Tatum has some pretty special horse-showing Marine parents; we met them at the 2011 Region 10 Championship. (Scroll down for more Journal photos!)

Jack and Amy McLallen are both Marines, and have been deployed all over the world and the United States. Right now, Jack is stationed at Cherry Point and Amy is at Camp LeJeune.

In their non-military life, Jack has just completed farrier training and Amy’s dream is to show her American Quarter Horses at AQHA shows. The McLallens hauled in for the Region 10 Championship so Amy could try OHK Krymsun Gold, aka “Okie,” in the western pleasure. Jack and Amy just bought the horse in January.

“I have been spectating for many years,” Amy says, “and I’ve been showing open for a lot of years…. I have two good horses now, and I thought this is my year to transition to (AQHA).” Amy plans to show Okie and a hunt seat horse she bred and raised named Skys Smokin Blue.

Amy rode Tennessee Walking horses as a girl, in small local shows, and eventually fell in love with Quarter Horses. Her aunt showed paints and that’s where she got the showing bug.

“I’ve been chasing the Quarter Horse dream ever since,” she says.

It’s tough to juggle showing horses with the military life – Jack and Amy have been everywhere from Iraq to Kosovo, never together.

“We’re (both) home now, and we’re going to take this year and see what we can do with the Quarter Horses,” Amy says. “This is the first year that we’ve been able to think about it. Because we’ve got the good horses and we know we’re going to be somewhere where we can focus on it.”

The couple has their own stable, and they train when they can with BMG Show Horses of Staunton, Virginia. Jack brings his farrier tools whenever they hit the show road.

The civilian world might be surprised to know that many military bases have a base stables, Amy says.

“Before we built our place, we use to laugh about the base stables because the military people have the most bomb-proof horses, literally,” Amy explains. “In the background there is always something being detonated, aircraft flying over all day long, a bomb going off in the background somewhere distant. The horses are like, whatever.”

Amy is most pleased that her horses are the kind she and Jack can let Tatum ride around the grounds of any horse show, without worry.

“I’ve always said: If I’m going to be in the military, I’m going to be a Marine; if I’m going to show horses, I’m going to show Quarter Horses.

“I will be out there at 80, still chasing that dream.”

Want in on the fun? Find your Region and hit the road; Region 10 is the first Regional Championship of 2011.

Scroll down for the Journal slide show from the second and third days of Region 10 competition. (Click on the image for the captions).