Written by Marilyn Morris Mayer (As featured in the Equine Chronicle - Spring 2007)
    The fact that John & Jill Briggs of Pilot Point, Texas, bring their best to the show pen is without question - judging by their AQHA World Show, Paint World Show and Quarter Horse Congress All Around success and the fact that fellow trainers respect them as honest and talented horsemen.
    A legacy to Quarter Horses... John was destined to ride horses, it would seem. His great grandmother, Rose Fulton, was a founding member of AQHA. “She showed horses in the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s,” John explains, “...and that’s what got my mom involved. When I was growing up, my mom had rope horses and we’d all go to the shows with mom.”
    John’s parents, Jerry and Nancy Briggs, lived in Tucson, Arizona, in the city, with their five children (John has a younger brother and three older sisters). When John was about seven they moved to a ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico. “We had acreage with a barn there and we had horses... and we all started doing the open shows.” John began in walk-trot, then moved up to the all around classes. One horse, especially, stands out - an AQHA buckskin that his mom found for him named Mr. Bueno Dial Bar.
   “When we first got him, he used to buck me off,” John recalls with a laugh. “He’d make a scene at the shows - he’d buck me off and go running through the stands!” Eventually John and the gelding had a meeting of the minds and there was no stopping them. “He turned out to be a pretty special horse,” says John. “I kept him all through my youth career and actually became an AQHYA two-time world champion, and I won the Congress on him. We kept him and retired him.”
    John trained with Pete Kyle during in his later years as a youth exhibitor. At the time Pete and Tamra Kyle, who now train reiners at their Whitesboro, Texas ranch, were located in Scottsdale, Arizona. John credits Pete with helping him win the Youth World... and much more. “He pretty much got me hooked where I decided this was what I wanted to do for a living,” John explains.
   “John was always a good rider,” Pete notes. “When he came to me he was very accomplished; he just needed a little polish in a few things.” Pete recalls the “good ole buckskin horse” and all the work John did on the horse to make him a success.
    John turned professional after a year in the amateur ranks and went to work for Jim and Deanna Searles in Scottsdale. It was while he was employed at the Searles that he met a young woman named Jill Pennau...

The girl that loved to lope... Jill was born into a family that loved showing horses. “My mom has shown all her life,” Jill explains. “Her dad was an open show judge in Wisconsin where she grew up. And then my dad starting showing horses when he met my mom.”
   “As far back as I can remember, I always had horses,” Jill says of her childhood days in Wautoma, Wisconsin.
“I had a pony when I was really little and then had a gelding that I showed in walk-trot and all-around events as young as 5 years-old.” Jill’s early days at the shows were a pure joy to her... but didn’t always delight her fellow competitors and their parents, as she explains. “I did leadline and walk-trot when I was about five, but I did other classes because I loved to lope! I remember going in the 13 and under and my parents and other parents begged me to stay in walk-trot because I would run into kids,” Jill laughs. “I was kind of a mess.”
    As time went by, Jill’s horsemanship got better and better. Her dad did a lot of showing in halter, and Jill picked it up, too. At age seven she showed in halter at her first youth world show, then started taking her all around horses to the youth world when she was twelve.
   “Jill had a great amount of determination and always really enjoyed the horse showing - win or lose,” says Larry Spratto who, with his wife Rhonda, trains at Spratto Quarter Horses in Picket, Wisconsin. His fondest memory of Jill, Larry says, was when she was about 9 years-old.
   “We were at a horse show and she needed one more point on a gelding that her family had raised to finish her youth championship. And she was in the last class of the day. Her mother, Sue, and I were just sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting. And Jill took the wrong lead in the pattern.” Larry laughs and said they were afraid she would come out of the pen and be really disappointed. They were wrong. “She came out and still petted her horse, and was laughing, and said, ‘You know, there’s a lot more horse shows.’”
    Jill’s grandparents had always wintered in Arizona, and when she was 16 her parents decided to move there, too... as much for the horse show opportunities as the good weather. That’s when Jill began training with Casey Hinton in Scottsdale, Arizona. “I found them Skipa Stars Lace and it was the perfect fit for that girl - and a ‘one of a kind’ horse.” Casey recalls.   
   “She was dedicated and wanted to put all the parts together to make it work.” Jill was All Around Youth in the nation in 1992 with Skipa Stars Lace, winning Senior Western Riding at the world show a year later. And the wins just kept piling up from there. “She was, by far, my best horse,” Jill notes.
    Jill did a lot of showing on her own in her last year of youth and first year of amateur, then moved to Jim and Deanna Searles’ barn, in Scottsdale, to train with them in 1993. She had met John Briggs when she first came to Arizona, but now was seeing him every day at the Searles. “We were just kind of friends for a long time,” Jill says with a laugh, “...because I was dating somebody else.” But in March of ‘94 John and Jill started dating, and were married about a year later.

   The ‘scenic route’ to Texas... The Briggs would be relocating permanently in Texas...they just didn’t know it yet! After their marriage, John signed on with Steve and Carol Metcalf in Washington, working there for about a year until the Metcalfs decided to move to Texas. John and Jill packed up again and headed there, too.
   “At first I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like it,” Jill confesses. “Texas just didn’t sound right to me. But we loved it when we got there.” And that despite the fact that temperatures were over 100 degrees that summer when John and Jill arrived in Pilot Point, Texas with 16 of the Metcalf’s horses. (Steve and Carol were still at a horse show and were meeting up at the new ranch a few days later.)
    Jill had been taking college courses in Washington, but unfortunately not showing horses, as her talented mare “Lace” was permanently sidelined from an injury she received while John and Jill were away on their honeymoon. (The ‘84 mare still lives with them in their barn).
    Shortly after the move to Texas, Jill made the decision to give up her amateur card. “I didn’t have a horse at the time and wasn’t able to be successful at the pattern classes myself anymore... so I was ready to help other people become successful,” she explains. A year later the couple went out on their own. Briggs Show Horses opens in Pilot Point... “When got pregnant with our first son, we decided to go out on our own. That was the summer of 1997... and we didn’t have very many horses for a long, long time,” Jill shares with a laugh. “At least it seemed like awhile. We did our first horse show the week after our son was born - our first horse show with paying clients!”
    John and Jill have 50 acres in Pilot Point, with a training barn and a covered arena. “We always have a big trail course set up,” John notes, “and an area where we practice western riding.” They have shown Quarter Horses through the years, but added a few Paint shows - including the Paint World - the last couple of years. Their client base includes youth, amateur and amateur select riders - most of whom do the all around.
   
   Patience and hard work pay off... This young couple has made their mark in the horse world the way most top trainers do, with talent and lots and lots of hard work. “I work hard,” John admits. “I try to stay focused and I try to be consistent in my daily routine.” Then he adds, “And I give a lot of credit to the Lord, actually. I think He’s behind me a hundred percent - and it’s nice knowing that He is there.”
    John feels they had the good fortune to have many special horses through the years, most recently a mare named A Different Glow. “She had won the world when I got her,” John explains, “and I felt honored to work with her. I had a successful three or four years with her, and she was a horse that when you went into the show pen she tried so much harder. It was just neat to have a horse like that. The mare was retired last year after winning the Congress for John and her amateur owner, Elizabeth Knabenshue of Whitesboro, Texas.
   Although John is a strong competitor in Trail and Western riding, he admits his favorite event to show in is western riding. “It’s a very challenging class - kind of up there with reining, I think. There are so many elements to that class, from getting a horse to go through the pattern without anticipating while being soft and moving good. It just takes a lot of training, and a lot of time to get to that level.” Then he adds with a good-natured laugh, “And it seems when you get one thing good, you have another area to work on.”
    John notes that disposition is probably the most import thing he looks for in a good all around horse. “They have to really be a ‘willing to be trained’ horse. Then, secondly, the movement is important - a lot of self carriage and strength from their hind end.” That, he says, always helps with a prettier lead change.
   “I think of John as being a consummate professional,” says longtime friend and fellow trainer Chad Evans of Evans Performance Horses in Parker, Colorado. “He is just so professional in every aspect of it - from how his horses are turned out, to the work he does at home, to the time he spends with his customers.”
   “He’s extremely talented, and a really good person,” says Carol Metcalf. “He’s very good with people - very good with the kids,” she adds. “He’s a very positive influence... a very good teacher.” So how is he to show against? Carol gives a goodnatured laugh. “He’s a good competitor! If he’s got a really good one - you’d better look out!”
    Pete Kyle views John’s ability to just show his horse for what the horse is as John’s biggest strength in the pen. “That’s tough for a lot of people to do,” Pete says. “Sometimes you want to ask more, and try to get more out of a horse than what they have to give. And John always does a nice job of showing his horse to the strong point... and just getting him through his weak points and not letting them be known.”
   “He is very dedicated to the industry and we’re lucky to have him in the horse business,” Pete adds.
“He’s a great all around trainer, a very patient trainer and a hard worker,” say Jim Searles, who trains all around horses with his wife, Deanna, at their Circle S Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. As for John being competitive in the pen, Jim says, “Absolutely!” Then adds that as soon as John goes out of the pen, he leaves that ride in there.    “He’s definitely one of my best friends.” Jim continues on a more personal note, “He’s real honest... and a great family man.”
    Jill agrees that family is very important to John. She adds, “And I think his strong relationship with God keeps him really focused. It keeps him really, really honest and upright and I think that’s what our peers respect about him. He’s not going to ever tell you just what you want to hear, if it’s not the truth.”
   “I think he thrives on doing well... and in an all around program that’s kind of what keeps you going, keeps you doing the long hours that we do,” Jill notes.
   
   Jill as teacher and coach... Jill is still a force in the show pen but limits her showing now, concentrating more on guiding their students and lending a keen eye to their training program. “She’s a great trainer,” John notes. “I rely on Jill if I’m having problems with my horses. She’s strong in so many areas - that’s what is neat about her. And she has a way of ‘softening’ a horse without intimidation.”
    On a more personal note, John adds, “She is a great person... she’s where I get my strength from. Jill is real confident and can handle so much at once - the kids and the business (she does all the books). And in everything
I do she is very supportive.”
    Though she doesn’t have a favorite event when it comes to the all around, Jill does especially enjoy working with two groups: the 11 and Under, and the Select Amateurs. At first blush, they might seem like opposite ends of the spectrum, but Jill sees definite similarities. “They’re similar in that they are fresh at it - they like doing it... and that’s what I like about it,” she says. “The 11 and Under and the Selects are out there because they want to be. They’re having a good time out there and they’re competitive... and yet they are learning.”
    Deanna Searles says the same talent that brought Jill top honors as a youth and amateur is what Jill is able to convey to her own students today. In a word: Precision.
   “She would always ‘nail’ her patterns and was very particular about detail,” Deanna recalls. “And she’s like that as a trainer. From the kids’ outfits, to exactly where their hand position is in showmanship.”
    David Miller agrees. “Jill is a fine tuner,” David says. “She can teach you little things... like where your eyes go on the wall in Western riding when you go through a pattern. She has good attention to detail.”
    When looking for an all around horse for a youth or amateur rider, Jill looks for one key ingredient: attitude. “I like to see a forgiving attitude in a horse because we all make mistakes, and we all need to practice to get better. And if the horse isn’t forgiving, it’s hard to practice,” Jill adds with a laugh. “If you run through a maneuver once or twice and that’s all that horse is going to give you before he gets sick of trying for you, it makes it a hard horse to do the all around on.”

    John enjoys the opportunity to judge classes.... This is John’s third year as an AQHA and NSBA judge, a role he finds very rewarding and it gives him an opportunity to give back to the association. “I judged a lot of open shows and 4-H kind of shows when I was growing up,” he recalls, “and I always enjoyed it. I always enjoyed helping the kids... and if they could get a little tip from me her or there, I tried to do that.”
    As a judge today, John has his likes and dislikes in the pen. “I don’t like to see excessive schooling - I understand that schooling needs to be done a lot of the time, but I don’t like to see it where it’s constant,
non-stop jerking on the mouth.” On the flip side, he always has his eye out for a certain horse. “A horse with a very natural way of going. One that hasn’t been forced or made to do something - it’s just naturally there. You can see it in it’s expression; you can see it in it’s movement.”
   “He judges very fair,” says Chad Evans, also an AQHA judge. “I’ve judged a horse show with him and he knows what he wants. He looks for it and gives every exhibitor a fair shake.” Chad adds that John looks for the positive in every exhibitor - and rewards it.
    Pete Kyle agrees. “He’s a very good judge because of doing all the events himself. That really makes a difference. You have a better understanding of where the rider’s going and what he’s doing.”

    With the help of family... John and Jill now have three boys: Bryce, 7 years-old; Joshua 5, and Tate 3, and although the Briggs are careful not to push, all seem to love the horses. “They’ve all done the leadline already,” says Jill. “And Bryce has broke into the walk-trot.” For awhile, they would borrow a horse for him when it was offered, but last summer they had the opportunity to buy him a double-registered gelding. “He’s very competitive and likes the practice,” says John. “And he likes to do well, but doesn’t seem to be too concerned if he wins or not - that’s what I like, so far.”
    All three boys head off to the shows with their mom and dad. In fact, they’ve hardly ever missed a show. Jill jokes that their oldest, Bryce, has been to more Congresses than he is old.
    Most days the boys are playing in the barn area or riding their ponies when not at school. Jill’s parents live next door now, and they pick up the slack whenever a baby-sitter is needed. John’s brother, Peter, lives with John and Jill. “He works for us one day a week,” says John, “and then he works for the Ft. Worth Zoo.” His three sisters live in New Mexico, but supply him with lots of summertime help. “John has a really big family,” Jill explains, “and he has a niece or a nephew that will come to stay for a month or so during the summers. They help out a lot.” John’s folks make the trip from New Mexico as often as possible.
    Jill’s brother, Travis, and his wife and children are now in the process of trading their Wisconsin roots for some Texas sandy loam, planning to relocate in the Pilot Point/Aubrey area this spring.
    Trainer David Miller, who worked for the Briggs for two years, and who credits John and Jill for his success in all around events, says the two are the most family-oriented couple he has ever come across. “They work together... play together... and are very much concerned with each other, and their family - and raising theirboys.” They love those boys, he says, adding “Everybody that meets those boys loves ‘em!”

    A look to the future... Asked about their plans for the future, John replies: “We’re at a real good spot of helping the youth and amateurs. The last few years we’ve had very positive kids and amateurs that want to work and put the time in to get better... and I’d like to see it just keep going in the same path.”
   “Each year we try to find a new challenge for each individual client,” Jill responds, “... whether it’s just trying to make them a finalist at one of the shows or just getting them there to that show. And I really, really enjoy that.” Her thoughts going to their three sons, she adds, “Hopefully, we will have a lot of success in our business and our kids will have fun doing it with us.”
    Respected as much for the way they live their lives as they are for the talent they bring to the show pen, John and Jill Briggs truly bring their best to the horse industry.