177 Entries and 8 Hours Later, Terry Cross Wins Senior Trail With Only When Considered

By: Brittany Bevis

177 draws and eight and a half hours later, Terry Cross and Only When Considered were named the Senior Trail Congress Champions. Terry and 13-year-old “Promise” went 49th in the draw, so they had quite a long wait to see if their score of 243.5 would hold up. It did, but the race was close at the very end. Jennifer Paul rode Some Hot Potential to come in Reserve, just a half point shy of the leader’s position.

“I checked on the scores a little bit. Towards the end, I checked them more often, so there was a little anxiety,” Terry says. There was someone else in the Dry River Ranch camp keeping an eye on the scores. Stephen Stephens was supposed to be on his way back home, but he decided with his friend, Terry, at the top of the leaderboard, he couldn’t risk it.

In a class that’s judged by inches and tabulated in half point increments, it takes precision maneuvering, excellent handling skills, and a little something extra to rise to the top.

“She has so much wait,” Terry says. “She will wait on you to push her. She lets you put her where you want, so that’s definitely her strong suit. She’s also definitely good-minded. We’ve had her for five years. I started her in green and she was very successful as a green horse. She’s stepped up to be quite a senior horse.”

Promise is by Consider His Source and out of an Invitation Only mare. She was actually born at Dry River Ranch and then took a brief hiatus elsewhere before coming back by ownership with Tiffanie Burya. Tiffanie shows Promise in Western Pleasure and Showmanship, but she’s perfectly happy to let Terry take the reins in Trail.

“I’ve never done it before and he does a great job, so I might as well let him do it,” she says. “I love how she’s so effortless in everything she does. She has so much impulsion going over everything. She’s beautiful to watch. I’ve never seen anything like her.”

“The very first element of the trot was very tricky,” Terry says. “I watched 10 of the first 20 go and thought that was a spot where a lot of people were hitting poles. I thought I had to get through that first. She’s such a great loper over the poles. It was a fun patten to ride. It was neat because, at the end, when you thought you were going to be done, there was more trot. It gave the horses more to think about.”

The Reserve Champion was Jennifer Paul with Some Hot Potential. Third was Bruce Vickery with Investin A Goodbar. Fourth was Bruce Vickery with Only Temptation. Fifth was Reid Thomas with Gettin Hot.