Portal resident Amanda Pope is the 2022 American Ranch Horse Association (ARHA) overall open high point champion.
The ARHA is a national association that promotes working ranch horses. The ARHA hosts a number of competitions annually for riders to compete in a variety of classes such as ranch riding, trail, reining, ranchmanship, herd work, and cutting.
The open division is divided into junior horses, those aged five-and-under, and senior horses, those aged six-and-over.
For the competition, Pope rode a five-year-old gelding known as Oscar, whom she owns, and Star Hollywood King, a 10-year-old quarter horse stallion owned by Kippy Godwin.
No other person in the history of the ARHA has accomplished being both the junior and senior horse high point champion in the same year. In the official ARHA Professional High Point Standings, Pope had more than 2,700 points more than her closest competitor.
In addition, Pope also received the Performance Versatility Award, which is given to horses that have earned at least five Registers of Merit.
In college, Pope rode for South Carolina’s equestrian team as a D1 athlete. She also serves as coach of the Flamekissed Equestrian Team. This team is made up of young ladies from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, who compete in the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA).
In April 2022, this team became IEA National Champions in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and many of these young ladies hold individual national champion titles.
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