Stacy Westfall
making every moment count
Aired April 20, 2018
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How did a horse-crazy, young girl grow up to appear several times on the Ellen Degeneres television show, and become one of the top trainers and clinicians in the world? It's a fascinating journey!
Stacy Westfall is the renowned trainer, clinician, and competitor whose remarkable style of riding without a bridle or saddle -- and in the highest levels of reining competition -- set the bar for true horsemanship.
The list of championships and purses is far too lengthy to detail, but here are just a few highlights from Stacy’s career…
In 2003, she won the National Reining Horse Association Freestyle competition… riding without a bridle.
She then went undefeated for two years straight in major US freestyle reining competitions and, in 2006, she won twice while riding bridle-less AND bareback.
In 2005, Stacy was the NRHA and the All-American Quarter Horse Congress Freestyle Futurity champion.
Her ride at the 2006 All-American Quarter Horse Congress Freestyle competition created a sensation – she won with a score of 239 … the highest score ever recorded … and Stacy did it without a bridle or saddle… and earned national recognition after a video of her ride went viral on YouTube and has been viewed well over a million times.
Also in 2006, Stacy was the first woman to compete in – and win -- the prestigious Road to the Horse competition.
She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2012 and she’s been on the cover of magazines like Horse & Rider.
As well, Stacy has appeared on the Emmy Award-winning Ellen Degeneres tv show, even teaching Ellen to ride her beloved Quarter Horse mare, Roxy.
These days, Stacy and her husband, Jessie, own and operate Westfall Horsemanship, a training facility in Ohio where they live with their three boys. Stacy gives clinics, trains horses, produces DVDs, and continues to compete and perform in exhibitions.