Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, November 25, 1993

Probably Shirley HIGHTSHOE'S winning that meant the most to her came in 1992. She showed a grand champion Quarter Horse, called Chelsey (paper name "Charm a Nurse") at halter in a district 4 Quarter Horse show held in Osceola in September.

(For this, she was awarded the trophy with the horse figure, shown in the picture at left.)

But, 1993 has been a very good year as well.

Shirley and husband, Dave, and son, Bill, have formed a family business they call "HIGHTSHOE Quarter Horses." The nine brood mares, show horses and colts are kept at two farm locations west of Mount Ayr.

It has involved Shirley as a trainer and rider in performance classes and she and Bill show them at halter. Dave helps with grooming, feeding, breaking and conditioning them and presently is working with a two-year-old Palomino/Quarter horse. They also raise horses for sale.

These efforts come after or before other employment hours.

(Shirley is a partner in "Shirley and Dave's Computers." Dave is foreman for the Ringgold County secondary road maintenance crew and Bill is a partner in "K & B Trucking.")

And, it does take effort!

Shirley trains the horses at least one hour per day, per riding horse. This often means a workout every night. She has to stop in the winter because at present they don't have an indoor arena. Dave works year-round keeping the horses in peak condition."

When there is a show the "HIGHTSHOE Quarter Horses" crew could start preparations anywhere from 3-5 a.m. and night not be back home until very late in the night.

They belong to the American Quarter Horse Association, the Palomino Association, and have an Amateur Card. They show in competition of the Four Rivers circuit (northern half of Missouri) and the Southern Iowa Trail Riders Association. They also belong to saddle clubs in Union County, at Bedford and in Ringgold County. In the off-season they go on trail rides with these saddle club members.

In February of 1993 they were part of those in the community who revived the Ringgold County Saddle Club. Dave is the president of this group of some 30-40 members.

To Shirley, rejoining the Ringgold County Saddle Club meant "coming home." As a teen-ager she rode with what was then the saddle club with the largest membership of any in Iowa, the Ringgold County Saddle Club.

Dave was exposed to horses because his father, the late Ted HIGHTSHOE, raised and trained American Saddle horses.

At present the Ringgold Saddle Club is doing "team pinning." In this, from among a number of cows in an arena, a given number are sorted out by a rider on horseback, and taken to a pen. There is a one and one-half minutes time limit. The Club is planning to hold competition in 1994.

In 1993 Shirley participated in competition of the Four-Rivers Circuit and the Southern Iowa Trail Riders Association.

In spite of all the rain, which meant rescheduling and canceling of some shows, she accumulated enough points (awarded for winnings in shows during the May/October season) to take home some honors.

She received clock plaques in recognition of first placings in the following classes: three-year-old or older mares, ladies western pleasure, open walk/trot, and ladies senior western pleasure open; also a second in the three-year-olds or older geldings/stallions. These were all in Four Rivers competition.

In Southern Iowa Trail Riders Association competition she had a second in a mares class.

At the 1993 Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, she showed two different horses, a gelding and a mare, to third placings in halter classes. At the 1993 American Royal in Kansas City, MO she showed an aged mare Quarter Horse to a third place in the halter class.

In addition to the grand champion shown in 1992, HIGHTSHOES had a first placing mare in the halter class competition of the Southern Iowa Trail Riders Association and in the Four Rivers, seconds in a halter class for three-year-olds and older mares and in a performance class for riders 39 years old and older.

All this may be a prelude to bigger and better things for "HIGHTSHOES Quarter Horses" in 1994.

NOTE: Shirley and Mister Good Bar Wrapper placed 3rd in Amateur Walk/Trot, Iowa Quarter Horse Association's Amateur 2009 Point Standings. (www.iowaquarterhorse.com)

Shirley and Mister Good Bar Wrapper placed 3rd in Novice Amateur Walk/Trot, 2nd in Amateur Walk/Trot, 2011 Iowa Quarter Horse Show.

Transcription and notes by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2012