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the good ill do 66 | PREMIER | OCTOBER 2026
Robin Baldes went looking for a horse to help her chase one more big goal. In Nemo, she found a young partner who already feels like an old friend. Robin Baldes wasn’t setting out to find another heart horse. Her longtime partner, Lazy’s Back in Black, better known as Toga, had been much more than a show horse. Over time, the two built a partnership, worked through challenges, learned from one another, and shared a journey that meant a great deal to Robin. It was the kind of magic that riders dream of finding with their equine partner. When Robin tragically had to put Toga down, the reality of looking for another horse meant accepting that the next chapter would be different. Still, Robin knew she wanted to keep showing. A lifelong competitor, she had goals she wasn’t finished pursuing, the kind of big goals every exhibitor dreams about. So, when she was ready, she started making phone calls and planned a trip to Oklahoma with a friend to ride horses and see if she could find the right one. Trainer Farley McLendon was her first stop. And The Good I’ll Do was the first horse she rode. PREMIER | OCTOBER 2026 | 67
Robin continued on her shopping trip, but Nemo had set the bar. In fact, before Robin even knew which horse she would buy, she found herself asking Farley another question: whatever she ended up purchasing, could she bring the horse back to Farley to train? Farley told her she’d love to have her. Robin eventually made her way back to Nemo and climbed aboard once more. This time, there wasn’t much left to think about. “Okay,” she remembers thinking. “He’s mine.”
BUILT TO LAST Before Robin entered the picture, Nemo had already begun building an impressive résumé. Owned by Farley’s parents, Sharon and Miket, he finished fourth in Novice Horse Hunter Under Saddle at Back to Berrien. At The Premier, he placed seventh in the Maiden Three-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle and, with Mandy Gately, seventh in the Breeders Level 2 Three-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle. Better known as Nemo, the three-year-old gelding by Good Better Best and out of Adorable Machine, a daughter of A Good Machine, had been bred and raised by Farley’s parents. Farley had watched him grow up, develop, and begin his career in the hunter under saddle pen. Robin climbed aboard. And almost immediately, something clicked. “Nemo is the only one who made me cry,” she says with a laugh. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh no. Don’t get emotional. She’s going to think I’m crazy and kick me out of the barn.’” Farley, meanwhile, was watching the pair make their first laps around the arena. “I watched them lope off and trot around, and the overall look was just a great picture,” she says. “They got along, and he took care of her. She thought he was easy and fun.” Robin has ridden enough horses in her life to know that finding the right one is about more than a first impression. She grew up on a working cattle ranch, competed in speed events and working cow horse, and has been around horses for most of her life. But Nemo felt different. “That first ride, I got emotional over him,” she says. “I’ve been blessed to ride so many cool horses, but Nemo made me feel like I’d known him.” 68 | PREMIER | OCTOBER 2026
What he lacked in miles, Farley believed he made up for in natural ability. “He’s got a really good hock, he’s strong across his back, and he carries himself well,” she says. “He’s got a ton of body. You don’t feel like you’re riding a rail on Nemo; you’re riding a big-bodied horse.” In fact, Farley says Nemo doesn’t necessarily look like the stereotypical hunter under saddle horse standing still. “He looks like he could go do the halter,” she says. “He has a strong hock, a pretty front leg, and he can trot all day long.” His pedigree reinforces those qualities. The first foal out of his dam, Adorable Machine, Nemo combines Good Better Best on the top side with A Good Machine and lines tracing back to Artful Move through his dam. But perhaps more important for Robin is the mind behind the movement.
“He’s generally a good guy and a nice horse to be around,” Farley says. “If you’re good, he’s good.”
instructions she’d been given: outside rein, outside leg and, most importantly, no wreck on the freeway.
For a rider looking not simply for her next show horse, but for a partner she could eventually take home to California, that combination mattered.
That steadiness has become one of her favorite things about Nemo.
THROWN IN THE DEEP END
She adds: “He’s a very good old lady horse.”
“He’s been unflappable,” she says. “I feel so safe with him and Farley. He’s just sweet.”
Robin’s original plan was fairly practical. She expected to purchase a horse, leave her new partner with his trainer long enough to learn how to ride him correctly, and eventually bring him home to California.
Farley sees the same quality. “He took care of her,” she says. “She’s very positive and has a great attitude. She’s here to have fun and get better.”
Nemo changed the plan almost immediately.
There was even one small sign, Farley jokes, that Robin had landed exactly where she belonged.
After buying him, Robin asked Farley if she could leave him in her program. Then came another question.
“Her collar on her hunt jacket was burgundy, and my colors are burgundy,” she says. “I told her, ‘See? You’re supposed to be here.’”
A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMPETITION
Could Robin come along to the NSBA World Championship Show?
Robin has always been competitive.
“I had an extra stall, so I said, ‘Let’s go,’” Farley recalls. “We threw her in the deep end.”
Growing up on a working cattle ranch, horses were part of everyday life. She competed in speed events and working cow horse, and that competitive streak followed her into adulthood.
The decision paid off. With Robin, Nemo continued adding to his résumé at the NSBA World Championship Show, earning a Bronze Championship in Green Hunter Under Saddle, a Top Ten finish in the Three-Year-Old Limited Non-Pro, and multiple finals appearances in the Three-Year-Old Open and Limited Non-Pro divisions. Just weeks into owning a new three-year-old, Robin found herself learning Nemo on one of the industry’s biggest stages. Farley watched closely. “She got better every time,” she says. “She never showed that she was nervous. She takes instruction amazingly.” Robin competed in Select Hunter Under Saddle as well as the three-year-old Non-Pro events. Nemo handled the challenge like a horse well beyond his years, carrying Robin to the finals in Select from a field of roughly 40 horses. “He packed me around,” Robin says.
But her perspective on showing has changed. “When I was a young woman, I didn’t take the time to make friends and build community,” she says. These days, that’s one of the things she values most. Robin has been struck by how approachable the people she once knew primarily through magazine articles, point standings and show results have become. Fellow exhibitors, trainers and even judges have become friends. “Taking the time to get to know people and build your community, that’s my favorite thing,” she says. That community rallied around her following the loss of Toga. And when word began to spread that she had found Nemo, many of those same people reached out again, this time to celebrate with her. “We’ve built a big cheerleading section,” Robin says.
Even when another horse’s tail came loose directly in front of them, Nemo remained unfazed.
Farley watched Robin fit just as easily into the barn as she did with Nemo. “She hit it off with the other clients,” she says. “It worked great.”
Robin laughs, remembering herself concentrating on the
It’s one reason Robin especially enjoys competing as a Select exhibitor. PREMIER | OCTOBER 2026 | 69
added reward. “It’s always fun to show one we raised,” she says. Robin is equally interested in what comes next. Eventually, she hopes to bring Nemo home to California, and she can see herself taking on another futurity prospect down the road. But she’s in no hurry to get there. “If we get a piece of the pie and he’s a happy, sound horse, I can’t ask for anything more,” she says.
ENJOYING A GOOD HORSE Robin’s family has encouraged her to keep chasing those goals.
“We all want to win, but we all can’t win,” she says. “It’s the journey to get there. All the ladies I’m showing with are so kind.”
MORE AHEAD Now, Robin and Nemo are continuing to build on their whirlwind beginning. The All American Quarter Horse Congress carries special meaning for Robin. She hasn’t been there since her early 30s, but still remembers it as her favorite show. “To be able to go back, I’m so excited,” she says. Her goals are straightforward: have fun, put together a good ride and, if everything falls into place, earn a spot in the Top Ten in both Select and the ThreeYear-Old Non-Pro. “NSBA was a great catalyst,” Robin says. “To make the finals out of a pen of 40 great horses, I was honored to trot in the same pen as these ladies.” From Congress, the focus turns toward the AQHA World Championship Show. Mandy Gately will show Nemo in the three-year-old Open events, and possibly with Farley in Green Hunter Under Saddle. Farley believes there’s plenty of horse there for the future. “He’s going to be able to hang in the maturities,” she says. “He gets better as he gets older.” And for Farley, watching that development carries an
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Her husband, Eddie, has been patient and supportive throughout her horse-showing pursuits. Her daughter, Elise, is a speech pathologist and shares her mother’s love of horses, showing VS Only Good, known as Frosty, in California. Her son, Tristen Guerra, lives out of state, and Robin is also a grandmother. “They tell me I can do anything I put my mind to,” she says. There is still one particularly big goal sitting out there: that Level 3 Select World Championship. Robin hasn’t forgotten it. But Nemo is reminding her that the road there should be fun, too. “I just want to enjoy him,” she says. Maybe that’s the simplest way to explain what Robin was looking for when she set out on that horse-shopping trip. She wanted talent, yes. Everyone wants a horse capable of competing at the highest level. But Robin wanted a horse she could enjoy on the journey. And she found him on the very first ride.
Article written by Elizabeth Arnold Photography by Shane Rux Photography & Cody Parmenter Photography
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