Trainer rides colt to elite title

Terri Layer rode Zippo's Answer to Reserve Champion at the Appaloosa World Show last week. Zippo's Answer was just what the judges were looking for in Fort Worth.

The 2-year-old colt strode his way to the top ranks at the Appaloosa World Championship Show last week with local trainer Terri Layer in the saddle.

Layer won Reserve World Champion in the Limited 2- year-old Snaffle Bit Western Pleasure Futurity atop Zippo's Answer, a colt she trained at her Cross Ridge Ranch on Porter Carswell Road outside Waynesboro.

She started the colt, better known as "Ash," when he was a yearling for owners Gerald and Lindy Waters of High View Farm near Aiken.

When the Waters brought Ash and another spotted beauty to the Cross Ridge barn earlier this year, they also brought Layer full circle in the show ring.

Layer, no stranger to the top of the order, had already established a name for herself on the quarter horse circuit by helping riders and owners win championships, but it's been years since she stalled Appaloosas in her barn. Her very first show horse as a little girl, however, was an Appaloosa.

Though she acknowledged her childhood connection with the breed, the special quality of this colt grabbed her attention even more.

"This horse was just exceptional," she said, noting the world event was only his third show. "I felt that right when he came here. Really, he was easy to train."

Layer called Ash's early success a significant achievement for the Waters, who sired and raised the colt before bringing him to Cross Ridge.

Tragically, the colt's sire, The Miracle Chip, was killed in a barn fire last spring in Oregon. The former Medallion Performance Sire of the Year was the only horse in Appaloosa Horse Club history to win the national, world and solid gold championships in 2-year-old Western Pleasure.

"The lady that had owned (Zippo's Answer's) sire for many years was at the show and she was ecstatic," Layer said. "This horse is a mirror image of his daddy. He has almost identical markings."

Layer said Ash will now likely be a premier choice for Appaloosa breeders across the nation. He will stand to private treaty this year, breeding select mares by special agreement, and be open to breed to the public in the following year.