2007 Congress News

Connors Leaves the Congress A Champion
by Carly Williams

David Connors owes one of his customers, Bill Elliott, a steak dinner.

A little over a year ago, Connors was looking through an issue of The Chronicle of the Horse, a predominantly Hunter/Jumper and Dressage magazine. As Connors flipped the pages, an ad for a horse for sale caught his eye. “I saw a horse advertised named Billy Elliott, and I had a customer named Bill Elliott,” Connors said. “The name made me stop and take a second look at the ad.”

It was lucky for Connors that he took a second look, because Billy Elliott has proven himself to be a Champion in more ways than one.

“Elliott,” as he is known around the barn, came from the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) circuit, where a young girl had been showing him in the children’s hunter division. Connors purchased Elliott for one of his customers, Carol Stillwell, just after the 2006 Congress.

Connors has kept Elliott at mostly Hunter/Jumper shows this year, but did qualify him for the AQHA World Show in Green Working Hunter. “I go to both the USEF and AQHA shows, but mostly went to the USEF shows this year. Elliott is qualified for the AQHA World Show, but we are not going to take him this year,” Connors explained.

Although Connors has not taken the nine-year-old gelding to very many AQHA shows, he knew the horse was going to turn into a champion, no matter where he showed. “The horse is just a very beautiful mover and jumper,” Connors described. “He has a lot of expression when he goes over the course and really seems interested in the jumps.

“I didn’t come to the Congress expecting to win, but I was really hoping that he would win the Green Working Hunter if everything went well for us. I didn’t know what to expect for the Senior Working Hunter because Elliott has not had a lot of experience on the 3’6” jumps,” Connors continued. “I hoped he could win a ribbon, but I didn’t know what to expect.

“Fortunately for us, he is just such a good horse and a good jumper. He really had phenomenal rounds in both classes.”

Connors not only had phenomenal classes with Billy Elliot, he had his name called quite a few times during the Congress. His final placings include:
Champion, Senior Working Hunter with Billy Elliott
Champion, Green Working Hunter with Billy Elliott
3rd, Congress Hunter Classic with Billy Elliott
3rd, Junior Working Hunter with On Record
4th, Senior Hunter Hack with Billy Elliott
7th, Junior Hunter Hack with On Record

“We brought seven horses this year, which is not as many as usual, but it was still four days of pure craziness,” Connors laughed. “Now I’ll go back home for a short break and then out to the AQHA World Show with some of my other horses and go through it all again!”