Grit, Grace & Determination – Shannon Quinlan Hill

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150 – March/April, 2026

By Megan Sacia Ulrich

Grit. Perhaps there is no better word to describe trainer Shannon Quinlan Hill, though ‘passion’ is likely a close second. This driven young woman was in the saddle before she could sit upright, and she was showing hunters by age three. But there’s also no better illustration of her perseverence than the 2025 Quarter Horse Congress.

Hill was looking forward to piloting AQHA stallion EverybodysTalkinAtMe through the Open 4- and 5-Year-Old Ranch Riding, an event the pair took Reserve in last year. But life was about to up the degree of difficulty substantially. Just three days before the anticipated Sunday class, and 12 hours before she and husband Brad were slotted to move a total of 15 horses in to their Congress stalls, Shannon was undergoing an emergency appendectomy.

For most, those Congress plans would have been replaced with pain killers and Jell-O, but Shannon gritted her teeth, vet wrapped her stomach, and climbed aboard, emerging with a Congress Championship.

She did the same to win the 3-Year-Old Open Ranch Riding Futurity the next day aboard Daytona Five Hundred.

Click here to read the complete article
150 – March/April, 2026