Harley Huff and GW Jack Bar Win First Gold Trophy in AQHYA Horsemanship

By: Brittany Bevis

How does it feel to win your first World Champion title at the AQHA Youth World Show? For 16-year-old Harley Huff, the feeling can be described in one word. “Amazing.”

“I was the Reserve World Champion last year in Equitation, so I’ve kind of been in that position before, but I was still so nervous,” she says. “I really liked the pattern and my horse was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for any better.”

Huff shows her 12-year-old gelding George (or Jorge if he’s being naughty) under the guidance of John and Jill Briggs of Texas. Following his performance today, we’re sure George will be called by his proper name, at least until tomorrow.

Later on this week, Huff and George will compete in the Equitation Preliminaries with hopes of returning to the top of the pack again this year. The pair also competes in Showmanship and hopes to begin Western Riding very soon. George’s ability to perform an excellent lead change was something Huff planned to accentuate during her pattern.

“We wanted to make sure that I had enough large fast circle and that the lead change was really pretty, because my horse has a really good lead change,” she says. “We wanted to show that off. Also, he has really good turn arounds, so I had to make sure I stopped those perfect and didn’t overturn or under turn.”

When it came down to the final two placings, Huff was joined in the middle of the pen by a fellow Indiana resident and friend Carli Pitts.

“I didn’t want to assume anything or be too excited about it, so I just thought I needed to take it one placing at a time,” she says. “It was really cool because Carli, who got Reserve, is from the same state as me. She lives really close to me in Indiana.”

Now that Huff and George are done for the day, the entire Briggs clan is planning to celebrate with a “Globe Dinner.”

“My aunt, grandma, mom, dad, brother, and John and Jill’s family all came to watch!”

Horsemanship

1- Gw Jack Bar/Harley Huff

2- Hot Lady Born Lopin/Carli Pitts

3- Chex Is The Choice/Natalia DeVencenty

4- Zippos Kat Man Do/Bailey Anderson

5- Zips Bossy Chip/Ellexxah Maxwell

6- Blazinmytroublesaway/Deanna Green

7- Eyed Be In A Jam/Dylan Patterson

8- Al Be Sweet On You/Taylor Searles

9- Midnite Invitatiom/Rachel Tearney

10- Ok Pulse Me/Giorgia Medows