Some things are just meant to be and Lincoln, Nebraska Amateur competitor Debby Brehm’s recent teaming with the AQHA show mare, Ima Golden Machine (Mac) is one of them.

Bred by Stuart and Karen Banstra, of Pella, Iowa, Ima Golden Machine, a 2017 palomino by Machine Made out of Ima Golden Pleasure was previously owned by Brehm’s dear friend Linda Neece, until her passing last July.

The two had met and become “soul mates” while both were showing under the guidance of Ocala, Florida trainers Rusty and Katie Green.

After showing with the Greens for many years, Brehm teamed with their son-in-law, Casey Willis, when he started his own operation in 2022.

“I like Casey because as I watched his skills grow I admired the results he got,” Brehm said. “He’s very kind to the horses and takes the time to bring a horse to the show pen.  He doesn’t forcing the animal to perform too early.  I liked what I saw, especially since Casey was getting to the winner’s circle with his methods.  Some owners want their horses to be in the show pen immediately but Casey makes sure his clients know that that may not be in the horse’s best interest. The horse comes first with him, as it does with me.”

After Neece’s passing, Ima Golden Machine went back to Katie Green because the two had become so close.

“Katie and I both felt it would honor Linda if I owned Mac and continued to show her,” Brehm explained.

So while Willis was attending the AQHA World Championship Show in Oklahoma last November, Brehm flew to Ocala to try her out.

“Katie sent me videos of Debby on her and we knew right away that she was the one,” Willis said. “She is easy going and is very correct in her topline and in her movement at all gears.”

It also helped that Brehm loved the mare instantly and felt a real connection to her because of her own sisterhood with Neece.

“It all seemed very meant to be and almost as though it was Linda’s plan,” Willis said.

Mac already has quite the impressive show record. She was the Arizona Sun Circuit 4-Year-Old & Over Open Western Pleasure Champion; The Madness 3-Year-Old & Over Maiden Western Pleasure Champion; A Sudden Impulse Futurity Novice Horse Open Western Pleasure Champion; The Championship Show $5,000 Maturity Open Western Pleasure Champion and $2,500 Limited Horse Open Western Pleasure Maturity Champion; Tom Powers Futurity $2,500 Limited Horse Open Western Pleasure Champion.

Brehm and Mac’s first major circuit together will be at The Sudden Impulse Futurity at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida this April. She will show in Amateur Select Western Pleasure and Willis will show Mac in Level 3 Western Pleasure events.

Although Brehm is just starting her show career with Mac she is by no means a newcomer to the world of horses. Her involvement when she was 6 years old.

“As a typical horse-crazy kid I begged and begged my Dad for a horse,” she explained. “Finally one day he said ‘I will buy you a horse when you turn 10.’”

Young Debby scribbled down a note stating “Dad will buy me a horse when I am 10” and made him sign it.                    

“I never asked for a horse again until my 10th birthday when I got that ragged, well-read, torn note out of my dresser drawer and handed it to Dad,” she said.

Her father was shocked Debby had kept that note, but being a man of his word, he bought her and her sister, Mary Jo their first horse.

They competed at 4-H and open shows and eventually made their way to American Quarter Horse Association sanctioned events.

“We showed in every class,” she explained. “Of course the number of classes were fewer and had less entries than today.”

In 1968 Brehm showed Johnny Pat Star to the AQHA High-Point Youth Halter Gelding title and at the same time her family owned Frosty Bonanza, winner of the very first Quarter Horse Congress in 1967, with noted Halter horse trainer Tommy Manion on the shank.

“We started to train with Tommy and would meet him at the shows where Mary Jo and I would show in Youth classes with Frosty and Johnny and Tommy would show in the Open,” Brehm recalled. “The days of using a trainer were just beginning in the country.  Now it is practically required if you want to compete on a National level due to the specialization of disciplines.”

Brehm took a break from showing horses to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Education  from the University of Nebraska.

After teaching school for two years in Dallas, Texas and then four years in Lincoln, Nebraska, she joined her family’s business, Douglas Theatre Company, founded in 1951 by her father, Russell Brehm.  Debby worked her way up to vice president of  DTC, which over the years, grew from one drive-in theatre to over 100 theatres nationwide and became the 38th largest theatre company in North America before being sold to Marcus Theatres.

Some of the real estate was retained and today Brehm Enterprises develops other real estate projects including apartments and strip malls under the Debby’s presidency.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t miss the theatre business, and especially its community involvement however,” Brehm said. “I started a Children’s Christmas party which drew 110 attendees the first year and grew to over 3,000 attendees. Some people would tell me they came as a child and now were bringing their own children.” 

The Brehm family has always enjoyed giving back to the community. 

“We hosted an Academy Awards party, complete with limousines and a red carpet and raised over $100,000 for the Make-A Wish Foundation,” Debby said. “Those were exciting times. We were fortunate that we sold before Covid hit as people got used to staying home to watch movies on their own big screen TVs and the industry hasn’t recovered.”

Although her teaching career and involvement in the family’s business kept Brehm very busy, just two years out of college she began to miss showing horses. That’s when she reached out in an effort to return to showing Halter horses.

“I met Denny Hassett and we began a 35 -year friendship that continues today,” she said. “Denny and I showed Halter horses successfully and I won six World Championships, four Reserve World Championships and two Bronze trophies.” 

By the time Denny retired, Brehm had already ventured into the world of Western Pleasure under the guidance of the Greens. Teamed with Whatilikeaboutyou, a 2014 bay mare by Lazy Loper out of Whatscookngoodlookin, Brehm placed third, winning a bronze trophy, in Western Pleasure at the AQHA Amateur Select World Championship Show in 2018.

Brehm also got some help for a bit from Texas trainer Ribin Frid. In 2019 he showed Whatilikeaboutyou to a Championship title in the Breeders Championship Futurity 4-6 year Old Limited Open Western Pleasure and the Limited Open Western Pleasure Maturity at the National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Championship Show.

Brehm lives on 40 acres at the edge of Lincoln, a place she describes as “city close, but country quiet.”

Brehm’s children – son, Garrett, and daughter, Morgan, caught the horse show bug for a time. Garrett showed Halter horses as a child and was Justin Rookie of the Year. He graduated from UNL with degrees in political science and finance and a minor in economics. He owns WOOF Dog Care Center, a one-stop shop, complete with boarding, day care, grooming, retail sales and a vet clinic. Morgan focused on Halter horses with Hassett but also added Western Pleasure and All-Around events in her late teens and early Amateur years. She won eight World Championship titles; four Reserves, and three bronze trophies.  She also won Level 1 Non-Pro Western Riding at the Congress. 

“She is currently taking a hiatus from showing horses as her career as head groomer at WOOF has taken off,” Brehm explained. “I am very proud of both of my kids.”

Debby, however, is still going strong.

“We have had two other horses for Debby over the past two years that had a lot of success, including Tickled Pinkk and Dun Made For Mousing,” Willis said. “Both accumulated multiple circuit championships, futurity wins and titles. We also have a yearling filly out of Debby’s great mare WhatILikeAboutU by Heart Stopin, that I am excited to start for her next year.”

She, on the other hand, is focused on Mac.

“It makes me so happy to own Mac because it is my way of continuing to feel close to Linda, and I am sure she is rooting for me from above.”