Estes, Rose Reign In Awards At Color Breed Congress Show

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The dreams of a young girl and her horses came true last month when Kelli Stevenson Estes of Lincoln competed at the Color Breed Congress Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In years past Kelli has shown her horses on the local level competing in halter classes and western pleasure. In more recent years Kelli has focused on establishing a breeding program to raise, show and sell performance horses.

Kelli’s love of horses started when she was around twelve years old living on a farm in Buffalo, Missouri, where her parents worked in education. When Kelli and her mom would drive to Springfield to go shopping, the only place she wanted to go was Barnes & Noble. There she would buy the next two books in the “Thoroughbred” series (and usually had them read before she got home).

She purchased her first horse “Misty” from Raymond Lake in Cross Timbers. Misty would join two other horses on the farm – an appaloosa named Joe and a fox trotter named Lady. Joe was purchased from a family member who had ridden Joe for many years on the “Chief Joseph Trail Ride”. Lady was purchased from a friend who showed Fox Trotters. Kelli enjoyed taking both Western and English riding lessons from trainers in the area.

There have been ten horses purchased, sold or born on the farm since the purchase of Misty twenty-five years ago.

There has also been a move to Warsaw, a marriage to Kelly Estes and three boys born to this union. These years have not been without “set-backs”. One of them came when one of the foals (Lilah) was born with a hole in her bladder and had to be taken to MU Vet Hospital for surgery. The next year a mare (Dreamer) she had purchased for her breeding program was injured and also had to go to MU Vet Hospital for treatment. Kelli was not given much hope for this mare’s recovery but Kelli’s determination and dedication to the treatment needed, gave Dreamer hope for a complete recovery. However, because of these back-to-back hospital stays, the breeding program had to be put on hold.

It was about this time that a very successful horse trainer Robin Gollehon, who also judges horse shows all over the country, moved in “two doors down”. Kelli attended one of her clinics and immediately established a working relationship when Kelli offered to take care of the other horses while Robin was gone. This offer would be in exchange for lessons and guidance in the pursuit of her dreams.

After Lyla, her next foal to train and show was Josie. Josie showed promise from the day she was born. She was not only beautiful but she was very sweet and gentle – something Kelli works hard to establish in her program. When Kelli started Josie’s training program Robin encouraged Kelli to get Josie ready for the Color Breed Congress show in Tulsa, Oklahoma that November, 2023. This would be the first time Kelli competed at this level.

Kelli and Josie won the following awards in her first ever world show: 2 Top Ten placings, 2 Top Five placings in the yearling lounge line and In Hand Trail. This past spring Kelli was able to sell Josie completing a very successful show season.

Since Kelli did not have any foals born in the spring of 2023 that meant she would not have a yearling to show in 2024. For that reason, her trainer suggested she “consign” a yearling to train and show that year. After a great deal of searching Kelli found “Rose”- a beautiful filly in the “Cash for Color” program out of Tennessee. After many hours of training and care Kelli and Rose hit it off and prepared for the World Show in November. One month before the competition Kelli came down with pneumonia and was hospitalized. After some complications (an allergic reaction to the antibiotics) Kelli was finally released two weeks before the show. Kelli “pulled up her bootstraps”, got back in the training arena and made the trip to Tulsa.

Kelli and “Rose” took the following places/awards: Champion – Open PtHA Solid In-Hand Trail; Champion – Amateur PtHA Solid In-Hand Trail; Third Place – Amateur PtHA Solid Longe Line; Cash for Color Classes; Champion - Non-Pro In-Hand Trail; Reserve Champion Non-Pro Longe Line; and Ninth in the Open Western Longe Line.

Kelli is now preparing to go pick up her consignment for this year’s training to show in the 2025 World show. Kelli has two mares in foal for spring of 2025 (Dreamer and her first brood mare Bella) so she will finally have her own yearlings for the show in 2026.

This young lady has “come a long way’ from that twelve-year-old who collected and read the Thoroughbred Series in Buffalo. Lilah recovered from her bladder surgery and is going to be Kelli’s next “riding for pleasure” horse. Dreamer is in foal for next spring and Misty is enjoying “the best life” out in the pasture.