Bobbie Jones and Rebel’s Heartbreaker Take Texas By Storm

Earlier this week, we posted this adorbs helmet cam from the Junior Novice division at AECs. We loved this pair’s partnership so much that we just had to find out more. Meet 17-year-old Bobbie Jones and her 8-year-old American Paint, Rebel’s Heartbreaker.

Bobbie Jones and Rebel's Heartbreaker at AECs. Photo courtesy of JJ Sillman.

Bobbie Jones and Rebel’s Heartbreaker at AECs. Photo courtesy of JJ Sillman.

Bobbie Jones dabbled in just about every discipline imaginable when she was younger, trying everything from hunters to barrel racing. “My parents finally told me I needed to choose a discipline, so I ended up choosing eventing,” Bobbie recalled.

“I saw Karen O’Connor and Teddy go around Rolex in 2007 and I just knew that it was what I wanted to do,” Bobbie said. So Bobbie set about searching for a new horse, and found an ad for a five-year-old Paint that caught her eye.

Rebel’s Heartbreak had about 30 rides on him when Bobbie found him, and he had been started to be a reining horse. “I was kind of looking for an all-around horse too, and so we went out and tried him. He was out in a paddock, and I went and called him and he came walking right up to me. I knew he was coming home with me.

Rebel stands just 14.2 hands tall, but he’s got a huge heart that showed when Bobbie began jumping him. “The bigger the fences are, the most he loves it,” Bobbie said. “He’s just got a huge amount of desire and loves to please.”

Bobbie and Rebel during their victory lap. Photo courtesy of JJ Sillman.

Bobbie and Rebel during their victory lap. Photo courtesy of JJ Sillman.

Training with Cathy Wieschhoff in Kentucky, Bobbie and Rebel contested their first event in 2012 and never looked back. The pair moved up to Novice in the summer of 2013, collecting qualifying results that would allow them to consider a trip to Texas this year.

“I’d never competed outside of Kentucky Horse Park before AECs,” Bobbie explained. “AECs were my goal for this year, but we wanted to just make sure we were scoring well at Novice before we decided to go. It ended up being kind of a last minute decision.”

Going into competition in Texas, Bobbie’s main goal was to complete and, ideally, finish on her dressage score. “Walking the course, it looked big, especially the down bank which was kind of on a hillside. But the more I walked it, the more confident I felt.”

What about the chatting during her cross country ride? “I’ve been doing that with him since basically the beginning,” Bobbie said with a laugh. “I’ve done it with other horses too, but I think I do it the most with him. It’s just kind of become our thing.”

Clearly, Bobbie’s strategy worked, as the pair came home double clear from their exciting cross country run and went on to finish in fourth place on their dressage score of 28.5.

Bobbie plans to compete once more this season and is targeting a move up to Training level next year. “We’ve been schooling and training at that level, and I think we’re just about there,” Bobbie said. “Cathy is such a great trainer, and once she says we’re ready then I’ll know we are.

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