Queen's Page
Hi Everyone!
I’m Veronica ‘Roni’ Hay and I am honored to announce that 2009 was my first year representing the Connecticut Quarter Horse Association (CQHA) at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in the Congress Queen Contest. Every year, young women between the ages of 18 and 25 compete for the title of ‘Congress Queen’ at the largest single-breed horse show in the world. The competition is intense; the winner not only earning the title and duties of representing at major shows across the country during her reign, but also receiving numerous gifts, including a trailer.
This year, 19 intelligent, articulate young women representing their respective QH associations traveled to Columbus, Ohio to compete. A lot of planning and effort goes into preparing for the competition. As an ambassador of the world of Quarter Horses, the Queen is expected to be not only an accomplished horsewoman, but eloquent, knowledgeable, and friendly as well. Three distinct portions of the competition are aimed at evaluating these qualities.
The first portion of the contest is an oral interview conducted by three judges unaffiliated with horses in any way. The second portion, the written test on the AQHA Handbook of Rules & Regulations is detailed and aimed at determining the contestant’s verbatim knowledge of the rulebook. Everything from AQHA’s phone number to the spacing of cones in a western riding pattern appears on the test. The interview and written test
are each worth 40% of the total score. The final portion– a western horsemanship pattern– is worth the remaining 20% of the total score.
When we were not competing, we spent our time thanking vendors for their support, talking with visitors, and handing out class awards. As a part of the experience, Queen contestants also aid in fundraising for the Shirley Bowman Breast Cancer Nutrition Clinic by selling raffle tickets for a unique pair of Lagrange boots and participating in a style show.
The culmination of the contest is the crowning and awards ceremony. I am proud to report that I placed in both the oral interview and the written test for an overall ranking of sixth– a great honor, especially while most girls have been preparing for over a year I have only been preparing since late September! Congratulations to new Congress Queen Ashley Cooke from Ontario, Canada.
The Congress Queen Contest was an amazingly rewarding experience. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to compete. It was an immense honor to represent CQHA. I know that I could not have done it without all of the generous help and support of many. Thank you to Falls Creek Farm for donating a stall for my raffle, thank you to CQHA for helping to finance my journey, thank you to everyone who helped me, and a huge thanks for all the encouragement, love, and support everyone has given me!
Sincerely,
Roni
