Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.

For Michigan Amateur and Non-Pro competitor Elisabet Teagan, competing is ultimately about the horses. She shows because she’s competitive by nature and enjoys the challenge. That challenge meshes perfectly with the way her mind works.

“My brain is never at rest. It is in a state of perpetual motion,” she said. “I’m continuously planning, thinking about the future, anticipating challenges and trying to think of solutions.”

Showing horses takes all that brain power. It requires formulating strategies.

“But I also know that it’s entirely possible that none of my plans or practices will work due to the circumstances I’m dealing with.”

Teagan has always loved animals and especially horses. She started taking riding lessons at the age of 9 and when she turned 10, her family bought her a green-broke 3-year-old Appaloosa gelding.

“Initially, I had no desire to show,” Teagan admitted. “My mom had to work hard to convince me to show at the 4-H level.”

From there, Teagan moved on to competing in Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) shows throughout her high school years and then American Paint Horse Association (APHA) contests for a hot minute before moving on to American Quarter Horse (AQHA) sanctioned shows.

For years Teagan showed English horses under the guidance of Texas trainer Nancy Sue Ryan.

“With Nancy Sue, you learn more than how to ride and hone your skills,” Teagan said. “You learn about all aspects of caring for your horse. She pushes you and your horse to improve every time you ride. I always learn something new, whether it be riding, soundness, or breeding.”

It was at Ryan’s Show Stop Farm that Teagan fell in love with Krymsun Kisses, a 2005 sorrel mare by Quarter Horse Congress and AQHA World Champion Western Pleasure stallion, One Hot Krymsun, out of a Superior Western Pleasure mare by the name of Boot Scootin Babe.

“Naturally, I fell in love with a western horse at Show Stop,” Teagan laughed.

Ryan bred Krymsun Kisses to VS Code Red and Teagan and her family bought the resulting offspring, a 2018 red roan gelding named Hacked The Code (Datsyuk) as soon as he was born. They loved him so much that in 2020 they returned to Show Stop to purchase his full sister, Sheza Showstopper (Reba) on the day she was born.

Hacked The Code got his start in the show arena in Western Pleasure but ultimately moved to all-around competition.

“It was about that time that I went looking for my next Western Pleasure horse,” Teagan said.

For that task she enlisted the help of Ohio trainer, Brian Baker. She told him that she would only look at a mare and that she preferred a bay.

“Brian tried to convince me to look at geldings, too, with no luck,” Teagan said.

His ultimate choice for her was a After A Few (Reba), a 2019 sorrel mare by Extremely Hot Chips out of one of Brian’s favorite mares, Only Ever After, bred by Capital Quarter Horses.

“Brian had Reba in the barn for another client and thought she would be the perfect fit for me,” Teagan said.

After purchasing Reba she earned a Reserve Championship in the 3-Year-Old & Over Limited Horse Western Pleasure at the March To The Arch, winning the Super Sires bonus with Baker. In 2023 Baker also rode Reba to a Reserve Championship in the Level 1 Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show and his assistant trainer Gaven Young showed the mare to a win in the Level 2 Junior Western Pleasure. This year Reba has been moved from the Bakers to Beckey Schooler and Austin Lester to begin her Trail and Western Riding career. She will be shown in Open Western Pleasure by Schooler and Lester and in Amateur and Non-Pro by Teagan. She will make her debut in Trail at the Premier and will be shown in Green Trail by Lester.

Hacked The Code has already made his mark in the Trail arena with Martin Doustou at Mayabb Show Horses in Florida. He captured a bronze at the National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Championship Show and was top five and top 10 at the Quarter Horse Congress in Trail. This year he is being shown in Open Trail and Western Riding by Doustou and in Level 1 Amateur Trail with Liz.

“Datsyuk is special also in that he taught my mom how to ride,” Liz explained. “My mom did not grow up around horses. Dawn Baker (Brian’s wife) really encouraged her to start riding and do the Amateur Walk-Trot. Datsyuk used to be so proud to show in the Walk-Trot with my mom. It’s like he knew the importance of his job in teaching her the ropes.”

Sheza Showstopper is competing in First Year, Green and Junior Trail with Samantha Gately and Carmen Mayabb.

Liz says she laughs because she is a futurity person accustomed to having young Hunter Under Saddle and Western Pleasure prospects but that she’s somehow turned into a Trail and Western Maturity person.

“Just me and my band of red horses,” she said. “For the last few years, my focus has been Western Pleasure, and now I’m learning Trail. Before the 2024 Congress, I had not shown Trail since 2010 when I still showed Appaloosa, so it was a whole new experience. The Trail has become a lot more challenging and intricate than I remember.”

But, it’s the welfare of the horses that comes first.

 “The horses are my children, and I love being with them,” she said. “I’m an involved owner and like spending time with my horses. I enjoy seeing my horses show at their highest capability as much as I enjoy showing them myself. Obviously, everyone wants to win and be successful, but for me, it’s about getting better every ride.”

Each time Liz rides she strives to be better than she was the last time.

“I’m immensely hard on myself and aim for perfection,” she explained. “However, perfection is not attainable so I try to focus on different pieces each ride. Sometimes, I think you learn more when it doesn’t go as planned than you do from executing correctly.”

Liz loves to compete herself. She was third at the NSBA World Show and earned several top 10 placings there. She has also been in the top 15 at the Congress. But, she says she gets as much joy from watching the trainers do well on her horses.

When not practicing with one of her horses or at a show, school has consumed much of Liz’s time. She graduated from Kalamazoo College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and completed a general course at the London School of Economics. She then earned a Master of Management Studies degree from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and most recently earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.