AMATEURS

G�re� S�eit& J�sica Duffy

After years of working for others, couple launches their own program in Texas

Text Corrine S. Borton Photos Kirstie Marie, Shane Rux, Cody Parmenter & Ace Photography

For years now Garrett Streit and Jessica Duffy have been working as assistant trainers, building their skill sets and learning all they could about the show horse industry. Now they say, it’s time to venture off on their own and try to build a business together. Duffy, 25, grew up in Toogoolawah, a small town in the Brisbane Valley of Queensland in Australia. Both her parents competed very successfully in rodeo events, including Breakaway and Calf Roping, winning numerous Australian titles. Her mother, Vicky, also bred and showed Paint Horses at a very high level. Streit was born in Kansas and grew up in Missouri. His parents also showed as youth, but it wasn’t until his sister, Rylee, started showing that Garrett became interested. “My parents bought two Paint horses from Colorado and it grew from there,” he explained. As a youth competitor, Jessica spent a lot of time working with Kane Skopp, Holly Johnson and Carolyn Johnson in Australia and they were the ones who brought her to America for the first time, to work for Mark Shaffer. “Mark then continued to fly me back for a few months at a time to work for him among other trainers that he used,” she explained. In 2014 Jessica spent some time with Chris and Melissa Jones in Indiana and early in 2017 she started working for Aaron Moses in Pilot Point, Texas. It was there that she had the opportunity to help train Rascal Flatts, a 2-year-old stallion that Aaron won the Congress Sale Stakes Class on in 2018. In 2019 she trained and showed Don Flatter Yourself for Caitlin and Wendy Dunsmore, winning the Limited Division of the Tom Powers Sale Stakes Class and the 2-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure at the National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Championship Show. In 2020 Jessica trained and showed I’ve Be Mooned for Taylor Kungle. They started the year by winning the Limited Davison of the Virginia Maiden 3-Year-Old & Over Western Pleasure class held at the Tar Heel Summer Classic in Raleigh, North Carolina that year. From there they claimed victory in the 3-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure at the Big A Circuit and later that year they were Reserve Champions in the $2,500 Horse and Rider Western Pleasure at the NSBA World Show. “All three of these horses were very different and taught me a lot about the training process and being able to work with the horse and what works best on them as an individual,” she said. Jessica gives credit to Aaron and Courtney Moses for teaching her and helping establish herself as a trainer. “They have become like family for me in America,” she said.

ttt Garrett Streit and Jessica Duffy are pictured on the page (top) and at far right on the opposite page. On this page, Jessica is also pictured with Ive Been Mooned at the 2020 Virginia Maiden and Garrett is pictured riding Made To Ride at the 2021 NSBA World Show. On the oppposite page Garrett and Jessica at a Texas Rangers game against the Astros game during some down time.

Garrett started taking lessons from Merle Arbo when he was just eight years old and later worked for him until he left to attend college at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in Miami. In 2020 Garrett moved to California and began working for Stacy Huls in 2020 then moved to Texas in 2021 and worked for King Show Horses (RJ King and Blair Townsend) for the next two years. While showing with Arbo Garrett showed Invite Me Im Good to back to back Youth Western Pleasure Championships at the Palomino World Show in addition to many other titles “She was a great show mare,” he said. While working for King Show Horses, Garrett had the opportunity to show Made To Ride, sired by Machine Made and out of Huntin For A Cowboy, winning several 3Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure futurities in 2021 and finishing the year as the NSBA High Point Limited Open Western Pleasure Champion. Garrett also won the NSBA High Point $2,500 Rider title. “Both of those programs taught me a lot about training and showing at the top level and I am very grateful to have gotten to spend time with them,” he said. In 2020 while Garrett was working for Huls and Jessica for Moses they met while showing at the Fall Championship Show in Scottsdale Arizona, the year the Quarter Horse Congress was cancelled s