Tonight, Starnes was in the saddle for Gavin and Rebecca Rawlings of Australia, who received a whopping $50,000 check for their horse’s big win.

“He got done showing in the Amateur Pleasure yesterday morning [with owner Kristen Galyean], and I don’t think he got up until this morning when he came to show. He’s very special.”

“He started out good by winning the Tom Powers Futurity, and he’s just been getting better as he goes. I could just kind of feel this one coming.”

“I think we’re finally going to have a decent meal. We’ve been up all hours of the night. We may even, by the afternoon, dip into a little wine!”

“Every pattern he did today was perfect. I swear it’s that pole bending in the Versatility that just makes him give in to life!”

“When I called him and asked how I did, Jason said, ‘You’re at a 220, so you’re in eighth place.’ He wanted it to be a surprise that I was going to win.”

Amateur all-around exhibitors are definitely being put through their paces today at the Congress with a jam-packed schedule that includes almost every western performance event for the Amateur and Select divisions. Trail, Western Pleasure, Western Riding, and Horsemanship are among the disciplines that will be exhibited in the Celeste Arena.

The ever popular Amateur Versatility competition provided some thrills and spills tonight at the Quarter Horse Congress. In addition to some fierce competition that kept the crowd on its toes, one of the competing horses wandered away during a tack change and two riders were unseated during the pole bending portion of the class.

“Every time [I show], he is watching,” she says. “He sets his alarm clock and gets up in the middle of the night. If I had to show in the evening, he would get up at 3 in the morning!”

“There are two goes that stand out in my life,” Gilliam says. “One was at the Redbud with the horse I won the World Show with [Design By Leaguer], and then there’s this one.”