“The Santa Ynez Valley is always referred to as one of the Meccas of the equestrian world in the United States. It is really remarkable, because in this Valley you can find a champion in most every major breed.”
Greg is probably getting used to having World Champion Quarter Horses. He actually has attained seven American Quarter Horse Association World Titles with his amazing Quarter Horses and all these horses are related to each other. This time it was with Sparkling Jackie, his beautiful Palomino mare. The latest Championship was notable in a couple of ways: This is the second time that Jackie has won the American Quarter Horse Association’s Senior Heeling competition, and it was accomplished in just two years time! This is a rare if not unheard of fete in the performance horse division. On top of that, the five judges scored her 232 points – reportedly the highest score ever awarded by the AQHA! She was just one of the thousands of horses that had competed, throughout the year, hoping to earn enough points to qualify for the 2011 World Show, in Oklahoma City. Finally, at the World Show there were 3,572 entries, and they came from 47 States and seven countries – including Brazil, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela.
In the Senior Heeling division, 90 horses qualified for the 2011 Show. After placing first, Jackie went on to the finals against 15 horses and received her record-breaking score of 232! Jackie truly is a sparkler. She has also qualified for the World Champion in both Working Cow Horse and Tie-down Roping. In 2007 she was High Point Junior Horse in dallying, roping and team roping.
Just about every horse owner that enjoys competing in shows would love to know how the Simon’s accomplished this amazing record. “All of my World Champions are related, emanating from Zan Parr Jack, from the Lazy E ranch in Guthrie, Oklahoma,” says Greg. “Tim Tam Jack was the first World Champion, 1998 in Senior Heeling. This remarkable horse also racked up two Reserve World Championships in Senior Heading, in other years. Then his full sister, Tim Tam Jackie, won the 2000 World Championship in Senior Heading. We then retired her to be a brood mare and she produced Sparkling Jackie.”
The year 2000 was a hot one for Greg, as his stallion, King of the Henhouse, captured the World Championship in Jr. Heeling and also qualified for the World Championships in Heading, Heeling, Tie-down roping, Working Cow Horse, Reining, Barrels and Halter. King was also awarded overall High Point Champion. Another of Simon’s related horses was Jack’s Gal Sal, who after qualifying for the World Championships in Heading, Heeling, Working Cow horse and Reining, became a candidate for the grand title of “Superhorse.” However, during the competition she suffered an injury and was retired to being a broodmare and local trail horse.
Her rider and trainer has been J.D. Yates, of Pueblo, Colo., who is wildly celebrating, too. After showing her as a 4- and 5-year-old, she was returned to the Valley to breed and rest a sore leg. But when she returned, she proved to everyone that she hadn’t forgotten a thing and continued her stardom.
After the show, Jackie embarked on a new adventure. She went to Brazil, so she’ll be speaking Portuguese with her new owners.
Greg says, “Jackie will go there to improve the Brazilian horse breeding program. This nation is heavily involved in the American Quarter Horse, and has recently purchased a number of high profile competition horses for breeding.”