Remember The Process – Vivienne King

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306 – September/October, 2026

By Jessica O’Connor

Vivi, as she’s affectionately known to those in her circle, was around two years old the first time she was put on a horse while visiting her cousins who bred cutting horses.

“After that, I was hooked completely,” she says. “I would go home and ask ‘When am I going to ride a horse next?’ So the visits got more frequent.”

“Vivi has always loved animals,” adds her mother, Sonya Blair. “She would practice showmanship with our dog, Pepper, and even put little doll saddles on her and did obstacle courses like they were a trail course.”

Around the age of five, she started showing 4-H shows with Lynn Parsons until the family met Joe Blair and purchased her first true show horse, Hunting For Sunrise.
“Even at such a young age, Vivi was a tenacious rider,” Joe says.

“She’d take those romels and whip the little mare she was riding at the time over the butt and say, ‘Let’s go!’” Vivi’s trainer and stepfather says with a laugh when talking about his earliest memories of her. “There was no walk/trot, let’s put it that way,” he adds.

In 2018, Vivi began showing on the smaller AQHA circuits under his guidance, doing so until Joe joined forces with Brad Jewett of Jewett Performance Horse in 2022. That was the year she attended Congress for the first time, and began showing at AQHA’s highest level. Today, she’s a two-time NSBA World Champion, an AQHA Level 3 Reserve World Champion, and a Reserve Congress Champion–just to name a few of her notable accomplishments in the show pen.

The titles tell the story of a talented exhibitor. But back at the barn, the little girl who simply couldn’t wait to ride again is still very much a part of the horsewoman Vivi is becoming.

More Than Winning

Click here to read the complete article
306 – September/October, 2026