Piper Anderson Prevails at AZ Fall Championship with Keep It To Yourself

For most any equestrian, learning the physical portion of showing and riding is just part of the challenge. There’s the mental aspect, too, and just about everyone has had to learn to overcome their nerves or their habit of overthinking when showing. It’s so common that becoming a sports psychologist and coach specializing in riders is a increasingly sought-after career.

For youth Piper Anderson of Bend, Oregon, Trail has kind of been her nemesis, because even though her beloved horse, Keep It To Yourself, aka “Earl,” is a great trail horse, Piper says she’s not great at doing patterns, even for horsemanship and equitation, because “I get in my head!”

After winning the L1 Youth Trail circuit at the 2024 Arizona Fall Championship, however, she explains, “Today was good, but a couple of days ago, I was thinking about trying to win the all around. So I had to snap out of it!”

Trainer Trisha Wright helps her with that, she says, by telling her simply to calm down and stop it, having Piper work her horse to distract her. But there’s the other side of that strategy, too.  “Sometimes I over practice, and sometimes she has to stop me so I end on a good note.”

What made the difference at this show? “I got better at English and Horsemanship, but just listening helps.  If I listen better, I’m calmer and not in a crazy mood.”  She adds that showing at AQHA L1 this past spring helped, and so did showing at The EMO Celebration.

More experience under her belt and fine tuning her ability to listen to her coaches, Jarrod and Trisha Wright, resulted in winning titles of L1 Youth All Around, L1 Non Pro High Point, and right at the end of the show, she found out she won the Youth All Around award.

The confidence she’s gaining with Earl and the skills she’s learning – lifetime skills – will carry into 2025 when they attend Sun Circuit, AQHA L1, EMO Championship, and AQHA Youth World – NSBA World is also on her wish list.

Most of all, Piper says, she wants to thank “Trisha and Jarrod Wright, and mom, obviously, for letting me get Earl, and to Victoria Lisa Designs, who made my favorite shirt, and everybody!”

 

Congratulations, Piper! See results for Arizona Fall Championship: Score Sheets – Arizona Fall Championship (azfallchampionship.com)