Jennifer Batts posing alongside ALLEN’S DANNI DELIGHT.
Built Together: The Batts Blueprint for Champions
By: Mary Beth Pruett
Jennifer Batts, of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, has been riding horses since she was 12 years old, when she purchased her first horse for seventy-five dollars.She has come a long way since then, having trained and ridden eight Supreme Versatility Champions. Four of those champions were bred by Jennifer and her husband Gary.
Although Jennifer did not discover the Tennessee Walking Horse until 1984, Gary had an uncle, Sonny Batts, who trained padded walking horses.The first walking horse the couple bought together was a black mare named SPIRIT’S DELIGHTFUL DREAM. That mare would set them on a course that defines their breeding program even today.
Spirit’s DELIGHTFUL DREAM was bred by Rebecca Singleton of Apex, North Carolina.Jennifer was working for Rebecca and bought the mare from her in 1992.In 1993, Gary was undergoing cancer treatment and they sold the mare, hoping to buy her back in the future. By 1994, she turned up with another owner not far from the Batts’ farm, and in 1997 had a chestnut filly.
The Batts’ bought that filly and insisted that they wanted the mare if she was ever for sale.Not long before Christmas in 1998, Jennifer got a call that “Dream” was for sale.“I was in school then and really didn’t have the money,” says Jennifer.“But I went to the bank and got a loan.She was with us until she died.”Jennifer was still going to school and they were having trouble getting the mare bred so she called a lady from Clayton, North Carolina, who had a spotted stallion named BIG DOUBLE TAKE.“Betty Mitchell was sort of the major spotted horse breeder in the area,” says Jennifer, “and the stallion had produced some good colts.”Sure enough, their mare produced a chestnut filly from the spotted stallion who was named SHE’S DOUBLY DELIGHTFUL.
She would be the first of three Supreme Versatility Champions produced from SPIRIT’S DELIGHTFUL DREAM. “SHE’S DOUBLY DELIGHTFUL was just a dream to work with,” says Jennifer. “She was so good and so hard working with such a natural gait.” It seemed there was nothing in which the mare did not excel – trail, reining, Western riding, dressage, rail classes, water glass in both the youth division and the adult division. Over 500 ribbons, many high point awards and a Supreme Versatility championship defined her show ring career.
Each of SPIRIT’S DELIGHTFUL DREAM’S Supreme Champions were sired by different stallions. COUNT ON SPIRIT O’THREE was by COUNT’S CITY BOY and DELIGHT ME WITH SILVER was by OUTLINED WITH SILVER. COUNT ON SPIRIT O’THREE won her versatility championship with owner Morgan Hodge Stewart and was also a two-time TWHBEA Flat Shod Super Mare and World Versatility Championship High Point Champion. DELIGHT ME WITH SILVER enjoyed similar success with a number of riders, both youth and adult, and has a new career as a broodmare. These three mares earned their dam four TWHBEA Dam of the Year Awards during the early 2000s.
The legacy of SPIRIT’S DELIGHTFUL DREAM continued with ALLEN’S DANNI DELIGHT, a filly born from the cross of SHE’S DOUBLY DELIGHTFUL and multi TWHBEA sire of the year ALLEN ALL AROUND. It took only two and a half years for the splashy chestnut roan to finish her supreme championship.She was also the TWHBEA Super Flat Shod Mare in 2019. Along the way, she carried eight different riders to blue ribbons, several of them youth riders.
“I am proud that ‘Danni’ has carried on her dam’s legacy,” says Batts. “She is an amazing mare.”Jennifer is known for her willingness to share her horses with youth riders in her area. “Danni” was leased by Koen Morris for a year, winning a string of ribbons and earning a Youth Superior Championship, Youth and Overall High Point Championship at the TWHBEA World Versatility Championship and the Walking Horse Report High Point Youth All Day Pleasure Horse and Non-Timed Versatility Champion. “Success with Danni improved his skills so much,” says Tori Morris, Koen’s mother.“He had never even cantered a horse until he started riding her.We can’t thank Jennifer and Gary Batts enough for trusting us with Danni.”
For the current show season, “Danni” is leased to Sandy and Madison Moorefield, who will campaign her in youth versatility and rail classes.“She is a great teacher for the kids who are just learning the versatility events,” says Jennifer.The sisters have already earned a dozen blue ribbons with Danni in the early spring shows.
Another mare closely associated with Jennifer is MISS ANIKA, a four-time TWHBEA Dam of the Year. Bred by Larry Mesimer of Concord, North Carolina, the big going mare started in training as a padded horse with Johnny Puckett, then was purchased by Jennifer Batts and shown in the pleasure division. Jennifer bred her to ALLEN ALL AROUND and the result was multi champion mare, MISS SARAH ALLEN. MISS SARAH ALLEN is not only a multi-blue ribbon winner but has earned a Youth Superior Championship for her owner/trainer/rider Lexi Nelm, an International Youth Pleasure High Point Championship, multiple World Versatility Championships, and is a two-time Flat Shod Super Mare. “I was showing ‘Sarah’ at Lexington as a three-year-old,” Jennifer says, “and Lexi came up to me and asked if she could ride her. She got on and rode her so well that we put her in a youth class and she convincingly beat everyone in the class.”
MISS SARAH ALLEN was purchased by Lexi’s parents in 2018, and Lexi and her mother credit Batts with her success. “We were blessed to know Jennifer and to get such a fabulous mare from her. Jennifer put a great foundation on her and Lexi was able to continue to finish her out,” says Brenda Nelms.Gary gives a lot of credit to Lexi.“She has a great work ethic,” he says.
2025 Dam of the Year MY SOPHIA was not bred by the Batts, but she has certainly been another successful discovery for Gary. The couple saw an ad for her on Craig’s List and went to see her. The four-month-old filly impressed the Batts with her sweet personality, and they brought her home with them after weaning.“She walked right up to Gary in his wheelchair like they were already best friends,” says Jennifer.Like Jennifer’s other mares, she was shown by both adults and youth, earning a Supreme Versatility Championship with Morgan Hodge Stewart.MY SOPHIA’S later show ring appearances were with Kathy Zeis but after Kathy’s death, Gary and Jennifer were determined to bring her back home. She was bred to JOSE’ JOSE’ in 2020, producing Supreme Versatility Champion SONORA SONARA.”Sonora” is named for husband Gary’s grandmother, who once owned their farm in Rocky Mount.
Jennifer started “Sonora” as a two-year-old and showed her in the Maiden Championship preliminaries, then started her on versatility events the following year. Some of her earliest blue ribbons were in model, trail and dressage. “I think the dressage work made everything else come easier,” says Jennifer. She also is a go-to horse for kids to ride and has excelled in Reining, Western Riding and Dressage.
“Sonora” was High Point champion in both versatility and rail classes at the NWHA
Championship and was WHOA’s Pleasure Horse of the Year for 2024. “Sonora” helped Jennifer attain the Elite High Point Championship at the 2025 World Versatility Show, winning the blue in Precision Pattern, Dressage and Western Riding and carrying Jennifer to wins in both English and Western Equitation classes. SONORA won TWHBEA high point championships for 2025 in both the adult and youth (with Koen Morris) gaited canter divisions and in the Trail Pleasure 3 gaited division.
MY SOPHIA also produced I’M NADEALIA, who was a National and International Champion as a 3-year-old.Now owned by Melissa Cloud of Eubank, Kentucky, “Nadealia” has started 2026 off in winning fashion, taking home 5 blue ribbons in their first show of the season.
Although Jennifer does the training and showing, Gary is her not-so-secret weapon. He selects the colts they buy, the mares they breed and the stallions those mares are bred to. He also acts as ground man. When asked about her show ring success with mares, Jennifer simply says, “Gary likes mares.” That seems to work for them. Gary is firm about the importance of a great mare. “You’ve got to have a great mare to get a great colt,” he says. Jennifer and Gary have certainly had their share of great mares to prove that point.
