Herzog and Styles Fashion a Grand Win

Lilly Herzog and Styles finished their competition on Saturday but returned on Sunday to take home the lion’s share of awards. After winning the Small Junior 3’6” 16-17 Hunter division with two firsts and a second over fences, they were awarded with the Overall Grand Champion Junior Hunter 3’6” Championship, sponsored by Shadow Ridge. Styles was presented with The Spontaneous Perpetual Trophy donated by The Listrani Family, and Herzog was named the Best 3’6” Junior Hunter Rider sponsored by Rose Hill Farm LA, LLC. They also won the High Point Junior Hunter 16-17 sponsored by The Bensimon Family and the WCHR Junior 3’6” Challenge, sponsored by Saddle Ridge. For his student’s success this week, Scott Stewart was named Leading Hunter Trainer, sponsored by South Haven Farm.

Herzog and her soulmate Styles swept the major junior hunter awards.
Photo by Shawn McMillen Photography

Herzog, who is 17 years old and from Pepper Pike, OH, started riding at a local lesson barn before moving to Amanda Lyerly’s program for “a bigger scale of riding.” Her family is not involved with horses, so “they've been learning it all along with me,” she said. “It was definitely a big decision, but everybody in my family has been the most supportive people in my life for the whole way.”

Herzog does online school with Laurel Ridge and has placed importance on academics as well with honors and AP classes. Although she has one more junior year of showing, she is committed to attend University of Georgia and ride on their varsity equestrian team.

A few years ago, Herzog started riding ponies for trainer Scott Stewart, but before that, she saw Styles at Capital Challenge Horse Show. “It was really before I even knew about Scott, and I said to my mom, ‘I want to ride that horse,’” she recalled. “Three years later, it was a very full circle moment when I got to ride him for the first time at the barn.”

The pair started showing together in January 2026, and Herzog fostered a close partnership with Styles in the barn.

“Our relationship has gotten so much stronger just from sitting in the stall and constantly giving him cookies and scratches,” she said of the 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Quadros. “He knows me when he sees me in the barn; he'll whinny sometimes, which is the best feeling.”

Stewart purchased Styles, who is named after musician Harry Styles, three years ago from his friends Yvonne and Gilbert Böckmann in Germany. “Yvonne had been telling me about him for a year, and he finally became available,” he remembered. “He was a stallion doing 1.50m classes. He's an amazing jumper, and he's super easy.”

Working with Stewart, said Herzog, is “really fun,” she described. “He's very direct with what he wants in the schooling area, which is nice.” She added, “I couldn't have done any of this without Amanda. All of my opportunities pretty much came from her sticking her neck out for me. I owe all of it to her and Scott.”

They had great success this year, but Herzog still had some nerves coming into Capital Challenge.

“It's a grand venue,” she explained. “It's a grand show, but I knew I just had to trust in our partnership because I know him so well at this point, and he knows me really well, too.”

Their success means a lot to Herzog. “It was heartwarming to do it with Styles, who I would call my soulmate,” she expressed.