LEWISTOWN - There's an old song that goes, "I'm sittin' on top of the world..."
Kaytlin Aurand could be singing that tune.
The Ferguson Valley resident traveled to the World Championship Appaloosa Show in Fort Worth, Texas, with her horse, "Dun Travelling" - barn name "Tigger" - for competition that ended Saturday. She came home a twice world champion and also earned a reserve world championship.
She received world championship trophies in non professional Hunter Hack and non-professional Working Hunter, and a reserve world champion trophy for non-professional Equitation Over Fences. The trophy for High Point Non-Pro Jumping Horse was just icing on the cake.
"It took my breath away," she said of receiving the first world championship. "Tigger gave me an excellent go. I couldn't have asked him to do any better. When they announced that we won, I was ecstatic. I never really, honestly, thought we'd win. But I knew he did well and I thought we'd place.
"The first time, (to receive a world championship) I definitely shed some tears. It was an awesome feeling and I just felt really blessed."
The working hunter class competition came a day later, and with it another world championship.
"The next morning, he did great. I was so proud of Tigger. Last year he didn't even qualify in that class. It was a huge accomplishment for him," she said.
Aurand and Tigger competed in the world Appaloosa show as a novice in 2008 and racked up three top-eight finishes in four classes.
In addition to a 2009 reserve world championship in non professional Hunter Over Fences, she learned that she also had racked up the most points in non-professional jumping horse - "which was a complete surprise for me," Aurand said. This honor consists of a memorial trophy.
Aurand travelled to Fort Worth with Twyla and Teresa Pellman, owners of Four Seasons Equestrian Center near McClure, and their chauffeur, Tony Pellman.
After last year's show, Teresa Pellman had encouraged her to try again, "to come back and redeem yourself," Aurand recalled.
Becoming a world champions is new and "an awesome" feeling, Aurand said, but she is no novice in the championship ring.
Aurand earned her first state championship in the State 4-H Horse Show when she was 9, with the family's pony, "Just Plain Jake," in Western Pleasure Pony, 13 hands and under. During her 4-H career, she also earned state championships in English grooming and showmanship, junior; Pleasure Pairs; Western Pleasure Futurity, 4-year-old; and two county team championships.
Aurand obtained Tigger when he was four - he's 9 this year - and showed him in 4-H for three years, along with the Hilltop Kids Riding Club and some other shows.
The horse initially was trained for a month by Twyla Pellman at Four Seasons, "then I took over," Aurand said. Pellman also gave Aurand regular riding lessons once a week, spring through fall, at the Aurand farm.
The Aurands have a show ring at their farm, Buck Run Farm in Ferguson Valley. It started small, when her older sisters, Jana and Becky, started riding.
"As we got more seriously into riding, Dad let us take up more and more of his field," she said. "We more than doubled the old ring size so we could easily set up the drum courses (for world show training)."
Training for the world show this summer was intensive, especially in the last few weeks.
They set up a lot of different barrels and other obstacles to get the horse used to jumping over things that were strange to him. This included hay bales with sheets or pine boughs on them, "just to make them big and scary," Aurand said.
She worked out with the horse four to five days a week, then gave him a break, although a lot of shows are on Saturdays and Sundays - "Sometimes we'd go on a trail ride and let him relax, instead of working in the ring. I try to let him on his own one or two days a week," she said.
The daughter of Duane and Margie Aurand, she has been riding since age 2 or 3.
She started riding Western in 4-H, turned to English for two years, then to Western gaming for two years and finally returned to English riding.
And she plans to compete next year, probably with her pony, which she described as "a cool little guy" who can do both Western and English.
But to return to the world Appaloosa show, Aurand said, "This was my last year. I'd love to go back, but it's a little costly. And I think I should end on a good note."
Unlike the typical Appaloosa with white spots, "Tigger doesn't have a spot of white on him," Aurand said of her champion horse. "He is three-quarters Thoroughbred and one-fourth Appaloosa, just enough that he can compete in Appaloosa shows."
Aurand is a member of the Appaloosa Horse Club, an international organization that sponsors the world show.
Aurand, 21, is a 2006 graduate of Belleville Mennonite School and works as a dietary aide at Lewistown Hospital. She said she hopes to begin college next year.
