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Billie Henard and Twothousand Model Te Take Gold in Equitation Over Fences and Jumping

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Image courtesy of the Quarter Horse Journal.
Image courtesy of the Quarter Horse Journal.

In her final Ford Youth World appearance, Billie Henard finally found herself hoisting the gold trophy not once, but twice, as she took home a pair of world championships in Equitation Over Fences and Jumping Billie Henard and Twothousand Model Te take double World Championships in Equitation Over Fences and Jumpingwith her 2000 bay gelding, Twothousand Model Te.

“I didn’t expect that I would win at all.  It was a huge shock,” Henard said of her Equitation Over Fences win, her first championship of the day.  “It was a real gift.”

“I had been working all year on my equitation, making it stronger.  I thought it went pretty good.  I saw a lot of other goes and they were GORGEOUS,” she explained. 

When describing Twothousand Model Te, “Dudley”, she said, “I feel really blessed that I can have a horse like him to ride.”

With her first world championship sewn up, she moved onto securing her second of the day in Jumping.  That one didn’t come quite as easy, as Dudley gave her the opportunity to earn her way into the jump-off. 

“The prelims were pretty difficult,” she described.  “He was very argumentative going in and it was a fight every stride.  I knew I just had to go clean to make it back to the finals.”

Image courtesy of the Quarter Horse Journal.
Image courtesy of the Quarter Horse Journal.

Fortunately, that strategy paid off with a clean go placing Henard and Dudley in the jump-off along with four other riders.

“I knew the two horses in front of me had jumper faults,” Henard remembered, “I only had one after me, and I said ‘You know, I can settle for the second place; it doesn’t matter, I’m just here to have fun,’ and I went in and rode smart, took the longer routes, and added more time to my route, but it paid off because he went clean.  He was listening so much better in the second run.  We were much more of a team in the second round.”

Congratulations to Billie Henard and Twothousand Model Te on their two world championships at the 2014 Ford Youth World.  For the full interviews, results, and additional World Show coverage, visit AQHA.com/youthworld.