It’s rare to win a Congress Championship. It is even more rare to have your boyfriend or girlfriend win one as well. It’s even more rare for both championships to come in less than 24 hours. That is exactly the case with Travis Sancken and Jenny Bivins.
Sixteen year-old Travis Sancken won the Congress Youth Trail 15-18 on Monday with his horse, Zippos Hot Jet (George), while his new girlfriend, 16 year-old Jenny Bivins was the winner in the Congress 15-18 Hunter Under Saddle with her horse, Big League Potential (Bentley) on Tuesday morning.
With 89 shown in the Trail, Travis had two firsts, a second and a third. The Illinois native said that he was happy with his ride in the Trail and only rubbed one log while Jenny said that her horse, Bentley, had his game face on in her class, and she was very happy with her ride.
Jenny said that these two met at the horse shows and have known each other for a few years before recently starting to date. Jenny was quite shy when GoHorseShow asked her about her new boyfriend, and was surprised that we already knew about them. I told her that knowing everything about the horse industry was our job! Bivins smiled when I asked her what she likes about Travis. “He is very nice, and we talked all summer and all the time on the phone,” she says. “It is just hard because I usually only see him at the shows.”
Bivins also said that she was excited and congratulated him on his win. Travis said that he did have an advantage because he showed his two greener horses first so the pattern on George was his third time through the course. Travis and George are also currently second in the nation in Youth Trail. He is under the guidance of Tommy Sheets in the Trail and says that it is his favorite class. He also shows in the halter and was second with his Yearling Gelding, Mr Voodoo Kid.
“George is a great horse, and I enjoy showing at the Congress. Eighty-nine people competed so you have to have a good go to win,” Travis tells GoHorseShow in Celeste after his win. “He is a people pleaser, and I hope to finish out my career with him I love the competition and plan to continue showing even after I finish my youth career.”
Bivins says that she loves Bentley because he is always in a good mood and likes the pressure and steps up his game at the big shows. Bivins said that he has a great personality and remembers at the Youth World this year that he was constantly eating slushes from the machine at the Texas stalls. This year, Bivins was also Reserve World Champion at the AQHYA World Show in the Hunter Under Saddle. This talented young girl is a junior in high school in Amarillo, Texas but hauls with Tom and Leslie Lange and Jeff Burley from Greeley, Colorado.
“They are like my second parents and Jeff Burley is great to work with. There is no other place I would rather be,” Jenny says.
Except maybe hand in hand with her new man walking into the winner’s circle at the Congress! We congratulate them both on their wins and look forward to watching them in the show arena for years to come.
Photo © Jeff Kirkbride
