Patrice Tornes of Marietta, Ohio had a thirty year dream come true when she showed for the first time at the Congress on Saturday. Tornes and her filly, Willy Wicked by Winnies Willy, ended up eighth in the Non Pro Longe Line. Ever since Patrice was a young girl, she had a goal of showing at the Congress.
“Throughout the years, I attended the Congress and always said someday I will show here,” Patrice recalls. “I got out of horses for several years then about ten years ago our daughter, Piper, decided she wanted to start riding. Well, she decided it wasn’t for her but my husband, Dave, and I decided to stay with it. I had a couple good horses with various trainers but we never quite hit our stride.”
Then in 2011, the couple purchased a yearling from Pine View Farm in Ohio and their luck started to change. With the purchase of Will Good Investmnt and a move to AW Performance Horses owned by Ashley Wood and JD Koffel, they started getting the feeling that their dreams may come reality.
The yearling Patrice showed on Saturday, Willy Wicked, is also from Pine View Farm and sired by Winnies Willy. “She is an exceptional filly. I had a good go, however, she doesn’t listen to me like she does her trainer,” Tornes told GoHorseShow right after she competed. “I was over the moon with my eighth place finish. This was finally the year for me to show at the Congress due to having such a nice filly and, sadly, to say my daughter, Piper, was always encouraging me to follow my dreams so I did it for her. She was killed in an auto accident three weeks ago. I was a late entry and really did it for her.”
Patrice’s daughter, Piper was 19 years-old before she passed away. “She had just graduated high school, and she was always getting on to me for having these nice horses and I wouldn’t show.”
Her trainer, Ashley Wood, along with JD Koffel says that Patrice is a sweetheart. According to Wood, Dave and Patrice are both long time Sherrif’s Deputies for Washington County in Marietta, Ohio. Their daughter, Piper Tornes, who was an only child, grew up showing horses and Dave and Patrice always rooted from the sidelines.
“We finally coaxed her into finally getting on a horse for the first time in thirty years in August when she took a spin on Willy Good Investmnt. We late entered her on Friday for the Non Pro Longe Line,” Wood says. “A 30 year dream of just showing at her first Congress and, then, to place top ten was amazing for her and overwhelming. We are so proud of Patrice!”
GoHorseShow would also like to congratulate JD Koffel on placing eighth in the Congress Open Longe Line with Patrice’s yearling on Monday, and we hope to continue seeing Patrice in the show arena. We know that Piper is looking down on her mother and proud of her accomplishments.
