It’s true. Made By J was THE perfect horse for Drs Candice Hall and Cory Seebach. The 2012 bay mare is sired by their own stallion, Machine Made and out of Dark Jasmine, herself a Quarter Horse Congress Champion.

So it all made perfect sense.

But when their trainer, Gil Galyean of Purcell, Oklahoma, called them one afternoon in the spring of 2015 it still caught them a bit off guard. 

“We have never heard him so excited,” Candice recalled.

Galyean spotted Made By J at a show, where she was being prepped for the Hylton Maiden 3 & Over Western Pleasure Class, which at the time was held at the Virginia Classic in Lexington.

“We immediately went to work getting a purchase agreement and she officially became ours,” Candice explained.

Made By J went on to win the Hylton Maiden with Taft Dickerson in the saddle, earning a paycheck of $32,762. And although it was not long between the time Hall and Seebach got that call from Galyean and they became the owners of the Hylton Maiden Champion, in a strange way, their journey to ownership had taken so much longer.

“We actually first started obsessing about Made By J before she was even conceived,” Candice said. “It really started when (North Carolina trainer) Steve Reams asked Gil whether we would consider breeding Dark Jasmine to our new young stallion at the time, Machine Made.”

Galyean knew the first time he saw her under saddle that she was special.

“She was one of those that when you first saw her lope it was clear she was a great talent,” Galyean said. “She was slow legged with a lot of elevation and self-carriage.”

Made By J (Jolene) returned to Oklahoma and Galyean started preparing her for him to show and for Candice to ride in Non-Pro classes.

“She was a well-trained horse so there was not much of a transition as far as training goes,” Galyean explained.

By August, Candice was ready to start showing Jolene and they got off to a strong start by winning the Intermediate Non-Pro 3-Year-Old Western Pleasure at the NSBA World Championship Show and they were Reserve in the Open Division of that same class.

“Jolene is a very sweet mare with an incredible work ethic,” Candice said. “She loves her neck scratched and molasses horse treats from The Sweet Shop.”

As time went on, Made By J matured and really started to excel in the Galyean program.

“She’s one of the best horses I have been fortunate enough to show,” Galyean said. “Showing her is a lot of fun because she is so easy to present to the judges.”

At the 2017 Quarter Horse Congress Made By J and Galyean claimed Reserve Championships in Junior Western Riding and the Open Western Pleasure Maturity on the same day.

But 2018 was nothing short of amazing for Made By J in the show pen. At the NSBA World Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Galyean rode Jolene to a World Championship title in Senior Western Pleasure and a Reserve Championship in the Green Level 1 Senior Western Riding. He followed that up with two Congress Championships – in Senior Western Pleasure and the Open Western Pleasure Maturity. They closed out the show year by placing third in the L3 Senior Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show.

Nothing, however, could upstage Candice’s win with Made By J in the Limited Non-Pro Western Pleasure Maturity, since it was Candice’s very first Congress Championship. They were also Reserve Champions in Amateur Western Pleasure and eighth in Amateur Western Riding before traveling to Oklahoma for the AQHA World Show where they would win the L2 Amateur Western Pleasure and place fifth in L3.

“She is the most amazing horse to lope around,” Candice said. “She has so much cadence. It’s exactly like you’d expect it to feel from a baby from Dark Jasmine and Machine Made. When I change leads on her I feel like I’m riding her daddy.”

By the end of 2018, Made By J had total NSBA lifetime earnings of over $51,000.

Candice and Made By J got off to a strong start this year by claiming a Circuit Championship in Amateur Western Pleasure at the Silver Dollar Circuit.

Galyean said Made By J is special because of her ability to be a highly successful horse in multiple events.

“We will continue to show her in Western Pleasure and in Western Riding at all the major events,” Galyean said.

But Candice, Cory and Gil are equally excited about Made By J’s offspring.

“She has two embryos cooking by (the late) great Invitation Only and we are very excited about this cross,” Candice said. “We also have one by our young stallion, Sloww Motion, by Invitation Only and out of Radical Zippette.”

Galyean said they are looking forward to proving her as a producer of great offspring.

Candice and Cory are also excited about Made A U Turn, a 2015 bay gelding by Machine Made and out of A Diva By Moonlight.

Galyean showed Made A U Turn to a third place finish in the 2-Year-Old Maiden Open Western Pleasure Futurity at the 2017 Quarter Horse Congress and Candice placed in the Top 10 in the 2-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure.

Then last year, Made A U Turn was the Reserve AQHA World Champion in the inaugural Western Versatility Class at the World Show last year with multiple World Champion trainer Kristy McCann.

Already this year McCann has shown Made A U Turn to a Circuit Championship in Junior Green Western Riding at the Arizona Sun Circuit and they will continue showing in Western Riding classes this year.

Candice and Cory are also looking forward to watching Galyean’s assistant Adam Mathis show Made After Hours, a 2017 bay mare by Machine Made and out of AQHA World and Congress Champion Only Ever After in 2-year-old open classes this year.

“It makes us feel good to support the mare owners who believe in Machine Made,” Candice explained. “We search out weanlings and yearlings and buy from the mare owners. We feel this is important and helps keep the industry going.”

Candice grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada’s Pacific coast, and has been involved in the horse industry for most of her life.

“I got my first horse, a pinto mare with a blue eye named Lacey, when I was 10 years old,” she said. “My dad drove me around to all the open shows so I could compete. I remember very clearly begging for chaps from Santa for Christmas.”

When she got accepted to veterinary school, Candice moved three provinces away to Saskatchewan, for the four-year program and that is where she met Cory.

“He is from a small town in southern Saskatchewan and was attending the same university for dental school,” Candice explained. “When we were introduced by mutual friends, all I talked about were my dogs, horses, hiking in the mountains, the ocean, cougars, bears, killer whales and salmon fishing – I can’t believe I didn’t overwhelm the prairie boy with my stories.”

Candice completed her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1994 and Cory graduated dental school the following year.

“We chose to settle on a five-acre farm in Black Creek and got married in 1997,” Candice said.

They both own well-established practices there and enjoy their work very much. Over the years, they have built two barns, an indoor riding arena and fenced pastures.

“We both enjoy showing and gradually progressed from local AQHA shows to the largest most prestigious shows in the world – including the NSBA World Show, Quarter Horse Congress and the AQHA World Show,” Candice said.

One of her most memorable accomplishments, prior to her partnership with Made By J, was making her very first trip around the Western Riding cones at the AQHA World Show on a big black gelding named Ima Struttin Machine (sired by A Good Machine) and winning a Reserve Championship title in Amateur Western Riding under the guidance of McCann.

Back at home, Candice and Cory have border collies, cats and horses, all of which keep them entertained.

“But our favorite thing is to watch Machine Made babies romp in our pastures,” Candice said, “and be a part of their ‘growing up’ and eventually becoming show horses.”