Robinett chases down elusive AQHA world championship

Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Brazil native Robin Robinett recently won her first-ever AQHA world championship in Oklahoma City.
Contributed photo/Larry Morse

Since the age of five, Brazil native Robin Robinett has been showing horses.

It’s become a lifelong passion of hers, and she’s been quite successful in her multiple decades in the industry.

Robinett has won dozens upon dozens of American Paint Horse championships during her showing career, but has come up empty in the championship category in the American Quarter Horse Association.

That streak came to an end during the middle week of the three-week AQHA World Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that ended Friday night.

Robinett led TB Forever Cool to win Amateur Weanling Geldings.

To say she was excited about reaching the AQHA championship mountaintop was an understatement.

“I’ve won probably over 50 APHA championships throughout the years, but it was my first Quarter Horse championship. I haven’t been showing quarter horses as long as I’ve been showing the other breed, but it’s always been the award that’s eluded me,” said Robinett. “I’ve gotten a silver and a few bronzes, but I’ve never received that ultimate gold. In the year of strangeness, it was very – I’m still trying to find the words because it’s an emotion that’s extremely hard to put into words. Not very many people get to win those, so to have the support team. And trust me, it takes a village. It’s more than a team. There’s the veterinarians, there’s the chiropractors, there’s your horse trainer, the assistant horse trainer, the stall cleaner, the person that fixes the food in the crockpot every day. It’s a village. It’s a small town to do this, so I feel very blessed and fortunate to accomplish that this year.”

Due to COVID, it was the first time TB Forever Cool, who is known as ‘JJ’ in the barn, had the opportunity to show in 2020.

Because of that, and with him being as young as he is, Robinett was thrilled with the way he handled himself in Oklahoma City.

“The horse showing industry was totally different this year. There are shows all over the United States, and even the world, every weekend. With COVID, a lot of those shows were canceled. A lot of the horses that were exhibited at the Paint World Show and the Quarter World Show, including mine that I had there, this was their first out. It’s like a freshman on a college basketball team and their first time playing. But you’re dealing with an animal that can weight anywhere from a baby at 700 pounds to an aged horse that can weigh 1,500 to 2,000 pounds. You don’t really know how they’re going to react to the crowd or the noise or the atmosphere because it can get a little intense. There’s a lot of nerves and a lot of anxiety and they can feel that. COVID has really, let’s just say, everyone that was at the Paint World Show and the Quarter World Show, everybody felt very blessed and fortunate just to be at an event where we could socialize even via distancing.

“For a baby, and he is a baby because he was born on Feb. 15 of this year, so he is quite young. So, for a baby to stay at their upper game for that period of time, because just like [human] babies, they change from week to week and day to day. They grow, they might get sick or they might get a cold or they might not feel good that day. So, for that to happen to this particular baby and for him to stay at the top of his game, even though it’s a short period of time, we were pretty fortunate.”

Playing it cool in his first time out may not be all that surprising considering the breeding program he comes from.

TB Forever Cool won Amateur Weanling Geldings at the AQHA World Championships in Oklahoma City.
Contributed photo/Larry Morse

You see, the TB in his name stands for Terry Bradshaw, the Hall of Fame quarterback that led the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowls.

“The TB stands for Terry Bradshaw. Terry Bradshaw is huge in the American Quarter Horse Association. This is actually one of the horses that came from his breeding program,” explained Robinett. “He was not there because of COVID, but he does come normally come every single year. He and Tammy are huge in the [AQHA]. They’re just good people. They’re very normal, talk to everybody, don’t come across as some super stars.”

The genes he has certainly didn’t hurt, but the gelding by Very Cool and out of a My Intentions mare from Jason Smith, had his coat shining under the stadium lighting, while calmly handling the pressure that came with five judges separately walking around him for more than an hour. All were key reasons he and Robinett headed back east with a championship trophy in hand.

“In our industry, he’s very pretty. He’s what they call a bay, which is a dark brown – and that’s a very, very striking color. They have to be shiny and pretty, but there’s a lot more to it. He’s very balanced,” said Robinett of JJ. “When you show an animal, you want them to have a tight body and you want their ears forward and alert and really focused on showing to the best of their ability, just like a dog show. There are five judges out there and each judge has to walk around that animal at separate times. And each time, that animal has to be showing to the best of their ability. The classes can take up to close to an hour and that can be hard on those babies to stand at attention for that long.”

So, once she got that elusive AQHA championship, how did she celebrate?

“It was a late night, so we grabbed some Cane’s chicken and went to bed. It wasn’t really exciting,” said Robinett with a laugh.

She did, however, celebrate later on in the week when there was more time to enjoy everything.

“We did go out an celebrate when we had an early night. We went out as a group and celebrated several wins and had a nice dinner,” she said.

The indescribable feeling of chasing down her first American Quarter House championship still hadn’t fully set in as of Saturday afternoon, Robinett admitted.

People were still congratulating her on her accomplishment as she was leaving the fairgrounds Friday evening.

Because of COVID, she said she wasn’t sure when the next time she would have the opportunity to show as there were multiple cancellations for the upcoming week.

“As of right now, we don’t have anything [coming up] because they’ve actually canceled a couple of Turkey Circuits which are over Thanksgiving. With everything going on, it’s all kind of up in the air,” explained Robinett.

But regardless, in the strangest year of her showing career, she accomplished something she had been seeking for so long, putting a positive capper on 2020.

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