Situated squarely between Memphis and Nashville just off Tennessee’s “Heart of the Music Highway” in Jackson is a 101-acre horse farm, where Lee and Dr. Brenda Looney are making all their dreams come true.

With a solid base of the highest quality broodmares they could assemble – including Quarter Horse Congress and National Snaffle Bit Association Champions and a Hylton Maiden Western Pleasure Champion –  plus some strategic show horse purchases, the lifelong horse lovers set out to establish one of the finest pleasure horse programs in the industry. They carefully selected stallions to cross on their mares, sent their horses to the most talented of trainers and along the way they made some moves to strengthen their operation.

One very important move was the purchase of Cool Breeze, a 2015 sorrel stallion by No Doubt Im Lazy in the fall of 2017. Another was the hiring of Amanda Jackson and Mark Katafiasz as their in-house trainers last December.

Cool Breeze (Joe Cool) is out of one of the leading dams of Western Pleasure money earners and Multiple World and Congress Champions, Zippin The Breeze. The Looneys purchased him from longtime friends Dan and Kathryn Frederick, who raised the colt, just after he placed in the top 10 of the Coughlin 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure at the Congress. A month later Andy Cochran showed him to an eighth place in the 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show. The following year, Cool Breeze and Angie Cannizzaro won the Premier Sires $5,000 Limited Horse Open Western Pleasure at the Cornhusker in Nebraska and the Premier Sires 3-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure at the Big A Circuit in Georgia before placing sixth in the 3-Year-Old Western Pleasure Futurity at the Congress. Also in 2018, Brenda Looney and Cool Breeze were Reserve Champions in the 3-Year-Old Intermediate Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the Tom Powers Futurity and placed third in the Premier Sires 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the Big A.

In December, Joe went to the breeding shed, was collected a few times and had semen frozen and in January the Looneys brought in Jackson and Katafiasz so that they could have all their horses at home, including Cool Breeze.

“We decided to bring Joe home and put him back on a training schedule so that we could show him for another year and still breed a select group of mares with the stored frozen semen,” Lee Looney explained. “Although he had a successful 3-year-old year, we wanted to see how he would do as a maturity horse in a bridle and we are thrilled with how he continues to mature and get better.”

Jackson has been quite competitive in Junior Western Pleasure classes on him this year and Brenda and Cool Breeze have been either Circuit Champion or Reserve Circuit Champion in Amateur Western Pleasure at every show they have attended.

“He has really stepped up as an amateur show horse for me,” Brenda said. “I can count on him to do his job every trip in the show pen and I am able to trust that as long as I remember to do things right, he will too.”

She attributes that success to having him, and all their other horses at home, where she can ride several times each week. With her busy schedule at her own veterinary clinic in town that aspect, alone, has a big impact on her success in the show pen. More time in the saddle helps her better know the daily quirks and personalities of her horses.

“Mark and Amanda are a great pair that really round each other out,” Brenda said. “Amanda is a perfectionist and is very tuned into each different horse and every little detail that turns ‘good’ into ‘great.’ Mark has been fantastic at breaking out and riding the young ones in addition to the older show horses and probably the most important job of keeping everything running in the right direction.”

Cool Breeze will next compete at the National Snaffle Bit Association’s World Championship Show and Breeders Championship Futurity in the Intermediate Open Western Pleasure Maturity with Jackson and in Amateur and Non-Pro Western Pleasure Maturity with Brenda Looney. At the Quarter Horse Congress, Jackson will show him in Junior Western Pleasure and in the Open Western Pleasure Maturity and Brenda will enter the Amateur Western Pleasure and Non-Pro Western Pleasure Maturity. His last show this year will be at the American Quarter Horse Association’s World Championship Show where Jackson will compete in Level 2 Junior Western Pleasure and Brenda will show in Amateur Western Pleasure.

“Cool Breeze is very quiet, good natured and willing,” Jackson said. “He checks all the boxes for a successful western pleasure horse, as you would expect having a dam like Zippin The Breeze. He’s strong hocked, has a flat front leg and a strong topline. He had three very talented trainers before me in his 2 and 3-year-old years which provided a great start. He just keeps getting better and I’m really looking forward to showing him at the NSBA, Congress and the World Show.”

In addition to Cool Breeze, the Looneys also raised and are campaigning Mr Freeze, a 2015 bay gelding by Batt Man and out of Only A Summer Breeze. Jackson has been showing him in Novice Open Western Pleasure events and Brenda has been showing him some in Amateur Western Pleasure. They recently were Circuit Champions in Amateur Western Pleasure at the Big A Circuit in Georgia. Jackson will show him in Green Western Pleasure and $10,000 Limited Open Western Pleasure at the NSBA World Show and at the Congress and in Level 1 Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show.

Katafiasz will show Life Is A Breeze, by Invitation Only out of Zippin The Breeze, for the Looneys in the $10,000 Limited Horse Open Western Pleasure and Senior Western Pleasure at the Congress.

And the Looneys also have two very talented 2-year-old Western Pleasure prospects entered in the Coughlin 2-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure at the Congress. Jackson will show Knockin Bootz, a sorrel mare by Open For Suggestion and out of Life Is A Breeze. Katafiasz will compete on Crushed It, a bay gelding by Lazy Loper and out of Mckay’s Elegant Chip (making him a full brother to Lazyboy, AQHA’s High Point Green Trail horse in 2017 and the High Point Junior Trail horse in 2018).

The Looneys are excited about the future of their program. They look forward to watching their current show horses, as well as future generations being raised at the farm, which includes an 18-stall show barn, additional breeding barn, 150-by 150 indoor arena and acres of lush pastures. They have an outstanding group of yearlings and weanlings by VS Flatline, Batt Man, Extremely Hot Chips, The Loping Machine, No Doubt Im Lazy, Iron Enterprise and Pleasure For Certain, a stallion they owned until his death two years ago. They also have babies coming in 2020 by Machine Made, The Loping Machine asnd When In Chrome, in addition to Cool Breeze.

“It’s always been my wife’s dream to have our horses, including show horses, at home,” Lee said. “Brenda loves the breeding aspect and raising babies. In the past, we have always had to send them out to get trained and to show. Now we get to have them all at home and we get to see them get broke from the ground floor up. Bringing Amanda and Mark in has been the best decision we have ever made.”

The move has been good for Mark and Amanda as well.

“This opportunity has given me the chance to get back into riding, training and showing, after stepping back from it for a while,” Amanda said. “The Looneys have a very nice facility with nice horses and they have provided us the opportunity to do what we love and maintain outside clients as well. It is a good arrangement for all of us.”

For additional information on Looney Quarter Horses call (731) 420-0936 or visit the farm’s facebook page. You can also call Mark Katafiaz at (419) 450-6565 or message Amanda Jackson on Facebook.