Good Version, a 1990 bay American Quarter Horse Association stallion, sired by Zippos Mr Good Bar and out of Winnie The Tiger (by Tiger Leo), is being inducted into the National Snaffle Bit Association’s Hall of Fame in the Breeding Horse category, according to John Wainscott.

Wainscott, who co-owned and stood Good Version for most of his life, said he was notified of the impending induction by NSBA officials last night and admits receiving that call was very emotional.

“All I could think of was all the times I’d walk into the barn and he was standing there,” Wainscott said. “I was lucky enough to have been the one who owned him but there were so many people who played a part in his success.”

Bred by Stan and Mary Kay Steyskal of Papillion, Nebraska, Good Version was purchased by Ann Admonius in July of his 2-year-old year and in October he won the 2-Year-Old Limited Western Pleasure at the All-American Quarter Horse Congress with Troy Compton aboard. As a 3-year-old, Good Version won the Nebraska Silver Classic Breeders Futurity in Western Pleasure. John Wainscott spotted the youngster there and saw his potential to be a breeding horse.

It took a long time for me to find a horse I thought had the potential to be as outstanding a sire as Good Version turned out to be,” Wainscott said. “He had all the pieces. He had already won the Congress so he had proven himself in the show pen. He had the necessary conformation. He had good feet. His movement was effortless and he had a topline second to none.”

Wainscott, along with Ken Tugwell, Keith Whistle and Fred Bates went together and purchased Good Version from Admonius and he continued to be prepared for the 3-year-old Western Pleasure at the Congress. Unfortunately, Good Version suffered a cut on his eye shortly before the event and the medications being administered to him to treat it prevented him from competing there. Wainscott bought out Tugwell, Bates and Whistle and then formed an ownership partnership with Bill and Brenda Guffey, of Indiana. They immediately focused on developing Good Version as a sire.

“I don’t believe anyone could have ever believed more in their horse as I did in Vern,” Wainscott said. “He was born the same year as my son, Kyle, and I consider myself lucky to have had the privilege of owning him. But there were so many people who contributed to his success. Troy showed him to his Congress Championship. There were all the others who believed in him enough to also be his owners at some point of his life. Kenny Lakins played a big part in his success by training and showing so many of his outstanding offspring and believing so strongly about them as show horses. And then there were all of the people who bred their mares to him. All of these people share in his success as far as I’m concerned.”

A Good Poo

Good Version is the sire of 1,371 AQHA foals and 721 of them have been performers. To date they have recorded 37,687 AQHA points; $558,041.92 in Incentive Fund earnings; and $81,009.22 in AQHA World Show earnings.

Good Version foals earned two AQHA Amateur World Championships, one AQHA Youth World Championship; four AQHA Open Reserve World Championships; one AQHA Amateur Reserve World Championship and one AQHA Youth Reserve World Championship. They also earned eight open, 10 amateur and 13 youth AQHA Championships.

Good Version foals also logged $578,337.97 in NSBA earnings. They recorded 128 halter and 1,736 performance points in Palomino Horse Breeders of America (PHBA) competition and 18 halter and 818 performance points in International Buckskin Horse Association competition.

Several Good Version offspring captured AQHA High Point and Reserve High Point titles in open, youth and amateur divisions, including Miss Iron Version, SheThinksShesSomething and Gypsys Little Image. In all they earned two Open, 12 Amateur and two Youth AQHA High Point titles as well as two Amateur High Point All-Around titles.

Miss Iron Version

Good Version’s first foal to win a Congress Championship came in 1998 when Built To Be Good (out of the Thoroughbred mare Built To Order) won the Novice Amateur Hunter Under Saddle.

Then in 1999 three of his offspring captured Reserve Championship titles at the Congress: A Good Poo (out of Zippos Tinky Poo) was Reserve Champion in the 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure; Good N Troubled was Reserve Champion in the Limited division of the 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure and Goodness Im Hot was Reserve Champion in Novice Amateur Western Pleasure. Good Timin Slow Poke became the first Good Version foal to place at the AQHA World Championship Show in 1999 with a 10^th place finish in Junior Trail. That year Good Version was named the leading sire of 2-year-old money earning foals according to AQHA reports and he was fifth overall for money earning foals.

In 2000 A Good Poo returned to the Congress to capture Championship titles in both the 3-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure with Greg Wheat in the saddle as well as the 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure with owner Roby Roberts.

Good Version died in 2006 but his offspring continue to win in show arenas all over the globe.

“It was right before the Congress and it hit me hard,” Wainscott said. “I thought for the longest time I wanted to be done with horses. He was special.”

Good Version and the rest of the 2016 Hall of Fame inductees will be honored during NSBA’s annual awards banquet, held during the association’s World Championship Show and Breeders Championship Futurity Aug. 13-21, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.