At 14 years old, Faith Farris has amassed quite the collection of cutting competition awards. The Midway, Texas, resident was the National Youth Cutting Horse Association year-end reserve world champion in 2017-and this year she surpassed that effort by earning NYCHA year-end world champion title. WesternWomen.com chatted with Faith at her horse trailer the day before her AQHYA World Show Youth Cutting finals-she went on to garner a Level 3 Cutting World Champion title for the second year in a row. Despite her accolades, Faith is humble and polite. Although the teen loves makeup, she’s most comfortable in tennis shoes, jeans, her good-luck NYCHA reserve world championship belt buckle and a baseball cap from a brand like Ariat or emblazoned with a stallion’s name. Faith lives and breathes horses, particularly Smooth Serena Ray and Quite The Fat Cat, the two horses she competes on most often.
Her style in competition mainly consists of Sombrero and Catalena Hatters felts, beautiful CR Ranchwear shirts, Ariat and Stetson jeans, boots and trophy Kerry Kelly spurs. She loves small patterns for her shirts and the occasional “crazy colors.”
Here’s your chance to get to know this up-and-coming cutting competitor.
Best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten?
Faith: To never give up. If I were to quit now, what if I could have succeeded and had something good happen? So never give up and persevere. That advice was from my mama, Tracy Farris.
Favorite place to eat?
Faith: When we go at home and get a chance to, we live an hour from College Station. There is a restaurant called Wings N More, and that’s my favorite place to eat in the world.
What do you count as your greatest achievement?
Faith: I wouldn’t say that’s it a title. I think it’s the rider that I’ve become and my progress throughout the years. Getting to ride with the bigger kids, and just feeling comfortable with how I ride. I used to be so scared to death to show against all these kids. And scared that I was going to lose. And now I just feel I know I can do it with my horse, and I feel comfortable that I’ve gotten better throughout the years.
What do you do to unwind?
Faith: Going to a show, being in the truck, getting to sleep in the truck is my favorite things to do. I lay out in the truck, put my earbuds in and crank it up as high as it’ll go, and then I go to sleep. That’s just relaxing to me.