Greenbrier woman wins titles at horse show

Jenny Wilkinson Honey of Greenbrier rides her horse Suddenly Out of the Blue at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio, where Honey won top awards.
Jenny Wilkinson Honey of Greenbrier rides her horse Suddenly Out of the Blue at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio, where Honey won top awards.

CONWAY — Horsewoman Jenny Wilkinson Honey of Greenbrier dropped the bling and won in the ring.

Honey was named Congress Reserve Champion and National Snaffle Bit Association Champion, both in ranch riding, in October in the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio.

“I’ve been there several times — this was by far the best I’ve done,” she said. “It’s the biggest horse show in the world.”

Honey, vice president and co-owner of Wilkinson’s Mall in Conway, said she changed events about 1 1/2 years ago. She has competed in western pleasure for years and switched to ranch riding.

Western pleasure is slow, she said. “You go around the rail with a whole pen full of horses and riders; they all go in at the same time,” she said. The horses trot, walk and lope, “and their head is level. It sounds easy, but it isn’t.”

“Ranch riding kind of mirrors if you’re out on the ranch, and you’re rounding up cows and you’re going through gates. It’s basically a pattern, circles and stops and backups and turns, and sometimes you go through a gate,” she said.

A big difference is how the rider dresses in ranch riding. “You wear no bling, and I used to do all the blingy stuff,” she said. “No silver on the saddle; no rhinestones, nothing like that. I still like it, but I needed a change.”

She won on Suddenly Out of the Blue, the registered name of her quarter horse. “His barn name, as we call it, is Cace,” she said.

Honey, who owns about a dozen horses, said she has shown with different ones, but this quarter horse seems to be the best for competition. Honey’s husband, Jeff, is an important part of the team, she said — he’s a professional horse trainer and trained Cace. Honey rode Cace in the western-pleasure competitions, as well as in the ranch-riding competition that she won.

He didn’t get to put on the bling, either: no banded mane, no fake tail.

Just a woman and her horse, plain and simple, won the awards.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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