Tracy’s mare, Hot Obsession, was an all-around great American Quarter Horse.

Tracy Mills and Hot Obsession

From the archives of The American Quarter Horse Journal

Tracy Mills of Lloydminster, Alberta, enjoys showing in all-around events and wanted to get an AQHA championship title with Hot Obsession, aka “Suzy.” On July 10, 2005, she earned the last halter point required for the title.

Her next goal was to earn an amateur Supreme champion title. When she called AQHA to find out what she needed to do to complete the Supreme award, she found out she had actually earned the award the same day she earned the AQHA champion title.

Ready to start earning money doing what you love? The AQHA Incentive Fund pays participants for showing and breeding their American Quarter Horses.

“Suzy is a very pretty mare, but getting those halter points was the hardest,” Tracy says. “She had tons of performance points but is a true performance horse and not a halter mare. We were always first behind the real halter mares.”

Tracy and Suzy earned 296 amateur points: 108 showmanship, 51.5 trail, 42 hunter under saddle, 33.5 horsemanship, 24.5 hunt seat equitation, 21 western pleasure, 18 halter and 15.5 western riding. Their AQHA record includes 43 all-around championships, one grand championship, four reserve championships, Superiors in showmanship and trail, and Registers of Merit in performance and halter.

In 2004, Tracy and Suzy placed fifth in the year-end amateur limited rider horsemanship, sixth in amateur limited rider hunt seat equitation and seventh in amateur limited rider western pleasure. In 2005, they finished the all-around amateur year-end standings in 10th place.

They were the Alberta Quarter Horse Association high-point all-around novice amateur in 2002, high-point junior all-around and amateur horse in 2003, high-point senior all-around and amateur all-around in 2004, and amateur high-point all-around and reserve open senior horse in 2005. Suzy was the association’s high-point Alberta-bred horse every year from 2002 to 2005.

Suzy loves showing and knows when she has given a good performance.

“She barely lets you get back to the stall before she is searching for her carrot or horse cookie treats,” Tracy says. “On any occasion when I am a little slow getting the treats out, she simply walks into the tack stall and gets them herself. She has given many a laugh to those I show with who’ve been able to see the back half of her hanging out of the tack stall. The funniest thing, though, is that if she’s given me a less than stellar performance, she won’t even look for treats because she knows she doesn’t deserve them.”

Tracy is a high school teacher. Her husband, Kevin, enjoys recreational riding, and their 5-year-old son, Ben, rides Suzy when Mom’s not showing. If Tracy has non-horsey friends come to visit, she can count on Suzy to give them a safe ride.

“She never takes advantage of the situation, except to be a little lazy,” Tracy says.

“For me, Suzy has proven herself in the show ring, and the only place left to explore is in the mommyhood category,” Tracy says. “My hope is that in the future, she will raise some babies that are just like her.”

Find out how AQHA’s Incentive Fund works. How can you get paid for doing what you love?