Ann Woodruff – Back In The Pen After 40 Years

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182 – July/August, 2023

By Megan Sacia Ulrich

After a 40-year break from the show pen, Ann Woodruff climbed back into a show saddle in 2021. She has enjoyed every moment since while showing her family’s horses.

She had shown horses as a child–starting in first grade and continuing all the way through high school–but she took a step back when she entered college and life just started getting busy. During that four-decade absence from showing, Ann built a family (comprised of her husband, Buck, and three children, Harrison, Lillian and Carolina) and continued to ride for her own pleasure. On their sprawling Montana ranch, the family enjoyed trail riding; and when daughter Lillian was bitten by the horse show bug, Ann found herself back in the horse show world. Lilli showed as an all-arounder through her youth years and piloted the family’s horses at Paint, Quarter Horse, and NSBA shows. When Lillian headed to college, Ann took the reins and is having a blast competing as a Novice Select exhibitor.

“We spent many weekends at shows, and I enjoyed being a horse show mom and supporting Lilli’s success,” Ann says. “I just couldn’t imagine stepping away from this part of our lives.”

She began training under the guidance of Mathis Show Horses in October of 2020 and re-entered the show pen two months later at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala at the Tom Powers. There, she showed her newly purchased horse, Made After Hours, in Three-Year-Old Limited Non-Pro Western Pleasure. Throughout the year, the pair enjoyed plenty of success in Novice Select Western Pleasure, and Ann was ready to add more classes to her slate. Obviously, that meant she needed more horses.

Click here to read the complete article
182 – July/August, 2023