NATCHEZ — When 10-year-old Ruthie Love Holt mounted her 6-year-old horse Spirit to compete in the Western Walk/Trot Trail competition at the 2011 Mississippi 4-H State Horse Show in Jackson on July 1, she had no idea she was about to put together a flawless performance.

But Holt’s natural talent and dedicated preparation gave her what she needed to win the competition against riders up to three years her senior. She took home the first place title in the Walk/Trot Trail 8 to 13-year-old division at the Kirk Fordice Equine Center.

“I can really concentrate, I do a good job on that,” Holt said. “I’m going to (practice), until I get it down. It’s hard and it’s fun, but when you get it, it is really exciting.”

Holt started riding when she was 4 years old, and won her first award when she was only 7 at the Miss Rodeo Mississippi Princess competition in 2008. She won the Horsemanship Award that year, and has now accumulated five major horse-riding awards, her mother Ruth Ann Holt said.

“By the time she was 5 1/2 we determined the skill was there,” Ruth Ann said.

Ruth Ann was a competitive rider herself growing up in Jackson, she said. She said she was shopping when the results of her daughter’s competition came out hours after the contest, and she dropped her bags in excitement with Ruthie Love told her the news.

Ruthie Love’s coach, Missy Theobald, was also driven to tears by the performance, Ruth Ann said.

“Ruthie Love is a dedicated rider and has been working with me for several years, and she just gets better and better with age,” Theobald said.

Although Ruthie Love was proud of her accomplishment, she also had to give some of the credit to her four-legged partner.

“Its’ mainly the horse, well probably 50/50,” she said. “You have to learn it first, but if you get a really trained horse it will teach you something, and if you are trained you will teach him something.”

Theobald said the win was a joint effort.

“Spirit is a very smart little horse, and they learned the maneuvers together, so this win was particularly worth it as (Ruthie Love) guided (Spirit) through a no-fault performance,” Theobald said.

Ruthie Love’s father Ed was also very excited when news came of his daughter’s success.

“My husband is so competitive, he was all about it,” Ruth Ann said. “You would have thought he would have won.”

Ruthie Love’s success did not come easy, however. She worked tirelessly with Theobald in Vicksburg at the Silver Creek Equestrian Center.

“She trained up in Vicksburg,” Ruth Ann said. “They worked two times a day, from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.”

Theobald said Ruthie Love was very receptive to the hard work.

“Ruthie Love is any coach’s dream student. She listens and works until she accomplishes the tasks, and is willing to wait for the next step,” Theobald said.

Ruthie Love qualified for the state competition by finishing third in the Walk/Trot Trail competition at the Southwest District 4-H show.

She said she did not put as much practice time in before the district show, and that drove her to work really hard for the state show.

The state win qualified Ruthie Love to participate in the South Regional competition in Tunica at the end of July, but she will be unable to participate because of a previously planned family vacation, Ruth Ann said.

Soon, Ruthie Love will begin training for next year’s competitions, however, and her mother believes she has the ability and desire to become a top-notch rider, she said.

“Really a world title (is the ultimate goal),” Ruth Ann said. “Later in life she can train, and have her own school. It’s a career path that can take her the rest of her life.”