After all, the 19-year-old Sennett rider has done that before.

What was special this time, though, was finishing in the top 10 with Harris.

A 7-year-old American quarter horse, whose registered name is Pillow Talk, Harris is the first horse that Connors trained from the beginning. She started showing him this year, and the four-week All American Quarter Horse Congress in October in Ohio was only their fourth show together. Still, they placed in the top 10 in two classes in what is the largest single-breed horse show in the world.

Connors gave all the credit to her equine partner. She began training him during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, so she had time to “perfect everything.”

“He’s so fancy and his color just radiates, he just shimmers when he goes in there,” she told The Citizen. “You notice him the minute he trots into the pen. He’s absolutely flawless.”

Connors and Harris finished in the top 10 in the hunter under saddle and western pleasure classes, both slower riding styles, and were finalists in a third class. Panels of three judges evaluate the horses as they walk, trot and canter with their riders astride. Connors said they’re looking for the horse who looks “fanciest,” and the rider who looks like they’re doing the least to steer their mount. 

Breannah’s mother, Kim, said two things make her daughter’s feats even more impressive: the thousands of horses brought to the competition from across the country, and the fact Breannah and Harris trained to compete against them while she finished in the top 20 of her class at Auburn High School. She graduated in June with a 110% average and 27 credits at Cayuga Community College. 

“She always had a hard work ethic, discipline, and drive in everything she did,” Kim told The Citizen. “I know she will be successful in anything she decides to do because of her pure determination.”

Now a student at Cayuga Community College, Breannah is studying health sciences and plans to become a doctor or dentist. She also plans to stay active with horses, including a possible trip to the American Quarter Horse Association World Show in Oklahoma City next year. She and Harris won a championship in their class at the association’s Region 6 show in Massachusetts in July.

Along with Harris, Breannah credited several people with her success in horseback riding, beginning with her parents. Kim and Joe Connors, a winner of several world championships himself, built and own Hurricane Hill Farm in Sennett. There, among the approximately 30 horses the farm houses, Breannah began training with Mark Potters. Before that, horses were more like pets to her, she said.

“Honestly, he’s the only reason I kept riding. He told me that someday I would be great,” she said. “He always encouraged me and gave me confidence when I really didn’t have it.”

Repeating the phrase “it takes a village,” Breannah went on to credit her farrier, Doug Corey; her veterinarian, Dr. Megan Cox; and one of her best friends, Taylor Lessard, for their services and support. 

Without them, Breannah said, she wouldn’t have had the success she has had with Harris. He’s not only a 16.1-hand, 1,200-pound athlete with a hardworking attitude, but a perfect partner.

“I’ve ridden a lot of horses, but none like this one. He’s my best friend and I’ve always dreamed of being able to go to big shows with him,” she said. “I’ll never have another horse like him.”