Sabrina Janis – From Fringe and Sparkles to Breeches and Boots

Click here to read the complete article
68 – May/June, 2017

BY ALISON FOSTER

WESTERN GIRL TRADES FRINGE AND SPARKLES FOR BREECHES AND BOOTS!

It has been just over twelve hours since seventeen-year-old Sabrina Janis left the dry, desert warmth of Scottsdale, Arizona to return home to the frigid winter of Massachusetts. She just spent two weeks at the Arizona Sun Circuit showing three horses in four events. While Janis is exhausted after the long days of hard work and travel, the tenor of her voice tells a different story. She sings the praises of her two Western horses, but it is the retelling of her Hunter Under Saddle performance that rings of confidence, sheer delight, and barely-restrained excitement.

Janis is a Western enthusiast who particularly loves competing in Trail and Western Riding. In more than seven years of showing Quarter Horses, she has only shown in the English events a handful of times. Only a few months ago, she decided to throw her leg over a new horse, sit in an unfamiliar style of saddle, and walk into a new event against the highest caliber of competition. The decision to begin showing in the English discipline was a daunting one, and it required Janis to step out of her riding comfort zone and embrace a new challenge rife with unfamiliar difficulties. After mere months riding in breeches and tall boots rather than fringe and rhinestones, Janis won the Novice Youth Hunter Under Saddle class and placed in the top tier of the youth classes at the highly competitive Sun Circuit.

“Showing in Hunter Under Saddle was so much fun,” she says. “My mare was fabulous the whole time. I was just so proud of her. Showing in that class and competing so well against such talented horses after only a limited number of months together was such a confidence booster. The whole experience brought me such a sense of accomplishment!”

This was only Janis’s fourth time showing her mare, Raise Ur Bid, known around the barn as “Rachel,” and only the tenth time she has shown in Hunter Under Saddle during her entire show career. Though the process of transitioning from Western to English has been full of the ups and downs that come from learning new skills – especially on a young horse – she’s beginning to feel at home in an English saddle. “What’s amazing to me is how comfortable I am starting to feel showing Rachel. It sounds crazy for someone with such a Western background. I have been forced to work harder and be more focused than ever before, but I’m truly learning to love it.” Janis is quick to credit both her horse and her trainers, David Miller and Scott Jones of Showstring, with helping her face the challenges of this transition. “It has been the right combination of horse and trainers. Rachel really is the perfect mare for me. She has an amazing personality and is so solid in the pen for a young mare doing the English events. She fits my riding style almost perfectly and makes me feel comfortable when I’m on her back. I can feel us clicking, and I hope that one day we will be seamless together,” Sabrina says.

Click here to read the complete article
68 – May/June, 2017