Jana Leigh Simons and Against The Laww Turn Heads at A Sudden Impulse 2026
Arena photos by Shane Rux Photography, courtesy of WEC-Ocala.
By Delores Kuhlwein
Jana Simons and Against The Laww made a splash this past week at A Sudden Impulse in their Hunter Under Saddle classes, capturing everyone’s attention with ground covering strides and flowing movement. They caught the eye of officials, too, resulting in cinching a win Friday in the $20,000 NSBA 3-Year-Old Non-Pro & Int. Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle; they also took the intermediate title in the class.
Then on Saturday, the last day of the show, Jana and “Carlos” secured a unanimous win in the $15,000 NSBA 3-Year-Old Limited Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle.
The 2023 gelding by Outlaw Enterprise and out of Al Mine, bred by Amy Walls, was recently sold to Simons Show Horses.
“Sara found him at Amanda Jackson’s earlier this winter and a gal in Canada raised him and I think, did a lot of it herself. Her name is Amy Walls. You have to really give credit to small breeders always,” says Jana, who explains the Simons family is more than familiar with the breeding industry themselves. “It’s tough, and it’s even harder on the small breeder, so I’m really happy for her that he’s had some success and she has followed his journey.”
Jana had flown in to show Carlos at A Sudden Impulse and to spend time with her sister, Sara Simons, and she was able to step into the irons after he’d already been shown the past week by pros such as Jesse Jones. “He’s a trooper, and for a green three-year-old, he’s a pretty good boy! He’s good minded, broke, and easy to be around.”
The payouts she experienced riding Carlos the past few days, she says, are incredible. “That’s somewhat unheard of, I would say. Just to give $15,000 to limited non-pros in the Western, let alone in the hunt seat? That’s pretty remarkable. I don’t think that’s ever happened before, so it’s definitely worth coming to the horse show.”
In consideration of the payouts for both classes, Jana says, “That’s an insane amount of money for non pros, let alone hunt seat three-year-olds, and somebody has to thank Mary Roberts and Greg Wheat for doing that, starting with me.”
As far as Carlos is concerned, they’re going to continue the three-year-old HUS events and go from there, and in the meantime, they’re enjoying his personality; the striking, bay horse was showing his character doing the awards portion by curiously stretching his neck out to greet the awards presenters and photographer when they worked on getting his ears up for the photo.
“He’s really curious and he’s so funny,” says Jana. “He’s a good boy.”
See results for both classes below:
