From The Run For A Million to the AQHA World Show – 75-year-old Teresa Goforth Continues Her Journey into OKC
All images courtesy of ConsultMent.
By Delores Kuhlwein
Qualifying for The Run For A Million Non Pro Challenge at 75 years of age might seem impossible, especially on a 20-year-old horse. But Teresa Goforth did just that in Summer 2025 with her American Quarter Horse, Little Lenas Solano.
If you remember her viral video from August 2025 on our Facebook page, with almost 575,000 views, you were likely moved by her words. You might also be thrilled to know she’s not done yet – Teresa and “Maverick” additionally qualified to compete in reining at another elite show – the 2025 AQHA Select World Show in November.
The lifelong equestrian didn’t stumble across this achievement; it came on the heels of riding and competing from a young age, then flourishing as a fan and participant of reining since the early 1960’s. Throughout all life’s trial and tribulations, horses were her constant, even when they could easily have been out of reach.
“If you really want to do it, you make time and find a way to do it,” she explains. “I was a flight attendant for 50 years, and I was a single mother, so I had to fly, and I had to raise them. I found college kids who would stay after school or live in. Over the last 20 years of flying all over the world, gone 20 days a month, I figured out a way to plan my trips around going to the barn to practice, or I’d fly into the horse show and fly out from there. You figure a way if you really want to; otherwise, are you going to sit in front of the TV.”
Admittedly outgoing, which contributed to her successful career, the vivacious horsewoman naturally has many friends who share her passion for reining and for horses in general. In her hometown of Valley View, Texas, she frequently joins the group 40-Something Cowgirls with ladies in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who ride anything from mules to mustangs in events like wine rides. “They have the initiative to get up and get out, and it’s just fun,” Teresa says.
“I’ve been seriously competing in major reining competitions since the year 2000, and I’ve had Maverick since he was six years old, and we’ve been very successful. I have made a lot of friends in the reining industry, and a big percentage of them have given up, or gone to less aggressive classes or events, thinking they’re too old to do it.”
For Teresa, however, the spins and the rundowns are the thrill behind her motivation. But surprisingly, the rundowns temporarily became her stumbling block.
“I almost quit when I had knee replacement surgery three years ago,” she admits, due to the fear of having her knee pop backward. “I was so afraid to do that rundown, but you have to buckle up and get over that fear. I was already doing spins, but there’s nothing like barreling down that arena and putting your feet out there and holding for the rundown.” When she finally tackled her fear, she says it was her biggest accomplishment after being out of the saddle for a year.
Then as life tends to do, it threw another hurdle in her path. “A year ago, I had a horse fracture a leg and we had to euthanize him, so a friend of mine said, ‘Let’s just leg up Maverick.’” He’d been turned out in the pasture, Teresa reveals, but even at play, reining breeding and training was embedded, she says. “He would do his spins and his rollbacks just playing in the pasture, so we started in January 2025 to get him back in shape. He’s never been a horse who needed maintenance, and he has been a healthy horse, so I was able to get him in shape.”
Inspiration from Maverick
She found she could go to the March 2025 Richard Hampton Spring Memorial in Marshall, Texas, and qualify for The Run For A Million and/or Select World – and she qualified for both.
“Talk about giving you inspiration– this horse hasn’t shown in years!” Teresa exclaims. “It wasn’t the most perfect run, but it was enough to qualify for two of the biggest shows in the world. I hauled him down there by myself, with no trainer.”
She says at age 20, Maverick doesn’t act his age, and he lives in a big double stall at the breeding farm, and he loves to watch the babies. “He loves little kids, too, and I’ve saddled him with the tiny saddle for my six-year-old grandson, and my two-year-old granddaughter.”
Together, they placed 67th in The Run For A Million Non Pro Challenge with a score of 200, and their all-star performance left Teresa with an unrivaled experience. “To me, it was about the joy of being there, and my thrill – other than winning — is when you walk in the arena, they call out your name, your horse’s name, you get that euphoria of ‘let me show you what I can do, what we’ve learned, what he can do.’”
On Staying Young and Serving Others
Teresa says the answer to staying young and in the saddle is both physical and mental. “I’ve always swam to stay in shape, and to me, age doesn’t matter. As long as I can get on a horse, I’ll be riding. What kept me young at heart when I was flying was working around twenty and thirty-year-olds, and they helped to keep me in that mentality.
In addition, the will to ride counts, too, she says as she recalls persevering when her ankle was either broken or sprained. “They took me to the ER, and I told the doc to wrap it up like the football players, he taped it up really tight, and I was on crutches. I put on my trainer’s boots; they put me up on my horse and I did my reining. If you have the will, it’s there for you.”
Her bravery extends outside the arena, too, and undoubtedly contributes to her youthful mindset. A certified dive master and CPR instructor, Teresa also volunteered to fly 46 missions for the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, transporting soldiers to war zones. As the spouse of a marine who served in Vietnam, and because of her experiences with soldiers before PTSD was recognized, she was inspired to build a retreat that utilized horses for therapy.
“Our staff was comprised of Vietnam veterans, the counselors had been nurses in Vietnam, and they understood all of it,” explains Teresa, who says she purchased 14 horses for the retreat to ride, be brushed, and enjoyed.
As she journeys to the AQHA Select World Show (she shows on the last day, November 19th, she explains) her mission, and passion, is to inspire riders across the world. “When I was living in Honduras, I came across a slab of concrete in the rainforest in the early 90’s. It said what we have done for ourselves alone dies with us, and what we have done for others, and the world, remains and is immortal.”
Watch her video on our Facebook page at the link below!
See the press release from Tusk PR+Marketing/ConsultMent:
Watch the AQHA World Show:
AQHA World Show: Resources – AQHA
Photos provided courtesy of ConsultMent
