Sometimes, when you know, you know.

That’s how Indiana amateur competitor Jennifer Rooks felt the first time she met Best Be Sleepin In (Ned).                   

Rooks had been on the hunt for a new Hunter Under Saddle show partner at the 2024 All American Quarter Horse Congress. Georgia trainer Jamie English was assigned to the same barn as Rooks and said she had a few for sale.

“She saw how tall I was and said she wanted to show me the big bay one,” Rooks recalled. “I saw his sweet face and big beautiful body and then I kept comparing everything else I looked at to Ned.

Rooks said that in reality, she knew the first time she rode the 2019 bay gelding, sired by Good Better Best and out of Just Sleep On It, that he was the one.

“I couldn’t stop smiling,” she said. “He was so sweet, even after spending three weeks at the Congress.”

By the time the event was over, Ned belonged to Rooks.

“He was so fun and easy to get along with and that was something I was not accustomed to,” she said.

With the help of professional trainer Scott Jones, of Showstring, which recently relocated to BuckBranch Farm in Wilmer, Texas, Rooks and Best Be Sleepin In wasted no time making their mark in the show pen.

“I met Scott in 2021 when he did some catch riding on a mare I used to own, She Looks Famous,” Rooks explained. “In mid 2025 I started showing with Scott and it was a lot of learning and I was loving it. He cares so much about the horses, people and puts a lot of thought into what is best for each team and does is so respectfully.”

In May, at The Premier, in Lexington, Kentucky, Rooks and Ned captured a Reserve Championship title in 5-Year-Old & Over Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Stakes – Level 1. Then in September, at the WQHA State Show, WQHA State Fair Show and Cheesehead Classic Best Be Sleepin In and Rooks were Circuit Champions in Level 3 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle and Jones rode him to a Circuit Championship in Level 2 Senior Hunter Under Saddle. Later that month, Rooks and Ned were also Circuit Champions in Level 3 Hunter Under Saddle at the Michigan  Quarter Horse Association Futurity and Great Lakes Show.

Rooks continued to work hard all year and Jones continued to do some fine tuning on Ned.

“I wanted to work on getting him more round and athletic, and have a little more flow to his stride,” he explained. “He’s been trained to be very consistant. That part didn’t need much work.”

All that dedication paid off in November when Rooks and Best Be Sleepin In captured a Reserve Championship in the Level 2 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle at the AQHA World Championship Show. With Amanda Gately in the irons, Ned also claimed a Championship in the Level 2 Senior Hunter Under Saddle and Jones rode him to a Reserve Championship in the Level 3 Senior Hunter Under Saddle.

“That was an amazing day,” Jones said. “I feel like I had been chipping away since June to put more of my training program on him and it all came together in October and November. He warmed up really well and showed exactly liked planned. He has a big, strong feel so I kept reminding myself in the show arena not to panic when it feels strong because the look is so much different than he feels.”

Best Be Sleepin In finished the AQHA show year fifth in Level 2 Open Senior Hunter Under Saddle; eighth in Open Level 2 Hunter Under Saddle and fourth in Level 3 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle.

“When he comes into the arena, he brings a massive presence,” Jones said. “He is so consistent and a great loper.He’s also a great guy. He’s so laid back, loves people and is just a happy guy all the way around.”

This year the plan is for Jones to show Ned in Senior Hunter Under Saddle and Maturity classes while Rooks shows in Level 3 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle and Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Maturity classes, starting at The Madness in Wilmington, Ohio. After that they will travel to the Corporate Challenge, the National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Show; the Congress and the AQHA World Show.

“Working with Scott is amazing,” Rooks said. “He is so kind, calm and knowledgeable and it makes a two hour lesson seem like 20 minutes, until my over 40 year old body yells at me.”

In addition to Best Be Sleepin In, Rooks is looking forward to eventually showing her new horse,  Red Carpet Couture (Sedona), a 2024 sorrel mare by Allocate Your Assets out of Only Blue Couture. The plan is for her to make her show debut in the in the Maiden 2-Year-Old Hunter Under saddle at the Quarter Horse Congress in October, as long as it looks like she can easily do it.

“If for some reason it’s not right for her at the time, we will save her for next year,” Jones said. “We know that two-year-olds change a lot and can do so unexpectedly so we have Plan A and a Plan B.”

Sedona’s long-term health and welfare is the top priority for Jones, who also showed her full brother, Couture Blue Genes who had AQHA World and Reserve championship titles, multiple NSBA World Championship titles, numerous Congress Championships and was the 2018 NSBA Horse of the Year.”

As is the case with all full siblings, Sedona has big shoes to fill, but Jones says she has her own story to write.

“We are going to present her the best we can and know that she’s got the talent and pedigree to be a champion,” he explained.”

But that’s not all. Rooks also recently purchased a 2026 weanling colt by Unbridle Your Dreams out of Only Blue Couture that Jones said “is very special.”

“He is huge, slow legged and gray with fantastic bloodlines,” Rooks said. “We are hoping that he will make a stallion prospect.”

And that would be the icing on the cake of a lifelong passion for horses and showing for the Michigan-born horsewoman who got her start riding horses with a friend when she was just nine years old.

“I went home and asked my grandpa for a horse but he said no,” Rooks recalled. “I asked my grandma when she got home from work that night and the next day I was leasing a 31 year old pony named Socks for the summer.”

Rooks said the standing joke was that every kid in the county learned how to ride on him because he was so gentle and close to the ground in case one fell off.

“Even though my grandpa said no at first, he loved going to the barn with me and teaching me about horses,” Rooks said. “The next summer my grandpa got me my first Quarter Horse, Playboy Ben, a 17 year old retired show horse for $1,500.  The barn we boarded at backed up to thousands of acres of Huron National Forest that we loved to trail ride.  My grandpa and I shared many trail rides together over the years which created a strong bond between us for the rest of our lives.”

When she was 17, Rooks started to dabble in AQHA shows She stopped showing in 2001 when she started college classes at Western Michigan University.

“In 2011 my Aunt Jill and I went to the Congress and while watching the 3-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle and I knew right then I had to get back into it,” Rooks explained. “So we went on a shopping trip to Ocala with Justin Strain and found my 17.1 gray gelding, The Real Details.”

Together Rooks and The Real Details were 2012 Reserve Champions in Novice Amateur Hunter Under Saddle at the 2012 Congress and they went onto have many Congress top 10’s after that, qualifying for World Show, top 10 year-end placings.

In 2007 Rooks met her husband, Adam, through mutual friends and they have been married for 15 years. They have a daughter, Ella Grace, who loves to show in Lead Line classes and ride her segway around at shows.

“My Aunt Jill is my number one fan, always cheering me on and helping me to strive to be better,” Rooks said. “We love horse showing and all it entails with amazing horses, friends that we consider family and finding all the best places to eat.”

For Rooks, horses have always been a part of life and they always will be.

“I was there when my youth horse was born in 1995 and I still have him today,” she said. “Basically I’m a hoarder and I never sell any of my horses, we have our training horses and retirement horses at home.”