Shine Smartly is no stranger to the winner’s circle, but she has been on a 3-year hiatus. After winning world titles in the NRCHA and the American Quarter Horse Association as well as taking reserve in the 2007 NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman, the 11-year-old mare earned more than $90,000 and was turned out as a broodmare for a few years. But when she lost her foal last fall, her owners Walter Greeman and Tammy Jo Hays decided to send her back to the show pen.

“We decided to go ahead and ride her and bring her back and put her over the $100,000 mark,” said Shawn Hays, Tammy Jo’s husband.

Shine Smartly and Hays of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, won the NRCHA Derby Holy Cow Performance Horses $50,000 Added Bridle Spectacular and were reserve at the National Stock Horse Association World’s Richest Stockhorse, increasing Shine Smartly’s winnings to $103,052. And on October 2, another $7,560 was added to her lifetime earnings when Hays and the Shining Spark mare, who is out of Smartly Dressed, won the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Bridle Championship, marking a 217 in the rein work and a 227 in the cow work.

“She was really good,” Hays said of the 444 composite run. “I was a little soft in the reining – I could have ran her harder in the circles and stuff but I didn’t want to run her out of gas for the cow work. I wanted to make sure she had plenty of air before we went down the fence. She’s always been a good little fence horse. She’s just a little show horse.”

And she’s producing show horses as well with Shiny Knickers, a 3-year-old gelding out of her by Nic It In The Bud, making it back to the Intermediate Open Finals, where he and his rider Doug Koontz placed thirteenth.

Along with the check for the Open Bridle title, Shine Smartly also won a Bob’s Custom Saddle courtesy of Cottonwood Springs Ranch and Floyd Miller; a Gist Silversmiths buckle sponsored by Debbie Sanguinetti and Tish Wilhite; a C.R. Morrison NRCHA trophy; romal reins courtesy of Benny and Steve Guitron; a monogrammed Cinch down vest from Bob’s Custom Saddles; Platinum Performance; and a C.R. Morrison commemorative medal.

Hays and Shine Smartly also took home the Runaway Creek Open Bridle Mare award, presented annually since 2007 by Bert and Lori Hornback of Runaway Creek Ranch.

Each year an individual name plate is added, naming the high-scoring mare of the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Bridle class to the list that already carries the names of the past winners since 1974. The perpetual trophy resides at Runaway Creek Ranch, while Greeman and Hays received a C.R. Morrison trophy to keep.

Winning the Open Bride reserve championship were Lil Miss Shiney Chex (Shining Spark x Lil Miss Smarty Chex) and Jay McLaughlin with a 443.5. Owner Carol Rose received a check for $6,048; a monogrammed Cinch vest from Bob’s Custom Saddles; Platinum Performance; and a C.R. Morrison commemorative medallion.

The National Reined Cow Horse Association, now in its 61st year, is the governing body of cow horse competition, is responsible for promoting the sport, insuring high standards of competition and educating members and the public about the history and tradition of the cow horse. Through the support of a Corporate Partner family that includes Adequan, Bob’s Custom Saddles, Cinch, Classic Equine, Gist Silversmiths, John Deere, Markel Insurance, MD Barns, Merial products ULCERGARD and EQUIOXX, Nutrena, Pfizer Animal Health, Platinum Performance, Quarter Horse News, Rios of Mercedes, Running W Designs, the Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino, and Wide World of Horses, the Association works to keep the vaquero tradition alive in today’s equine industry.

For information on the National Reined Cow Horse Association, call 580-759-4949 or visit the NRCHA Official Web Site at www.nrcha.com.