Antoinette Elliott, 69, with her horse, The Wizard King, at the 2016 Region 12 Championship Horse Show in Perry, Ga., where she won the title Region 12 Reserve Champion Purebred Western Pleasure AATR Select. In August, she and her purebred Arabian competed at the 2016 Canadian National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show, where she was named the Canadian National Champion.

A Butler woman won big at a recent Canadian national horse show.

Antoinette (Toni) Elliott, 69, of Renfrew and her purebred Arabian, The Wizard King, won the title National Champion Purebred Western Pleasure AATR (Adult Amateur To Ride) Select in August at the 2016 Canadian National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show.

“It was a wonderful experience,” Elliott said. “I’ve worked hard over the years and the trainer has put in so much time with the horse and me. It’s just been a very positive experience.”

Elliott and her husband, Lester, have owned horses since they were married about 45 years ago, but she only began showing regularly about 20 years ago. The couple keeps five older horses in Butler, but Elliott attends shows with her horse, The Wizard King (more affectionately called Merlin), which is kept at an Archdale, N.C., training facility.

She visits several times each month to train with Merlin.

The August show marked the second time that Elliott took Merlin to a national horse show. She will be competing with Merlin in the upcoming United States National Arabian and Half-Arabian Champion Horse Show, held from Oct. 21 to 29 in Tulsa, Okla.

Before the Canadian show, Elliott had won several regional awards and once placed in the top 10 at another national show.