In the horse industry, there are very few trainer-client relationships that have been able to stand the test of time quite as well as the one Missouri trainer Jon Barry enjoys with Dana Hunt Smith’s family.

            Over the course of 30-plus years, there have been plenty of challenges. There has been tragedy. There has been success. There has been disappointment. But through it all, there has been mutual respect and a passion for the horse.

            Barry recalls with clarity the first conversation he ever had with Dana’s father, Wayne Hunt, a Kentucky farmer who, at the time, owned Agri-Chem fertilizer company.

            “He told me that he had bought several horses for his daughter, Dana, to show and asked me what I should do with them,” Barry recalled. “I told him he should sell them all and buy her one good one.”

            In 1989 Wayne called Barry to tell him Dana had been injured in a car accident and suffered a spinal cord injury (CSI) that had left her paralyzed from the neck down. He also asked Barry if he would help Dana ride and show.

            “I told him I had never been around anyone with a handicap like that, to which he replied ‘she’s not like anyone else who is handicapped.’ Boy was he right,” Barry said.

            The first horse Barry had in training for the Hunts was An Impressive Twist, a 1983 sorrel mare by Impressive On Deck and out of Little Dixie Twist.

            “When I first met Jon I was so nervous,” Dana recalled. “I had watched him and the kids he hauled to shows at the Kentucky State Fair show.  He and his group always seemed to win.  He was a level far ahead of what I showed.”  

            “They brought me the mare and we didn’t know what would happen,” Barry recalls. “Wayne went home and built a special saddle for Dana to ride in. He is the most innovative person I know.”

            The stirrups on the saddle were fixed so they turned out. Leather straps tied Dana’s knees to the girth and there was a strap on her hips. 

            “The biggest challenge was ‘what will she do with her hands,’” Barry said. “So a handle was drilled into the saddle so she could rest her free hand on it to help her sit up. The first creation was made as a work saddle and then Blue Ribbon built a show version of it for Dana to show in. There was metal in the fenders to help keep Dana’s legs in and velcro placed in her stirrups to help keep her legs still.”

            The plan was for Jon to show Twist in Open Western Pleasure events while Dana showed her in Amateur classes. She had already earned over 40 Western Pleasure points but now Jon had to have the mare prepared so that she would maintain her legs and topline but at the same time stay in frame and remain forgiving enough for Dana’s limitations. Success came almost immediately and in no time their goals became lofty.

            “It was Dana’s goal to qualify for and show in Amateur Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show,” Barry said.

            And that Dana did – in 1990.

            “Jon treated me normal, which I loved,” Dana recalled. “He expected me to give all I could and do just about as much as other people.  I think he had to spend more time training my horses and never complained.  If everyone practiced at night then I did too. He worked so hard getting me to the shows to get qualified. My first qualification was 35 or 40 points.  We got them on the very last day of qualifying.  He was so happy.  Just as happy as I was.”

            At the 1990 All-American Quarter Horse Congress, Barry and An Impressive Twist won the Versatility Western Pleasure and were Reserve Champions overall.

            This is about the time they experienced one of those disappointments.

            In November, at the AQHA World Show, Jon’s appendix ruptured and he was unable to show Twist in Senior Western Pleasure. That’s when Jody Galyean stepped in and saved the day, by riding her to a Reserve Championship. Dana made the finals in Amateur Western Pleasure but did not place that year but still counts it as one of the accomplishments of which she is most proud.

            “It was the beginning of my riding career in a wheelchair and we had taken on a big mission,” she said. “We had to figure it out as we went along.  There was no one to call and say, ‘hey how did you do this or what kind of saddle do we need.’  We were breaking new ground and had to come up with it all on our own.”        

            By the end of the year Zippo By Moonlight, a 1988 sorrel mare by Zippo Pine Bar and out of Ima Blister Bug had been purchased.

            “We bought her as a 2-year-old,” Barry said. “Chris Arnold had been showing her successfully and the next year we won multiple futurities all across the country.” 

            Barry and Zippo By Moonlight won the 3-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure at the Triple Challenge events in Berrien Springs, Michigan and in Tampa, Florida. They capped off 1991 by capturing an AQHA World Championship in Junior Western Pleasure.

            By 1992 Dana was married to Eric Smith and expecting her first child so Jon spent the whole year showing Zippo By Moonlight in maturities and AQHA Western Pleasure classes. They also started adding Western Riding to their repertoire. That year Zippo By Moonlight qualified for the AQHA World Show in both Junior Western Riding and Junior Western Pleasure. She and Jon captured a Reserve World Championship title in Junior Western Pleasure.

            In 1993 Dana returned to the show arena, competing with Moonlight in Non-Pro Maturities and in Amateur Western Pleasure classes and Jon continued to compete in Maturities and in Senior Western Pleasure classes.

            In 1993 Dana and Moonlight qualified for the AQHA World Show for the first time. They didn’t place but they did the next three years – 10th in 1994; and sixth in 1995 and 1996.

            During their partnership in the show pen Dana and Moonlight earned 153 AQHA points and logged over $7,700 in Incentive Fund earnings and nearly $9,000 in AQHA World Championship Show earnings. In addition, they tied for Reserve in Amateur Western Pleasure at the Quarter Horse Congress.

            In 1994 Shesa Hot Cookie joined the family. The 1990 chestnut mare by Zips Chocolate Chip and out of Beckys Melody was purchased at the Tom Powers Futurity.

            “She was never defeated in a 3-year-old Western Pleasure futurity,” Barry said. “And we had a lot of them back then.”

            Barry was judging the Congress that year so Keith Whistle was tapped to show her and they won the 3-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure Snaffle Bit Derby.

            “Shesa Hot Cookie was sold in May of 1995 for more money than any Western Pleasure horse had been at that point and her new owner hauled her to win the AQHA Honor Roll title in Amateur Western Pleasure that year.

            “The new owners brought her back to me in 1996 and said all they wanted to do was win the Congress with her,” Barry explained. “I won the Senior Western Pleasure with her that same year and Dana bought her back immediately. She started showing her in Amateur Western Pleasure and qualified her for the World Show the next year.”

            In 1999 Dana purchased Zips Chocolate Swirl, a 1996 chestnut mare by Zips Chocolate Chip and out of Goin Glowin Gone. She showed her in Amateur Western Pleasure, and qualified her for the AQHA World Show, while Barry won several maturities on her, including at the Tom Powers Futurity. She was sold to Jessica Bailey, who rode her to a Youth World Championship in Western Pleasure in 2003.

World Class Mares

            By now, Wayne and Dana, with the help of Barry, had accumulated some of the finest mares in the industry. There was Reserve World Champion An Impressive Twist with 250 AQHA points; World and Reserve World Champion Zippo By Moonlight with 234 AQHA points and now Congress and AQHA Honor Roll Champion Shesa Hot Cookie.

            “We had to decide what to do with the other mares, so we started breeding them,” Barry said. “That’s how Dana’s World Class Mares program was born”

            An Impressive Twist is the dam of four foals including The Impressive Zippo and The Perfect Twist (both by Zippo Pine Bar); Twisted Assets (by Investment Assets) and Hotroddin Sweetie (by Hotroddin Zippo). In all, they earned 240 AQHA points. 

            Zippo By Moonlight put the “World Class” into World Class Mares. Inducted into the NSBA Hall Of Fame in the Breeding Horse category in 1997, Zippo By Moonlight was the dam of 24 total foals, 21 of which were AQHA performers. Her offspring earned 5,454 AQHA points and logged over $186,000 in NSBA earnings; $60,000 in AQHA Incentive Fund earnings; and  $27,000 AQHA World Show earnings. They were Congress Champions, AQHA Reserve World Champions and NSBA World Champions. Among her most decorated foals is Congress Masters Western Pleasure Champion Only In The Moonlite, who sired foals logging over 13,000 AQHA points and $1,035,258 in earnings. She is also the dam of Zippos ATM, who won the Congress 3-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure the same year Only In The Moonlite won the Congress Masters Western Pleasure. In addition, she is the dam of The Immortal, Hes Platinum and Invite Moonlight, just to name a few.

            “Dana always had good luck getting multiple embryos out of her mares,” Barry said. “And almost all of her foals were performers. Sometimes she sold some babies to put others in training because she couldn’t keep them all.”

            Shesa Hot Cookie was sold to Stanley and Susan Scott, Ocala, Florida, and she was also owned by Amy Gumz in Kentucky. During her lifetime, Shesa Hot Cookie produced 25 foals, earning over 1,700 AQHA points and logging over $127,000 in NSBA earnings. Some of her most decorated offspring include AQHA Reserve World Champion Its A Southern Thing, Sheza Hot Invitation and Invite Me For Cookies.

            Over the years, Jon and Dana forged a strong bond, with Barry helping her in the show pen and helping her decide which sires to cross her mares on and how to market the foals.

            “We’ve had 30 years of great horses and great memories,” Dana said. “I think the breeding program I had with Moonlight had a lot to do with it. After I stopped showing, I watched and supported the babies. Moonlight was a one-mare breeding operation that produced great show horses every year, and Jon rode a lot of them at some point in their lives.  Every year there was a new crop of babies. So, we’ve stayed connected with him riding her babies, showing them, and selling them.”  

            Even after the passing of Impressive Twist and Zippo By Moonlight, Dana kept daughters and bred them to top stallions to continue to produce some of the industry’s most talented offspring.

            “Dana had a daughter of Impressive Zip by Hotroddin Zippo that has had several nice foals, including Twist Of Moonlight (by Only In The Moonlite),” Barry said. “When Casey (Willis) worked for me Twist Of Moonlight was his first NSBA World Champion in the 3-Year-Old Western Pleasure. He had several wins with him that year at the NSBA World Show in Limited Open 3-Year-Old Western Pleasure and in BCF (Breeders Championship Futurity) classes. They were also Reserve AQHA World Champions that year in Junior Western Pleasure.”

            These days, the focus is on the future and adapting to meet the needs of Dana’s family and of the direction in which the industry is headed. 

            “Now that Moonlight is passed on and we sold her last baby, we started a new venture,” Dana explained. 

            Her daughter, Chloe had been riding and showing Suddenly Moonlight, a daughter of Zippo By Moonlight and had even won a Reserve Congress Championship on in Small Fry Western Pleasure. But she tired of riding in circles and wanted to try something new. Both Dana and Chloe loved watching Reining classes so Dana expressed an interest in going in that direction to Barry. She ended up purchasing Im Done Sparkling, a 2013 bay mare, sired by Slip Slydun Away and out of Lena Spark.

            In 2018 Barry won the Junior Ranch Riding on Im Done Sparkling and then this year won the Open Ranch Riding at the Tom Powers Futurity.          

            They were hooked!

            Next Dana purchased Biker Chic Dream, a 2015 Palomino mare, sired by Magnum Chic Dream and out of Bueno Cuervo Gold. In June Barry rode her to a Reserve Championship in Open Ranch Riding at the Tom Powers Futurity and followed it up in July with two World Championship titles, in Open Ranch Riding and Open Ranch Rail, at this year’s Palomino World Show in Tunica, Mississippi. 

            “So now we are going in a new direction and it’s really been fun,” Dana said. “Jon and his family are like family to us and he’s always had my back and my best interest in mind.”

            Barry is more than happy to oblige.

            “Dana loves the process of winning,” he explained. “And her father is always so appreciative of everything.”

            And besides, the AQHA and NSBA trainer has lots of new ideas.

            “For years I have been talking to leaders in the pleasure horse industry, like Ken Masterson and Darol Rodrock about the necessity of an outcross stallion to help with the small gene pool we currently have,” Barry said. “And I’m really impressed by Magnum Chick Dream, the sire of my Ranch horse.”

            When Barry sold the last daughter out of Zippo By Moonlight that Dana owned, Lazy Lopin Moonlight (by Lazy Loper) they retained an embryo and will cross her with Mangum Chick Dream, a National Reining Horse Association Hall of Fame $5 million sire.

            “I rode a lot of his colts in Ranch Riding and they are all good minded and good movers,” Barry said. “I think it will be a good possibility to get a bionic mover that is capable of an event other than Western Pleasure.”

            Barry’s motives are twofold. 

            “In part, it’s to create an outcross for Western Pleasure horses, but I think it could also be a way to create a boost for the pleasure horse industry. We need more standalone futurities and we need stronger small shows,” Barry said. “The big shows, like the NSBA World Show, are doing fine. But we need to do something to keep the industry strong and growing.”

            Breeding strong and diverse horses that can perform is one way and another is to adapt to keep people, like Dana Hunt Smith and her family interested. It’s a lesson may others should heed.

            For the past few years Dana has been dealing with several health issues. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and underwent surgery and five rounds of chemotherapy. And it was recently discovered that the pain she has been suffering from in her hip is being caused by a tear in in a ligament. She’s awaiting surgery that will hopefully fix that enabling her to get back to the shows.

            In the meantime, Barry takes care of the horses.

            “Jon and his family are like family to us and he’s always had my back and my best interest in mind,” she said. “He took me in, and I was a huge project.  He never blinked an eye or worried that it could go badly for him with me being handicapped.  He just cared about me and my family, and wanted me to do well and reach my goals. We blew my goals out of the water.”

            Barry feels the same way about Dana and her family.

            “They are family to me,” Barry said of Wayne Hunt and Dana and her family. “Wayne says Dana and I are like brother and sister and that is how I feel about her. Like all relatives, we have had our bumps along the way. But through it all, we were always able to communicate. It’s very rare for a client-trainer relationship to last as long as ours has and I there’s nothing I treasure more.”