World champion amateur weanling at APHA show in Fort Worth
Jeff and Sheila Hughes of Greenbrier Township took a chance when they bought a mare 14 months ago. Obvious Qualities, whose barn name is Bridget, had been bred but hadn’t before foaled. “It’s a gamble,” Sheila said about investing in a mare’s first offspring. “You hope you’re doing the right thing.”
The Hugheses’ gamble paid off. The filly, TD Kids Chantilly Lace (barn name Natalie), was born a year ago. At her first horse show, the elite Breeders Halter Futurity last September in Des Moines, she placed seventh out of 49 horses in an all-breed class including Paint horses, Quarter horses and Appaloosas.
At her second show, the American Paint Horse Association World Championship Show in Fort Worth, TX, last November, Natalie was named world champion amateur weanling mare out of 21 mares in the class. She was also shown in the open class and was reserve world champion.
Natalie is Jeff Hughes’ first step back into the horse show arena after an eight year hiatus. He explained that he showed cattle and horses years ago, even showing the champion Simmental heifer at the Iowa State Fair in 1984. He took a break when his son Kyle was young. A couple of years ago he mentioned to Andy Ellsworth, with whom he had shown horses years ago, that if Andy could find him a suitable horse, he’d go back to the show ring. It was Ellsworth who located Bridget for Hughes.
Trainer Olin Parker of Independence, MO, showed Natalie in the open class in Fort Worth. Parker showed a total of 28 champions at that show.
Parker knew Natalie’s lineage when Hughes bought Bridget, and he asked for “first dibs” on showing the foal. Parker saw Natalie at the Futurity in Des Moines and suggested that she should be at the Fort Worth World Championship Show. The registration deadline was past, but Parker said it would be worth paying late registration fees to have Natalie there. He was correct.
At the World Championship, many of the horses are shown in both the amateur and the open class. “The amateur class is for the average guys, for the owners,” Hughes said. The professional trainers, like Parker, show in the open class.
Natalie is wintering in Parker’s climate controlled facility in Kansas City, where her feed is managed for optimal performance and she gets regular training. Hughes would sell her for the right price, he said, and Parker’s barn is a place buyers go when they’re looking for a horse. Natalie’s next show will most likely be the Paint Horse Congress in Kansas City next September. She won’t be eligible for the Breeders Halter Futurity until the 2015 show.
If no one purchases Natalie, she’ll eventually return to Greenbrier Township and become a brood mare. “With that kind of show record, people will always breed her,” Hughes said.
The Hugheses also hope for another champion foal from Bridget. They plan to breed her to Western Gun Slinger next month. That stud is one of 10 Futurity studs, making the new foal eligible for the Futurity just as Natalie was.
Young Kyle Hughes, a third grader at Jefferson-Scranton elementary, is developing an interest in horses, his father said. They made the World Championship a family vacation, giving Kyle a different experience than his classmates. Jeff and Sheila both say they would rather see Kyle show horses than cattle. “Horses are so much more trustworthy than cows,” Sheila said.
Jeff admits that showing horses can be expensive. “Everybody has to have a hobby,” he said.
The Hugheses farm 80 acres in Greenbrier Township. They do business as JSK Show Cattle and Horses.
