Congratulations to World Champions Ariel Herrin and Challaging Details
Earlier this summer, Pleasurehorse.com interviewed several top former youth for what advice they would give to youth attending their final Ford Youth World. We were lucky to catch up with Ariel Herrin, one of the former youth from the article, following her win in the Amateur Hunt Seat Equitation on Wednesday with her 1998 gelding, Challaging Details.
This is the first World Championship for Herrin, and understandably, the excitement still hasn’t sunk in. A veteran competitor, everything finally came together for the pair, who made their first world show appearance at the 2008 Ford Youth World.
“The pattern was a good one for my horse, and our practices were enough to leave me very excited for the class,” she says.
A pair of lucky gloves may have also played a small part in the day.
“I am extremely superstitious,” Herrin explains. “I showed my horse Challaging Details at the Youth World for the first time in 2008. I had never previously made any form of finals at the world show. That year, I was updating my wardrobe and got a new pair of gloves. At the same world show, I made the finals in equitation and ended up tenth. From then on, those were the “lucky gloves,” and I swore to wear them until I was a World Champion. Six years and a zillion horse shows later, I wore those very gloves to receive my gold globe on Wednesday.”
As one might imagine, those gloves have seen quite a bit of wear and tear over the years. Herrin noticed on Monday, as she headed down the chute to the preliminaries, that a hole had formed in one of her gloves and would soon need to be replaced.
She remembers, “At that moment, I thought, ‘If I’m ever going to win, it’s going to be now!’ As cheesy as a coincidence about an old pair of gloves may be, it gave me some confidence for the finals!”
While the reality of finally becoming a world champion hasn’t full sunk in, Herrin said she’ll be wearing her new buckle with pride and making sure her horse has lots of treats.