Anyone with even the slightest bit of experience in the show pen knows that there are many variables that go into the making of a champion. Conformation and genetics have big roles. And of course there’s the training aspect.

But when you start with an animal that is a natural things just seem to fall into place.

That’s what Tali Terlizzi saw in Heres To The Blue (Baby Stallion) that made her decide she had to have him.

Texas trainer Beth Case had purchased the 2020 bay colt by Good I Will Be out of The First Ride from his breeder, Nancy Sue Ryan.

“Beth couldn’t come up with a name for the longest time so she would just call him ‘Baby Stallion,’ and it stuck,” Terlizzi said. “He had such a huge following already I think because Beth was obsessed with him and because of his name.”

A year later Terlizzi saw him again.

“I saw him in a video on Beth’s Facebook that I was like WOW,” she explained. “He was in a round pen with two other yearlings, loping and playing around. Baby Stallion stopped, reared straight up on his hind legs at one of the other yearlings, landed and loped off like he was out showing. That was the moment I knew I had to have him.”

It didn’t take long for Terlizzi to drive home the fact that she knew what she was doing. Just three months after the purchase was complete she and Heres To The Blue won National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Championship titles in both the Open and Limited divisions of the Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line, earning a total of $2,358.80.

“He is slow legged, but has a massive ground covering stride,” she said. “It takes a special kind of talent to do what he can do for such a big horse.”

When it came time to get “Baby Stallion” started under saddle, Terlizzi turned to North Carolina trainers Kaitlin and Kelby Hutchinson, who she had worked with in the past.

“We broke him out as a long  yearling,” Kaitlin said. “He was great. Baby Stallion has been a phenomenal horse from the start. He has a great look – the ‘it factor’ is for sure there on him.  He’s big and square. He profiles awesome.  He is just a total package.”

Heres To The Blue made his debut under saddle by claiming a Reserve title in the 2-Year-Old Open Hunter Under Saddle at the 2022 NSBA World Championship Show.

He started out this year with a bang, claiming a Reserve Championship in the Green Hunter Under Saddle at the Fun In The Sun Futurity in Venice, Florida.

Two months later he claimed a Reserve Championship in the $50,000 3-Year-Old & Over Hunter Under Saddle, at the March To The Arch, earning $7,000. He collected another $2,250 for winning the Super Sires bonus in the class.

He followed that up by winning a bronze in the 3 & Over $2,500 Limited Horse Open Hunter Under Saddle at the Sudden Impulse Futurity in April, earning $3,000. Then in April he won the Novice Horse Hunter Under Saddle at the Virginia Spring Breakout Circuit, home of the Virginia Maiden.

In August he collected another bronze trophy in the Green Hunter Under Saddle at the NSBA World Show and he also placed third in the Breeders Championship Futurity 4 to 6-Year-Old Open Hunter Under Saddle.

Now at 17.2 hands, Heres To The Blue also has a lot of body to him.

“What makes him so special is to be as big as he is and have the strength and movement he does,” Terlizzi said. “As intimidating as he looks, he is one of the sweetest horses I’ve been around. He loves to be pet and snuggled, and has built quite the love for his ‘people’ including Kelby and Kaitlin’s 3-year-old daughter, Saylor.”

The Quarter Horse Congress is next up for Heres To The Blue. Kaitlin will show him in both the Green Hunter Under saddle and the Junior Hunter Hunder Saddle. Terlizzi will also get her turn to show Baby Stallion in the Amateur Hunter Under Saddle.

After the Congress team Baby Stallion will set its sights on the AQHA World Show where he will be shown in the Level 1 and possibly Junior Hunter Under Saddle by Kaitlin Hutchinson and in the Amateur Hunter Under saddle by Terlizzi.

“My goal for him is to win at the Congress,” Terlizzi said. “He’s already earned NSBA World Championship titles so it would be icing on the cake for him to finish out his career as a Congress Champion. After this year he will be starting his new career as a breeding stallion and I hope to see him be one of the best stallions our industry has seen.”

Terlizzi will make an announcement about where Heres To The Blue will stand in 2025 after the conclusion of the Congress but she said he will be enrolled in the NSBA BCF and SIF programs, as well as the Super Sires and Premier Sires.

“He has the size, mind and movement to change the breeding industry. His pedigree alone would be beneficial to any mare that breeds to him. Good I Will Be needs no introduction, and his Dam, The First Ride, is a 100% producer. Every one of her offsprings has won a World or Congress Championship title. I truly believe he will be an extraordinary producer.”

Kaitlin agrees.

“He is a very well rounded horse, especially as a stud prospect,” she said. “He has the size, the look and the mind. He can stand up and lope like a western horse. He is made super square and has a ton of body. Plus, he is super great-minded. He doesn’t take a ton of preparation to show and he has no spook. I think he has so many characteristics we all look for and want in a breeding horse.”

In addition to Heres To The Blue, Terlizzi also owns:

• Hot Dayum, a 2020 bay mare by One Hot Krymsun out of Injoy The Ride, in training with Kelby. She is being shown in Green Western Pleasure and 10k Maturity Western pleasure classes.

• Al Be Bleu, a 2016 gray gelding by Allocate Your Assets out of Makin The Boys Blue,  showing in his final year in Senior Hunter Under Saddle and Maturity Hunter Under Saddle classes with Georgia trainer Jamie English.

• Good Ol Boys Club, a 2019 bay gelding by Good Better Best and out of Shez Immortal is showing in Junior Hunter Under Saddle classes with Jamie English and in Non-Pro Maturity classes with Terlizzi.

• Pinball Machine, a 2018 sorrel gelding by Machine Made out of Too Lazy To Pass, is showing in Green Senior Trail and First Year Trail with Florida trainer Nick Mayabb.

• Black And Bleu, a 2021 gray stallion by The Born Legacy out of Makin The Boys Blue, showing in 3-Year-Old Non-Pro events with Terlizzi and 3-Year-Old Open events with Allison McDonald.

• My Sisters A Outlaw, a 2022 mare by Outlaw Enterprise out of Lookin Hot Sister, will make her debut in a Maiden Hunter Under Saddle class with Jamie English in 2025.

Terlizzi has always been “obsessed” with horses. She grew up in south Florida, in an area  very much farm and horse driven.

“I started lessons when I was about 4 or 5-years-old at a small barn in Davie, Florida. And was hooked,” she admitted.

After moving to New Jersey when she was about 8 years old, she started showing hunters.

“I enjoyed it but I always had a passion for the Western Pleasure and the Quarter Horse world,” she said.

Terlizzi was actually introduced to it by her grandmother, who had once shown in Western Pleasure and Halter classes.

“I started showing at New Jersey Quarter Horse shows while I was in high school,” she recalled. “During college I fell in love with a Hunter Under Saddle horse and then my whole passion flipped. I was able to lease a couple different horses and then after college I purchased a 2-year-old that ended up being the big take off of my career.”

Kaitlin said the passion Terlizzi has for the industry shows through in everything she does.

“Tali has been awesome to work with,” she said. “She is very knowledgeable and understanding of the highs and lows and bumps that horses bring. She always puts the horses first. And she always, always, always believes in us and our program and that’s really invaluable to a trainer and person.”

As a showman Kaitlin said Terlizzi is savvy.

“She is VERY competitive,” she said. “She is a good rider and showman. She is very aware of how to position herself  in the pen and how to get shown.”

Terlizzi has two children, Knox and Trevi and she is currently in the process of building a “mare palace” on 115 acres in Ocala, Florida. The 11,000-square-foot barn is fully equipped for a state-of-the-art breeding facility.

It includes four 28-by-16-foot foaling stalls, 14 additional 16-by-16-foot stalls with stall mattresses as footing, a breeding room that includes a small lab and breeding stocks. The barn will house Terlizzi’s office, lounge, staff apartment and tack room.

“I am hopeful that I will be moved in before the 2025 foaling season,” Terlizzi said. “It is a goal of mine to raise top quality Western Pleasure and Hunter Under Saddle prospects for our industry. I have carefully selected broodmares that are proven producers.”

Some of the broodmares in Terlizzi’s band include:  Makin The Boys Blue, dam of multiple Congress Champion Al Be Bleu;  Too Lazy To Pass, dam of NSBA BCF Champion and Reserve Congress Champion, Pinball Machine; OnlyAfraid InTheDark, dam of multiple World and Congress Champions; Detailed In Sky Blue, dam of NSBA World Champion, Because Eye Said So.

Kaitlin, for one, can’t wait to see what Terlizzi will do with her exciting new breeding operation and as a stallion owner managing Heres To The Blue. “I think he has a super bright future ahead of him in the breeding shed,” she said. “I cannot wait to get going on his babies in a few years. The future is so bright.”