Oakdale teen wins horsemen crown

By ALEXANDRA MAY
BEE STAFF WRITER
October 29, 2004

Sean Daley is not your average 14-year-old.

And he is definitely not going to be the kind of California State Horsemen's Association Junior Ambassador that wins the title and isn't heard from again until the next year's Royalty State Finals.

Not a chance. Not after spending the last four years competing for the ambassador's buckle.

The Oakdale horseman won the title in his last year of eligibility at the competition in Watsonville earlier this month. All four of the 2005 state royalty positions were won by Northern Californians, including Jr. Miss CSHA Jillian Van Tassel of Linden.

When Daley's name was finally called as the new ambassador, all Sean could think was, "Wake me up."

"I was ready to lose, but I was prepared to win," Daley said.

Daley had the highest score in three out of four categories: riding, the interview, and the speech. On the written test, which focuses on horse anatomy and ownership and a tricky section on etiquette, he finished second.

"I didn't know you had so many spoons on the table, dessert spoons, and salad forks," Sean said with a sigh. "Wine glass and water glass …"

Fun for the family

The Junior Ambassador title fits nicely with the Daley family style. The family has always had a collection of horses at its Oakdale home, including a dozen now. Sean's mother, Laura, is executive director of the volunteer-run Hold Your Horses riding center for handicapped children in addition to being her children's homeschool instructor. His father, David, is a member of the Ben Ali shrine mounted patrol.

Sean and his 11-year-old brother, Tyler, volunteer their riding skills with both organizations and are 4H members. Tyler is also Sean's First Squire and the Region 4 Junior Ambassador as his brother's runner-up.

The CSHA, the state's oldest and largest organization devoted to representing the pleasure horse industry and owners of pleasure horses, expects Daley and his fellow winners to be visible and active young representatives.

Sean assures you he doesn't need to be reminded. He has a growing list of appearances and speaking events planned for the first months of his ambassadorship. The most exciting, he says, will be marching with the color guard at this weekend's Grand National Rodeo in San Francisco.

The Grand National will be one place his young cowboy style will blend in.

Sean Daley knows how to dress the part of Junior Ambassador. The big black western hat, with its silver trim over Sean's neatly cut bright red hair, is the first giveaway. Then there's the olive-colored shirt with rectangular brown buttons underneath the tan sports coat and, naturally, cowboy boots. But it's the buckle that announces this isn't just another Oakdale cowboy.

"People look at him in his suit and say, 'What are you all dressed up for?'"Laura said. "Then he talks. He went from being a 10-year-old, shy, couldn't even look you in the eyes ... to being able to talk to anyone."

The eye-catching oversized accessory over his belt was designed to get attention. It's the perfect tool to rope people into a conversation with Sean about the CSHA.

More relaxed this time

In his fourth attempt to win that buckle, Sean felt different, more comfortable competing and, above all, experienced and determined.

And, this time he relaxed, especially on the interview with the judges that included CSHA President Nadette Raymond.

"I was more relaxed this time because I had practice. I made the judges laugh. Do you know how hard that is?" Sean said.

He was the only contestant who couldn't answer the last question: Name the CSHA president who just interviewed you. When Sean blanked on her name and laughed at himself, Raymond had to laugh.

Raymond had judged Sean before. Despite the memory lapse, she was impressed.

"I think he was more affirmative this year, more sure of himself," Raymond said.

The written test has always been his biggest challenge but this time he made it more manageable with regular review and flash cards.

In the riding section designed to demonstrate a rider's control of his horse, royalty contestants show that their knowledge of horses isn't just on paper.

Last year Sean's performance in the riding section was compromised by the death of Anita, the horse he'd ridden since childhood, one month before the competition. He learned to ride Sonny, a friend's horse, in a hurry. This year, Sonny spent a month at the Daleys and Sean rode him twice a day.

It was his speech on the theme of his ideal safari companion — President Bush — that really wowed the competition.

Laura says it was her forcing Sean to recite the speech to anyone at anytime, even a line of strangers at the feed store, that made the difference.

"I'd say drop and give me your speech wherever we were. At first (Sean would say), 'Oh mom!' But then he started seeing the value."

He chose Bush as his ideal "safari buddy" because of all the presidential perks, like first-class travel, personal chefs and photographers.

On stage at the competition he brought out a life-size cardboard photo of Bush so he could put a friendly arm around his "safari buddy."

It was after the speech that the competition folded.

"When I came and sat down with (the three other Junior Ambassador contestants), they said, 'Oh man, Sean! You just won everything! You just won the whole shebang! If we were on a battle field, you just creamed us!'" Sean said. "I just told them, 'Don't count your chickens until they hatch.'"