PREMIER - February 2023

MORGAN MILLER No Question Im Lazy

Since purchasing her first Quarter Horse in 2020, Morgan Miller has never looked back. Not only has she embraced the change from showing Appaloosas, Morgan has also been diversifying into new events. After branching out from the Hunter Under Saddle to Western Pleasure over the past few years, Morgan is now taking on new challenges in the all-around arena.

When former owner Lauren Graves decided to offer NSBA World Champion and AQHA Reserve World Champion No Question Im Lazy for sale, Brad Ost and Troy Lehn immediately called Morgan, who has been training with them for the past three years. Since “Jethro” is an accomplished all-around horse, Brad and Troy felt like he would be the perfect horse for Morgan to begin her all-around career with.

“Brad and Troy had been training and showing Jethro for about a year when Lauren decided she was ready to sell him,” shares Morgan. “He’s a been there, done that horse and one they felt would really take care of me and help me learn the all-around events.”

Been there, done that describes Jethro perfectly. He began his show career as a two-year-old in the Western Pleasure futurities, and by the end of his three-year-old year, Jethro had already earned Superiors in Showmanship, Trail, and Western Pleasure, and won an NSBA World Championship as well as several all-around titles. In 2018, Lisa Neiberger showed Jethro to win the Reserve World Championship in Horsemanship at the AQHA Amateur Select World Championship Show, and in 2020, Lauren Graves rode Jethro to win the Reserve

Championship in Level 2 Horsemanship at the AQHYA World Championship Show. Over the years, Jethro has won numerous all-around and high point titles in Open, Amateur and Youth competition winning more than $52,000 in NSBA earnings and over 1,300 points to date.

For Brad Ost, teaming Morgan up with such an experienced horse was an easy decision. “When Lauren told us she wanted to sell Jethro, we really wanted to be able to keep him in the barn. We knew Morgan wanted to start showing in the all-around classes and putting her on one of the green horses that she had would have made it a lot harder for her to learn those events. We just felt like Jethro would be a great teacher and help prepare Morgan to show her other horses in the future.”

And Brad and Troy were right. Morgan recalls one of her first rides on Jethro, when she was still just thinking about buying him. Even though Morgan had never been taught how to change leads, when she when to change on him for the first time, Jethro did his job flawlessly. “I was getting ready to leave the World Show, so I was wearing leggings and tennis shoes and Troy asked me if I wanted to take Jethro out and ride him. After cruising around for a bit Troy

Morgan & “Jethro”

told me to go across the middle and change leads. I really had no idea what I was doing or what buttons to push, but Troy talked me through it and Jethro was perfect. Since Western Riding has always been one of my favorite classes to watch and the one I most wanted to learn, that really sealed the deal.”

In addition to the Western Riding, Morgan is looking forward to showing Jethro in the Horsemanship, Trail and Equitation with their sights set on the Novice Amateur events at many of the major circuits including the NSBA World Championship Show and All-American Quarter Horse Congress.

“I’ve never shown in any of the all-around events before, so this is really going to be a learning year for me,” said Morgan. “Having only shown in the Western Pleasure and Hunter Under Saddle, I’m definitely more comfortable with classes judged primarily on the horse as opposed to me, but I enjoy challenging myself.”

And Morgan is definitely challenging herself this year. Not only is she learning the western all-around events with Jethro, but she also showed in the Pleasure Driving for the first time at the Tampa and Venice circuits and has been taking jumping lessons with Hows That For Ya, who was the first Quarter Horse Morgan purchased. After successfully showing “Howdy” in the Hunter Under Saddle for the past two years, Morgan decided to send him to Florida to learn the jumping and driving with Tyler Haney.

“In the past when I showed young horses, after their futurity years I either sold or retired them,” shares Morgan. “Howdy has a forever home with me, but he wasn’t ready to be retired, so Brad, Troy and I made the decision to send him to Tyler to continue his show

Brad & “Jethro”

career in some new events. Katy Jo Zuidema, who was Howdy’s trainer at the time we bought him and has continued to be a great partner in his show career, was the one who recommended Tyler to us, and I’m so glad she did. Tyler has done such a great job with him, and I had so much fun him showing in the Pleasure Driving. Tyler has been showing Howdy in the Working Hunter and Hunter Hack, but I’ll probably wait until next year. I’ve been taking lessons with Tyler and even though I jumped a little bit as a kid in Pony Club, I forgot how hard it is. It takes muscles I didn’t know I had but I think the jumping has really helped all my riding by making me stronger and more balanced. I always tell Tyler he has his work cut out for him with me, but he seems far more confident! I like to give myself grace in learning new things and I’m taking on a lot this year so for now I’m just going to keep taking lessons and work towards showing in the jumping next year.”

While Morgan is focused on learning new events,

she has several young horses who are also expanding their repertoires including Congress Champion and Reserve Champion Got What I Got, and NSBA Reserve World Champion Made It In Time.

“One of the main reasons for purchasing Jethro was so that I can learn the all-around events on a seasoned horse and let Brad and Troy concentrate on training and showing ‘Annie’ and ‘Maren’ this year,” said Morgan. “They are both so talented in

Morgan & “Howdy”

Morgan & “Maren”

the Trail and Western Riding and I am looking forward to showing them in the future.”

Got What I Got is planned to make her Trail debut in the Premier Sires 3 & Over Maiden Trail at The Premier with Brad and has started changing leads. In addition to the Trail and Western Riding, Annie will continue to show in Amateur and Non-Pro Western Pleasure events with Morgan. Made It In Time has been showing in the Trail for the past two years, beginning as a three-year-old winning the NSBA Reserve World Championship in 3-Year-Old Open Trail. She will continue to show in Junior Trail classes this year with Brad.

“Both Annie and Maren are very special to me,” shares Morgan. “They have both been a lot of fun for me to show in the Pleasure and I could not

Brad & “Annie”

be happier with the success I’ve had with them the last two years. As much as I love showing them, I also love watching Brad show them. I remember watching him show Annie in the 3-Year-Old Western Pleasure at the World Show and getting chills because she looked so good. I’ve really enjoyed watching them move on to the next step in their careers learning new events.”

Of course, a horse is only as good as the team behind them, and Morgan is quick to credit her trainers with helping both her and her horses succeed in the arena.

“Working with Brad and Troy is a lot of fun,” said Morgan. “They are both very good at what they do as well as teaching and explaining things to me. I’ve worked with them exclusively for the past three years so when we made the decision to send Howdy to Tyler, I was a little worried, but they have similar styles and all work very well together

which makes it easier on me. It can be hard sometimes just because they are in different parts of the country and don’t always go to the same shows, but so far we’ve been able to make it all work. I feel very fortunate to work with all three of them and am very grateful for their support and guidance.”

And that sentiment is mutual. “When a customer first comes into the barn you never know how that relationship is going to develop,” said Brad. “With Morgan coming to us from the Appaloosas, we really didn’t expect her to jump into the Quarter Horse industry full force the way she has. It has been a lot of fun and we enjoy riding horses for her and are looking forward to being part of her next chapter in the all-around events.”

“Annie”, Morgan, “Maren” & “Howdy”

Article written by Claire Binkowski

Photography by Kirstie Marie Photography, Shane Rux and Cody Parmenter

breedertracie plummer

Tracie Plummer began her show career in 4-H before transitioning to AQHA shows in college. After showing in the all-around for years, she bred her first mare in 1998, after deciding to take a step back from showing while pregnant with her son.

“I wanted to stay involved in the horse industry but also be more present for my growing family,” shares Tracie. “Breeding seemed like a great way to accomplish that.”

Although Tracie had a lot of success in the show arena, she never had what she considered to be the best horse. When she started breeding, her goal was to breed a horse better than what she had ever shown. “As a young adult, I could never afford to go out and buy the best horses. Many of my show horses were those who were maybe a little more difficult and I had to ride a lot harder than most and have a great sense of humor. So, when I started breeding, I just wanted to breed something better than what I could afford to go and buy.”

Since breeding her first foal over twenty years ago, Tracie has improved the quality of her mares and her goal has evolved to trying to produce a foal better than her mares. And with an outstanding group of mares, the bar is set very high.

“All three of the mares I have now are cornerstone mares,” said Tracie. “They all have the traits I think are most important for a mare which includes being very balanced, having a great topline, being pretty and a great mover and probably most important, having a strong maternal line. As Mary Kay Steyskal has always said, you breed to the family and that philosophy is what I’ve tried to build my broodmare band around.”

That approach has served Tracie well and she is proud of the small but mighty band of broodmares she has acquired. Kiss This Moonlight (Only In The Moonlite x As Shes Walkin Away) is the dam of NoStoppinTheMoonlite who had several

Top Ten placings in the Longe Line at the APHA World Championship Show last year. Shes Only Pleasure (RL Best Of Sudden x Ima Hot Invitation) is the dam of Cherry Lime Made, who won the March To The Arch 3 & Over Novice Horse Western Pleasure last year. And last but certainly not least is OnaImpulsiveCowgirl (RL Best Of Sudden x Ona Good Impulse), the dam of Made Ona Dream, who placed third in the 2-Year-Old Maiden Western Pleasure at the Congress in 2021 and is also an NSBA BCF Champion. Tracie is quick to credit her success as a breeder to her beloved mares and being very selective about the stallions she breeds them to.

“I have been lucky to have connected with people who sold me some amazing mares,” said Tracie. “One piece of advice I would give to those just starting out in the breeding business is to purchase the best mares you can afford. That has always been my approach and over the years I was able to acquire better and better mares to get to the group I have now. When selecting stallions, beyond

reproduction center to foal out rather than doing it herself.

“We don’t have proximity to the number of vets breeders in other parts of the country do,” explains Tracie. “My vets live forty-five minutes away and when something goes wrong that’s a long time. I’ve had to raise two orphan foals in my twenty years of breeding and not only is it heartbreaking to lose a mare, we also don’t have access to stored colostrum, surrogate mares, or a network of other breeders, so dealing with those situations becomes even more of a challenge. After the last mare I lost I decided to start sending my mares to the vet to foal out which gives me a lot of peace of mind. Of course, getting the foals here safely is just one part of it. Raising babies also takes a lot more effort here because we have so much rain. We can’t pasture horses yearround, so a lot of time is spent moving horses around between the pastures, round pen, and indoor arena. It’s a lot of work but I keep doing it because just love the babies.”

The challenges of living in the Northwest don’t stop with just foaling and raising babies. Many of the trainers who originated there have relocated to other parts of the country where shows are more accessible which has made marketing foals more difficult. Because she seldom has people visit her farm to look at horses, Tracie relies on the internet and the relationships she has established to sell her foals.

the obvious things like good conformation and movement, I look for a stallion who is nominated to the major programs. If you are breeding to sell, marketability is important. Having a stallion owner or manager who is going to work for and with me is also very important, especially living in the Northwest.”

Living in Oregon provides its own unique set of challenges for a breeder including limited access to reproduction specialists and unfavorable weather conditions, especially during foaling season. For those reasons, Tracie now sends her mares to a

“Most of my foals are sold off videos and pictures on social media and through word of mouth,” shares Tracie. “I feel very blessed to have gotten my foals into some wonderful programs and built great relationships with many owners and trainers. Anytime a person who has purchased or ridden one of your foals comes back as repeat buyer, I think that speaks volumes and certainly makes me very happy as a breeder. I get so much joy from watching a baby I bred and raised do well for their owner, whether it be on a trail ride, showing in 4-H or open shows, or competing at the Congress or World Show. When an owner calls and tells me how much they love their horse, it makes it all worth it.”

Watching her foals fulfill dreams for

KISS THIS MOONLIGHT

their owners is what keeps Tracie breeding year after year. And although she doesn’t plan to stop breeding any time soon, she is planning to downsize to pursue other dreams, which include a return to the show pen. “Although I won’t be parting with any of my mares, my plan is to just breed two foals a year and hold one mare back to cycle early the following year. The years I had four or five foals were a bit overwhelming and just weren’t as enjoyable for me. My husband, who along with my son has been very supportive of my equine endeavors, recently retired, and we are looking forward to travelling more plus I really, really want to show again. I love watching my foals show with other people, but now I want to show one myself.”

Tracie currently has a horse in training with Garret Streit and Jess Duffy who she hopes may be the be one to get her back in the show saddle. Too Hip To Be Blue is a three-year-old filly by VS Code Blue out of her retired broodmare, HVF Im To Hip To Zip. Tracie is also excited about her two-year-old, Just Call Me Foxy, by The Lopin Machine out of Dont Skip Foxy.

“I’m really looking forward to showing in some of the western pleasure futurities,” said Tracie. “It’s been ten years since I last showed and of course a lot has changed since then. Our industry has so many talented trainers and the quality of horses being bred and shown right now is unparalleled. Of course, there are always things our industry could improve on, liking bringing back more weekend shows and making sure we are genetic testing mares and not just stallions, but there are so many positive things happening, like the emphasis on the Maiden and Limited three-year-old classes. I truly love this industry and the friendships that I have made over the years. It’s something that I want to continue to be a part of as a breeder and hopefully soon as an exhibitor again.”

CHERRY LIME MADE

MADE ONA DREAM

Article written by Claire Binkowski

MACHINE MADE STAR