and didn’t have any idea that I had won,” Judy laughed. “Then she said she thought we were tied, and I had placed better under the tie breaker judge.”

After Judy and Trish, who are good friends, shared a hug, the placings were announced with Judy and WD Good Fella as the Hunter Under Saddle Masters Champions.

Although Wayne and Judy have already had many offers to buy George, Judy will keep him through next year, if not longer. “When you have a horse that will willingly go into the pen and show like that his first time out, you keep him.

“Besides, Wayne owes me! He sold my favorite horse a few years ago without asking me, so I’m keeping this one for as long as I want!”