Gabrielle Lofton and Up The Assets Win Congress 15-18 Trail With a Score of 239

By: Brittany Bevis

Coming off a win in Youth Trail at the 2013 AQHYA World Show with her horse, Lil Bit Western, all eyes were on Gabrielle Lofton to see if she could pull out as impressive of a performance as she did in July. Could she claim a Congress Championship Trail title in the same year? Not only did she win the title, she bested her highest career score by two and a half points, and she rode a different horse.

Typically, Lofton shows both of her horses in trail events. She shares Lil Bit Western, aka “Critter,” with her sister Brittany, and Up The Assets, aka “Bud,” is all hers. Today, she showed both horses, and Bud ended up on top in the final placings.

“This one is all mine,” she says. “We’ve been just kind of working on getting in sync with each other. We got him five years ago. We get along really well, but sometimes our personalities clash in the show pen.”

Today, 15-year-old Bud helped Lofton win her first ever Congress Champion title. Although she was thrilled to win at the Youth World with Critter, she says this win with Bud has extra special meaning.

“It’s really cool,” she says. “Critter is an amazing horse, and he knows that he is good. To win the World with him was exciting, but I didn’t really start Critter. Winning with Bud at the Congress is so special. When I came out of the class, and heard my score, I started crying. I was so happy. He’s my baby.”

Speaking of her score, Lofton posted a whopping 239 to win the Congress Championship title today. She was thrilled when the initial score was announced as a 238 1/2. When the score went under review and was changed  to a 239, she was over the moon.

“A 236 was my highest score ever,” she says. “Jill [Newcomb, my trainer,] was pretty impressed! I think all of our trots were [among] the best [obstacles], and our trot into the box and stop and turn around was really good. Usually, we always hit the box trotting into it, so I was like,’Yeah!’ “

Up next, Lofton and Up The Assets will be competing in Youth 15-18 Horsemanship and Western RIding. We wish this talented pair the very best of luck throughout the rest of the Congress.

15-18 Trail–

1-Up The Assets/Gabrielle Lofton

2-She Made It Happen/Cole Gower

3-Ima Tuff Barpasser/Ellee McDaniel

4-Some Hot Potential/Bailey Mierzejewski

5-Chrome On My Zipper/Hillary Roberts