Success was not necessarily a given for the pretty bay filly that Iowa Non-Pro competitor Tessa Sutton calls her show partner.

Sutton’s mom, Amy Lynch, was actually the one who picked So Dang Hot, sired by Batt Man and out of Born Lopin, from among hundreds of yearlings entered in the Quarter Horse Congress’ Yearling Sale in 2018.

“My family had a few years off from having foals out of our mare so we needed something to show,” Sutton explained. “I really wanted to show in the Congress Sales Stakes class for the 2019 Congress so we started our search.”

Hip #80 wasn’t on Sutton and her trainer, Pat Heeley’s short list but they were not having much luck buying one that was.

“She was a pretty dark bay but quite small. We knew it was a risk but went ahead and snatched her up, knowing, with her strong dam line, she would be a good broodmare if all else fails.”

As Heeley got started breaking So Dang Hot there were still concerns that her size could prohibit her from making it as a 2-year-old. But little by little the youngster started to convince everyone not to worry.

“She was quite small but could lope all day long,” Sutton said. “And, on the longe line she could really hold her shoulder up.”

But there was something else, something that ended up being even more important.

“She had the biggest, strongest heart so we just knew she would make it.”

By the time October rolled around, Heeley was starting to get optimistic.

“I think that the way she profiles going down the rail really sets her apart,” he said. “She’s just so matched up and balanced all the time. She never changes.”

But as everyone knows, the All-American Quarter Horse Congress is a different animal altogether and anything can happen.

“We had no idea what to expect with a non-pro showing her first,” Sutton explained. “But she went in there like an old pro and we ended up Reserve Champions in the Limited Non-Pro Sale Stakes class at the 2019 Congress and third in the Open Division of the class.”

The team also placed fifth in the Congress 2-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure Open Division.

“She was so quiet and easy – like she’d done it 100 times,” Sutton said. “I was shocked that our little under-dog sale horse had turned out to be such a great show horse.”

And, she’s showing no sign of slowing down yet. After the Congress So Dang Hot was next shown at the Arizona Sun Circuit where she and Tessa won the Level 2 Amateur Western Pleasure on two judges’ cards. Then it was off to an American Quarter Horse Association Show Circuit in Cathage, Missouri where she won the Junior Western Pleasure Circuit Championship with Heeley and Sutton was undefeated in Level 2 Amateur Western Pleasure, winning the circuit championship as well.

At the Madness in Wilmington, Ohio, Tessa and So Dang Hot won the 3-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure and were Top 5 in the 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure.

And just a month ago Tessa and So Dang Hot were third in the Breeders Championship Futurity 3-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure at the National Snaffle Bit Association’s World Championship Show.

“Tessa is a strong rider so it makes my job coaching easy,” Heeley said. “I don’t have to watch every move she’s making with the horse. I think her strength is her ability to show so well. She’s very good at navigating the show pen and finding the best way to present her horse.”

“Sutton is no stranger to the show world, starting at just age 2, and showing in the youth and amatuer all around events under the guidance of Vicky Holt Parker. In 2006, she won the Novice Youth 15-18 Horsemanship at the Congress with JD’s Like Poison.

“I moved into futurity horses when we started breeding our own out of Good Looks Are Vital, our full sister to Vital Signs Are Good in 2015,” she said.

That was the same year she enlisted the help of Heeley for their first offspring out of Good Looks Are Vital, Relaxx Monn, a 2013 bay gelding by Lazy Loper.

“Pat was an easy choice as he is located in Iowa,” she said. “He is, in our opinion, one of the hardest working people at the horse show (you hardly ever see him not on the back of a horse) and passionate about the young futurity horses and putting a solid foundation on them which is what we really enjoy so it works out great.”

Relaxx Monn won several Western Pleasure futurities as a 4-year-old with both Sutton and Heeley. He also claimed a NSBA World Championship in Hunter Under saddle with Parker and a Reserve Congress Championship with Sutton.

“Since Relaxx Monn I’ve successfully shown another foal we raised, Moonlit Vitals – who is now a superstar in the Trail with Brad Ost and Troy Lehn,” Sutton said. “We haven’t had a foal out of her since 2018, so I had a few years without babies – which is why we ended up with #80 as a sale horse.”

Sutton and So Dang Hot will next travel to Scottsdale, Arizona for the Fall Championship Shows, where they will compete in the 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure and the Amateur Western Pleasure. Then it’s off to the AQHA World Championship Show in November.

“This will be my first Amateur World Show so just to break the top 10 on a 3-year-old would be a huge win in my book,” Sutton said.

The team will wrap up the year by competing at the Tom Powers Christmas Challenge in Ocala in December.

“She hasn’t slowed down one bit – winning over $10,000 to date in just one year. I don’t think any of us ever expected her to be what she is today,” Sutton said.

Tessa plans to continuing showing her in Western Pleasure next year and possibly add some Western Riding in the future.

“We will eventually have some babies out of her so I really look forward to that,” she said.

She also has a 2-year-old contender in Good Vybes, a 2018 bay mare by Certain Potential out of I Will Be The Best.

Sutton showed Good Vybes to a win in the 2-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the Madness and a Reserve Championship in the BCF 2-Year-Old Intermediate Non-Pro Western Pleasure atthe NSBA World Show. Heeley earned a Reserve Championship with her at the Madness in the 2-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure.

Good Vybes was supposed to also be a Congress Sale Stakes horse but with no Congress, we’ve just shown her here and there in the 2-year-old events,” Sutton said. “We are focusing more on next year with her but I will probably show her at the Powers in December.”

A graduate of the University of Iowa with a degree in economics, Sutton went on to earn a MBA at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and works as a Manager of Finance Business Partnering & Pricing at Pearson Education.

“We work to strategically price, develop, deliver, score, and report large-scale year-end state school assessments,” she explained.

Any remaining free time is spent with her husband, Aaron and their son, Cash, at their new “dream home” two miles from her parents’ farm outside West Branch, Iowa.

“I attribute most of our success in the horses to my mom, who is the backbone to this operation. It is a passion we share together and wouldn’t be possible without her,” Tessa said. “My dad doesn’t have much to do with the horses besides helping raise the babies at home but has always been very supportive of this crazy passion we have. We enjoy raising our own babies and watching them mature into show horses.”