After finishing third in the 2025 Onondarka Medal Final, presented by CWD, Taylor Morrow returned for the 2026 final knowing what she had to do to get the win, and on Sunday, November 8, at Desert International Horse Park, Morrow got her victory. She topped the prestigious class aboard Qualisy to close out National Sunshine Series 2, presented by Frank & Eileen.
“It means so much to me,” said Morrow. “This is my last year, so it means a lot to me to get to win it and ride it on such a special horse. He’s so amazing, so it just means the world to me.”
Taylor Morrow will receive a brand-new CWD saddle as the winner of the 2026 Onondarka Medal Final. Photo by High Desert Sport Photo
For more than 60 years, the Onondarka Medal Final has provided riders ages 12 and under with an esteemed equitation final of their own and served as an identifier of talent from an early age. This year, the first round of the class was held on Saturday, November 7, and all 28 entries then returned for round two on Sunday morning. At the conclusion of the second round, the top 12 were invited back for a third round before the field was further narrowed to the top eight for additional testing.
At the end of the day on Saturday, Morrow and Qualisy, owned by Monarch Farms LLC, sat in sixth place.
Taylor Morrow and Qualisy. Photo by High Desert Sport Photo
“The first round, I was a little disappointed with myself,” said Morrow, who trains with Pegasus Show Stable. “I feel like I could have ridden better – just a little more on stride. Going into today, I thought, ‘It’s a new round. The winner from yesterday, they won yesterday, but I can still have a good round today.’ So, I just went in with a fresh mind, and I definitely rewatched my video a lot to see what I could have done better to maybe get a better score.”
The fresh mindset paid off, and by the end of Sunday’s three rounds of competition, Morrow had climbed to the top of the leaderboard, with her test in particular helping her move up the ranks.
Second place went to Jane Aker and Jersey. Photo by High Desert Sport Photo
“The test was super fun,” said Morrow. “There were a lot of inside turn opportunities. I loved getting to do the little rollback to jump number eight and then bending over to jump one from the second round. Then, I feel like the halt and the counter canter was a really good test. I love that because, last year, I moved down from second to third because I had a little ‘tranter’ in my counter canter. It was a really nice kind of redo at it, and I feel like he jumped everything amazing.”
With Morrow taking the win, second place went to Jane Aker aboard her own Jersey. Hadley Cogorno rounded out the top three riding Clarissa Explains It All, owned by Roundup Ranch LLC.
The full group of 2026 Onondarka Medal Final participants. Photo by High Desert Sport Photo
Morrow now next looks forward to contesting more 3’3” equitation classes and continuing to learn and improve with Qualisy and all of her horses.“I just want to be super consistent in the eq, and I really do want to work on getting all my strides and just trusting my horses,” concluded Morrow.
For complete results from the 2026 Onondarka Medal Final, presented by CWD, click here, and to learn more about the class, visit onondarka.com/onondarka-medal-class.