It’s not just the winning that keeps 29-year-old Jamie Hylton, of Bristow, Virginia, returning to horse shows weekend after weekend.

“I love the whole process,” she says. “The getting up early, the longing, all the hard work you do for the five minutes of peace in the show pen. It feels so good to go in there and have a great ride and know you worked your butt off to get it! I find that really rewarding.”

Jamie comes from a horse show family. Her mother, Cecilia Hylton, had horses even when Jamie was a baby and her brother, George Markley has competed in American Quarter Horse Association shows as well.

Jamie’s first show horse was Jaguars Bar Bee Doll, a 1985 AQHA chestnut mare by Mr Jaguar and out of Bar Bee Fleet (by Sporty Fleet).

“I actually got involved in showing because of a joint plan between my mother and Connie Christopher, who was my mother’s trainer at the time,” Jamie explains. “We were at a show in Tallmadge, Ohio, I was maybe 6 years old, and they came up with an idea to put me in the Walk-Trot class. My mother went around and found chaps, a shirt and a hat. Some things were borrowed, some bought and they fixed me all up.

I can still remember the blocks they duct taped in the stirrups so I could reach them and into my first class I went. The first and second day I was sixth, but the final day I won it, and that’s all it took. I was hooked.”

Jamie continued to show in Walk-Trot classes while her trainer showed the mare in a wide variety of classes, including Hunter Hack.

But Jamie says her first love was Impulsive I Am, a 1995 chestnut gelding by Impulsions and out of Jaguar Zip Bar. Together they placed in the Top 10 at the National Snaffle Bit Association’s World Championship Show and won several futurities.

Last year Jamie borrowed her brother’s show horse, Regal Intention, while he was recovering from an injury. She introduced the 1998 bay gelding by Invitation Only and out of Zippos Punkin, to the Horsemanship class, and found he was quite good at it.

“We ended up winning 15 out of 19 Rookie Horsemanship classes, placed in the Top Five at the 2014 AQHA Novice Championships- East, and finished seventh in the nation. That’s not bad for a horse that had never been shown in Horsemanship. I’m so blessed to have been able to show him.”

She also showed To Sleepy To Sparkle, 2010 sorrel gelding by Too Sleepy To Zip out of Impulse To Sparkle, to a Top 10 in Amateur Performance Halter Geldings there and a Top 15 in that class at the Quarter Horse Congress.

This year, in addition to To Sleepy To Sparkle, Jamie is showing Gettin Pretty in Novice Amateur Western Pleasure and they currently lead the AQHA standings in Level 1 competition. She is also showing Rocked N Red, a sorrel gelding by HH Redrock and out of An Invitation Tocruz, in Horsemanship.

It was Cecilia Hylton who helped select Gettin Pretty for Jamie. Taft Dickerson, of Mount Airy, North Carolina, had been showing the chestnut mare by Gettin Impulsive and out of Huntin A Boss Lady. The Dickersons and Hylton Quarter Horses attend many of the same shows and Jamie says they got to watch her grow and mature.

“We got to see Taft show her a few times and she just kept getting better and better,” she explains. “My mother has an incredible eye for great horses so when she said Pretty had that ‘spark’ I knew we were onto something.”

Jamie gets a lot of help from Lucas Cash, the head trainer at Hylton Quarter Horses.

“He’s great, he never gives you more than you can handle but will always push you to be the best rider you can possibly be,” she says. “I’m so grateful for him.” But Jamie says her mother has been her biggest influence.

“She has always been my biggest cheerleader and always helped me become the best rider and showman I could possibly be,” she insists. “When I have a bad ride she’s the first one I go to. She always knows what to say to make me feel better, but will also give me the pointers I need to be better next time. Whenever I get frustrated and feel like I can’t get any better she will always say to me ‘sometimes you’re the windshield, and sometimes you’re the bug. You’re going to have bad days, along with the good.’ Without her none of this would be possible, and I could never thank her enough.”

When she is not at shows Jamie is busy in her role as farm manager at Hylton Quarter Horses. She is also an office clerk at Dale Forrest Apartments, serves as vice president of the Virginia Amateur Quarter Horse Association, and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee for the Virginia Quarter Horse Association.

Jamie is a huge football fan and loves attending games and events. She also enjoys fishing and she does a little hunting as well.