Nineteen-year-old Carey Nowacek of San Antonio, Texas, is a breath of fresh air. Respected and loved by many, she's a hard worker who always has a smile on her face and a positive attitude.  You can't help but cheer for her in and out of the show pen. Carey allowed GoHorseShow.com to follow her behind the scenes as she prepared for, and showed in, the Horsemanship finals at the AQHYA World Championship show.

Carey admitted the morning of the horsemanship finals that just getting to the finals this year was no sure thing. “I’ve never made the finals in the horsemanship before. This was my sixth year trying!” It took three attempts with her current horse, Certify This Chex, also affectionately known as Lugnut.

Despite lack of horsemanship success at the youth world, as the time to compete in the finals approached, Carey seemed as confident as ever. “The day is here and I’m so excited,” she told GoHorseShow.com hours before her class was to begin.

Trainer Brad Jewett has had Carey as a student since she was eight years old. Heading into the finals, he was cautiously optimistic for her. “I’ve had her for over a decade. Her world shows have been a lot of ups and downs. From the beginning, she has always had a great attitude win or lose. She’s very unique that way. She’s competitive as the day is long but she can accept defeat very well. You don’t see that a lot in this business. Hopefully tonight is the pinnacle of all of that. She has waited for it. We’re hoping that we have a happy ending.”

So how do you go from never making the finals to positioning yourself to compete for a trophy? According to Brad, “She comes in here with a lot of momentum. She won all the high points and circuits at the three biggest shows we showed at this summer; the Texas Classic, Redbud and Big A. She is prepared to do it. “

Not only has Carey had success with Lugnut this year, but she credits much of her recent success to being a member of the Texas A&M equestrian team. “Riding for Texas A&M has definitely made me more confident in my riding skills because we had to go ride horses that we’d never even seen before. You ride them for four minutes and then go do a hard pattern. It just built my confidence and made me believe more in my horse than anything else.”

This confidence has helped Carey attack even the most difficult patterns. Although many of her competitors would disagree with her, Carey says, “Tonight’s finals pattern is really fun! You get to go fast and slow and spin and I really like walking in a pattern and you get to start at a walk and show that you have a good walk.” Carey goes on to explain the pattern. “Walk and stop and turn one spin and you lope out on your left lead and you gradually increase to a gallop. I like that because we usually do that anyway because we don’t ‘highya ‘em’ (laughs) sorry, I’m a little South Texas! Gradually increase to a gallop, change leads, slow down to a lope, lope a small circle, change leads in the middle again, lope a large slow circle which is going to feel like it’s forever! Then you stop in the middle again and do 1 ½ turns to the right, extend the trot out, extend the trot a corner, slow to a jog, stop and back up and then you can walk or jog out and we’ll walk out. I like to walk.”

***Click here to see the pattern as drawn and explained by AQHA***

If there was any part that she was concerned about, she did a good job of keeping her game face. “I’m trying to stay positive,” she said. “Lugnut knows the parts, I know what to do. I just have to put them together. He knows what he’s doing and I just have to make sure I’m there for him and ride the whole pattern. That’s the last thing Brad told me today ‘ride your whole pattern.’ I can’t let up at all.”

In a class where rhinestones and bling are traditionally king, Carey dressed in a black starched shirt and explained where its inspiration came from. “The Texas A&M Equestrian team wore this at the Nationals this year. I thought the button-down look would be good in AQHA so in the beginning of the summer Brad and I talked about if I made the finals in the horsemanship that I would wear a black button-down shirt and so here we are!"

Before Carey entered the show pen, Brad explained, “What I’ve told her tonight is just show who you are and what you’re all about to the best of your ability and be confident about it.”

Carey was seventh out of 16 to go. As she performed her pattern to hoots and hollers from the croud, she knew that she had given it all she had. “Lugnut had a little bobble coming across the middle but I still felt great. I started jogging toward the end of my pattern and I was already crying!” confessed Carey. “I usually don’t cry that much but I couldn’t have asked any more of my horse. He was spot on for me and he was amazing.”

After grueling rail work which involved going an entire direction without stirrups, it was time to go to the center and hear her fate. Positioned between best friend Johnna Letchworth and long-time friend, Peyton Bivins in the line up, Carey said that “I knew that I gave it all I had but I didn’t know what the judges were going to do. I didn’t know what they thought of my shirt or how much they were going to hurt me when he tripped so I didn’t know what to think. I just knew he was amazing.”

After calling out thirteen riders, it was down to Carey, Peyton Bivins and friend and barn-mate, Lindsey McMullen who like Carey, had chosen to wear a starched shirt and scarf in the finals instead of the traditional flashy horsemanship outfit. “I looked over and Lindsey was sitting there in a button-down shirt and I thought oh my gosh, I’m wearing a button down shirt too!”

After McMullen received the bronze trophy, Carey recalls that “I was sitting in the middle of the arena with Peyton Bivins and I’ve known her a long time. We’re both from Texas and we just looked at each other and just started to bawl. I have dreamed about this forever.”

Then the moment that Carey has been waiting for her whole life arrived. She was the 2010 AQHYA World Champion. “It’s all a blur!” admits Carey while continuing to cry. “But I do remember thinking that I was going to get bucked off in my victory lap! I am so excited!”

Brad Jewett was at a loss for words immediately following. “I don’t think it has completely set in. It is way better than I ever thought. The whole scenario, having two of the top three in there, it’s awesome.”

Carey never stopped crying as she made her way up the aisle way to the photographer. She navigated through a sea of people there to congratulate her; family and friends to be expected but fellow competitors, their parents and other trainers stopped her as well. She hugged and said thank you to each person. It was obvious that people were genuinely happy for her and she was grateful for each and every one of them.

“That’s the best part of her,” said Brad, fighting back tears. “Her heart. She’s so genuine in everything she does. She’s not fake in any way. If she hadn’t won, she would have come out with the same grace. It means a lot to know that many people support her and encourage her. My wife Stephanie and I think of her as our own daughter. We’ve said that for years. She has been faithful to us and has never made us feel like we weren’t doing our job or that we could do better. She has been very supportive of us and she has helped build our business, no question about it!”

When told that her win brought her stoic trainer to tears, Carey admitted with tears streaming down her face, “It feels really good to have so many people love me and have so much support behind me. I’ve had so many people come up to me and tell me I deserve it. That’s the weirdest thing. I never thought someone would come up to me and tell me I deserve it. That’s a really cool feeling. I’m so happy."

As for that black button down shirt? Carey admitted, “ I guess it kind of worked!” 

Click here to view seven picture slide show of the evening's events.