Bridey Greeson & TC Heiress • Photo by Kristin Pitzer

From White Line to Winner

Bridey Greeson & TC Heiress • Photo by Kristin Pitzer

After the 2015 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity, Bridey Greeson pulled TC Heiress’ left front shoe off and discovered the mare had white line disease. After having 80 percent of her hoof removed, TC Heiress sat in a stall recovering until September of 2016.

After making a full recovery, she carried Boyd Rice to the 2017 NCHA Super Stakes Open finals. The Greeson family was struck by more adversity, though, when Greeson’s husband, Milton, was diagnosed with cancer, leaving the couple unable to show while he went through treatment and she cared for him. Now that he’s doing better, both Greesons showed horses at the Abilene Spectacular, and Greeson and her hard luck mare walked away 5/6-Year-Old Unlimited Amateur Champions.

“She’s definitely got a quirky personality, and she loves to buck with me all the time,” Greeson said with a laugh. “As a matter of fact, the first time I tried her, she broke in two. All of a sudden, in the past month, she’s matured a lot.

“I rode her to practice all during the [NCHA] Futurity,” she continued. “I think that’s what really helped me show her better, is that I’m no longer afraid of her. She’s so athletic and it’s scary. But riding her all through the Futurity and practicing made a big difference for her and for me.”

The duo marked a 220 for the title, collecting $4,500. This pushed the mare’s lifetime earnings to more than $32,000 and Greeson’s past the $200,000 milestone. By Third Cutting, TC Heiress is out of Peptos Stylish Sue (by Peptos Stylish Oak), a producer of 11 money-earners that have collected more than $258,000.

“The [mare] that Boyd got his first major title on is the mother of this mare,” Greeson said. “Of course, everyone remembers Boyd and Third Cutting. It’s the first time he’s had a horse like that, that he showed the daddy and the dam, so that’s fun!”

Greeson and TC Heiress will likely next go to the Arbuckle Mountain Futurity, and in April, they have something even bigger to look forward to – the mare’s first baby, a foal by Thomas E Hughes, is due April 2.

5/6-Year-Old Amateur

In the 4-Year-Old Amateur, Christina Huntley, 17, showed her mare Dibz to a 212, which garnered the Reserve Championship and $2,500. Things only got better from there, as she then went into the 5/6-Year-Old Amateur finals with HR Cats Starlight and marked a 221, winning the Championship.

“It’s special. I haven’t been showing aged event horses for that long,” Huntley said. “This horse – we call him ‘HR’ – he’s actually my first aged event horse. I won my first aged event on him at the West Texas [Futurity].

“I had a good run on him in the go-round and I just wanted to get up there, get cut clean and kind of let him do what he does,” she continued of HR’s run in Abilene. “He’s got such a great eye appeal, and he’s so pretty.”

This was Huntley’s first limited-age event showing horses in different classes, and she was proud of the results.

“These two horses could not be any different – like, any different,” she said. “The way they ride, the way they work, the way they are to be around.

“She’s real busy and she’s tiny compared to HR,” she continued of Dibz. “She’s not as strong as he is, but she’s really quick and really cowy.”

HR is by High Brow Cat and is the highest-earning performer out of the Grays Starlight mare Nurse Gray with earnings of $141,341, including the winner’s check of $4,000 and the Gelding Amateur Championship check of $1,910. Dibz, by Woody Be Tuff, is out of DPs Lenas Lucinda (by Dual Pep).

Huntley, of Houston, is a senior in high school, and she plans to attend Mays Business School at Texas A&M University after graduation.

“Thank you to everybody that helped me,” she said after her Abilene runs. “Tonight I had Casey Green and Tarin [Rice] in the corners with me, and Boyd Rice and Lloyd Cox.”

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