Madeleine Bayless waited 20 years to return to showing horses and with the help of two very special new horses – Im Willy Good Today and Best Money Made – 2023 is shaping up to be a year to remember for the Alabama native.

Bayless didn’t come from a horse family or have any natural exposure to horses as a child but the “bug bit her,” as she describes, when she was just 7 years old. Her mother signed her up for riding lessons at a local barn and she progressed quickly, competing at local shows on a lesson horse. Things changed in a big way when Bayless’ trainer told her father about a 3-year-old palomino gelding that she thought her young student should try out. JMK Indian Jack was young and green but at the same time gentle and talented.

Jack was purchased for Madeleine and the family enlisted the help of Vickie Kent, who was training professionally in Alabama at the time, to help the youngster take her riding to the next level. 

“Vickie gave me just the push and confidence I needed to strengthen my riding and learn new disciplines,” Bayless said. “Jack and I were soon competing in all-around events from Halter, Showmanship, Horsemanship, Equitation, Western Riding and Trail, to occasionally some Barrels and Poles for fun. We earned numerous high point honors, circuit championships, and all-around titles, including a Palomino Horse Breeders of America (PHBA) World Championship in Youth Showmanship and Reserve World Championship in Youth Trail.”

Like many competitors, Bayless eventually set aside her passion for showing horses to concentrate on her education, career and eventually a family of her own. Then in 2019 she returned to the industry as an amateur competitor when she purchased A Hot Vodka (Marti), a 2010 gray gelding by One Hot Krymsun, with the intention of just competing at local and regional AQHA shows.

A natural desire to improve pushed Bayless to reach out to her good friend (and Vickie Kent’s daughter), Christie Arrington in the summer of 2020.

I knew Christie when she was in school at Auburn and I was just a kid,” Madeleine explained. “Having known her for so long, and knowing her skill, talent, and personal values I knew she was the obvious choice of a trainer for me.”

Marti helped Bayless transition back into showing and the two enjoyed a lot of success at the local and state level. But it didn’t take long for Madeleine’s competitive nature to take over and she set her sights on higher goals, including competing at the national level.

The horse tapped to help her accomplish that was RV Won Good Version (Vern), a 2005 bay gelding sired by Good Version and out of Ill Be Dun Won It.

Bred and raised by Vickie Kent and her husband, Ronnie, Vern won many titles with the Kent family early in his career, including a 2012 Congress Championship in 12-14 Trail and a win in 13 & Under Trail at the AQHA Youth World Show with Christie’s son, Clay Arrington, and a third place bronze trophy in Trail at the 2012 AQHA Select World Show with Vickie Kent. In 2020 Vern went on to win the Novice Youth Trail at the National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Show with his new owner Madison Fussell.

“When we found out Vern might be available Christie and I were thrilled,” Bayless said. “We jumped in the truck and headed to Texas to bring him home in February 2021.”

Later that same year Madeleine piloted Vern to a fourth place in Level 1 Amateur Trail at the Quarter Horse Congress and  they won the Novice Amateur Trail at the A Sudden Impulse Futurity in April 2022.

“We also have won numerous circuit championships and high point awards,” Bayless said. “He has been the very best show partner.”

And now, once again, it’s time to move on. This year, Madeleine’s 9-year-old daughter, Lynnley, will take over showing Vern in Small Fry classes at the Arizona Sun Circuit, the AQHA Level 1 Championships and at the Quarter Horse Congress, where she will compete in Showmanship, Horsemanship and Trail.

Madeleine will turn all her attention to her new show partners.

She purchased Best Money Made a 2018 bay gelding sired by Machine Made and out of KM Best To Be Slow with over $25,000 in Western Pleasure earnings from Nick and Carmen Mayabb’s client, Ashley Nietzer at the 2022 A Sudden Impulse Futurity in Ocala.

He was just being started in Trail and Western Riding and Christie and Clay Arrington thought he might be a good fit for Madeleine.

“We had been looking for a western show partner to do the Western Riding and Trail for a while, without success,” Bayless said. “They rode him first and I was immediately struck by how pretty he moved and the ease of his lead changes even though he was very green. He was obviously a natural talent.”

Clay showed Cash to an eighth place in the Level 1 Junior Western Riding and placed eighth in the Green Junior Western Riding-Limited Rider  and 15th in First Year Green Trail at the NSBA World Show.

Cash will be shown by Clay Arrington at the Arizona Sun Circuit in Green Western Riding and Trail and with Madeleine in Level 1 Amateur Western Riding and Trail.

After they plan to compete at the NSBA World Show, the Quarter Horse Congress and the AQHA World Show.

“My goal for Cash this year is for Clay to finish him in Western Riding and Trail,” Bayless said. “He has gotten so much more broke just in the last year.  He has all the talent to be successful in the Green with Clay and L1 with me this year.”

Christie Arrington agrees.

“He has beautiful lead changes and lots of cadence over the trail poles,” she explained. “Plus, he is reliable to show and is going to be a great partner for Madeleine. He tries very hard and wants to please.”

He is also quite the character.

“We call him Dennis the Menace,” Bayless admitted. “He is super busy…all the time. It’s a joke that it’s good he is so much fun to ride because he is a nightmare to hold! He wants to pick at you, or the lead, or the reins, or his leg wraps or anything he can get in his mouth. He also has a knack for figuring out how to get his stall door open. But he is so gentle and willing to ride that we forgive him for it.”

That will come in handy when Bayless adds Horsemanship to her lineup down the road.

Madeleine’s other goal – to find a highly competitive Hunter Under Saddle partner took a little bit longer to achieve.

She started asking about multiple Congress and World Champion Im Willy Good Today (Drake), a 2016 brown gelding sired by Good I Will Be and out of A Walk In The Sky, at the 2021 NSBA World Show.

“I was sitting in the stands and in trotted a big, gorgeous brown hunt-seater who looked like he was floating on air, Madeleine recalled. “I was mesmerized watching him show that week. Then I saw how gentle he was with Erin (Boatwright) and her young son outside of the show pen. He had it all, beauty, talent, and a good mind. It was love at first sight.

But Boatwright was just getting started riding Drake and had no interest in selling him at the time. Bayless watched them all year long and again at the 2022 NSBA World Show. She asked Christie to reach out to Boatwright’s trainer, Keith Miller, to see if  perhaps now she would consider parting with him.

“My persistence paid off and Erin agreed to let me ride him,” Bayless said. “He was everything I thought he would be … and more.  We started talking and working through the details and I became his proud owner after the World Show this past year.”

Im Willy Good Today won his first Championship titles in Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle at the NSBA World Show, the Congress and the AQHA World Show, with his breeder Sandra Morgan, of Scottsdale, Arizona.

In their first year together, Boatwright and Drake claimed titles almost every time they stepped into the show pen. They kicked off their career in 2021 by winning the Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle at the Fun In The Sun Circuit in Venice, Florida. Later that year they dominated the NSBA World Championship Show, winning the Limited and Open divisions of the Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle as well as the Amateur Hunter Under Saddle. Not to be outdone, Miller piloted Drake to NSBA World Championship titles in the Maturity Open Hunter Under Saddle and Junior Hunter Under Saddle. The also took home Breeders Championship Futurity (BCF) Championships in 4-6-Year-Old Open Hunter Under Saddle, 4-6-Year-Old Limited and Open Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle, they won all eight of the classes they entered at the show. Later that year Boatwright piloted Drake to an AQHA World Championship in Amateur Hunter Under Saddle and Miller captured a Reserve World Championship title with Drake in Junior Hunter Under Saddle. Boatwright claimed her second straight AQHA World Championship title in Amateur Hunter Under Saddle in November and they also won both the Limited and Open Divisions of the Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Maturity at the 2022 Congress where Miller piloted Drake to wins in the Open Hunter Under Saddle Maturity and the Senior Hunter Under Saddle at Congress and another AQHA World Championship title in Level 3 Senior Hunter Under Saddle.

“Drake knows his job and loves doing it,” Bayless said. “He is consistent, honest, and a natural talent. One of his biggest strengths to me is his brain. I love that he is so big and lovely in the hunt seat pen, but is good minded and trustworthy. Having both talent and brains makes him worth his weight in gold.”

Bayless will make her debut on Drake in the Level 1 Hunter Under Saddle at the Arizona Sun Circuit and Miller will show him in Level 3 Senior Hunter Under Saddle.

“The goals are really more for me than for Drake because we all know he is a rock star,” Bayless said. “I haven’t shown a Hunter Under Saddle  horse of Drake’s caliber before. So I am taking my time building the fundamentals to make sure Drake and I have a solid partnership and he knows what I am asking him to do. Christie has been working with me regularly and Keith has come down to spend ‘boot camp’ time with us as well. So right now the goal is just to put the work in and solidify our partnership.”

After the Sun Circuit, Bayless plans to show Drake at the AQHA Level 1 Championship Show, the NSBA World Show, the Congress and the AQHA World Show.

“Keith and Christie will share riding him in the Open Hunter Under Saddle classes depending on the show,” she said.

Obviously, Madeleine has big goals in the show pen this year but she’s equally interested in the process.

Because she has known Christie for so long she says they are like sisters so they work hard but they keep things fun too. That’s especially important to Madeleine, especially now that Lynnley has started her own show career.

“It has been a great home for us,” she said.

Christie says Madeleine is great to work with because she is very determined and focused.

“She is always willing to work to understand and apply what she is taught,” she explained. “Equally important, Madeleine always puts her horses first. Their health and well-being is most important.”

Madeleine gets a lot of support from her family as well. Although he is not involved with the horses, her husband, Rod supports her and Lynnley in every way possible to make sure they can prioritize riding and showing. He also enjoys hunting and baseball with their son, William, 7.

“He is my rock, both at work and at home,” she said.

Madeleine met Rod at an Alabama football game when they were seniors in high school. They have been together for 23 years and married for 16. After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Alabama in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree, double-majoring in marketing and French, Madeleine went to work for RFMS, Inc., a software development company focused on the niche market of the flooring industry, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 

“We develop a flooring specific ERP system, as well as estimating software and related Apps for flooring dealers and contractors,” she explained. “My father founded the business in the 1980s and after 12 years working in various roles I took over as President/CEO and owner in 2019.”

It was that year that Rod joined her at RFMS to oversee all the client-facing operations as COO, after a nearly 20-year career in the outdoor advertising business.

“Working with him has been a dream come true as our strengths and weaknesses have proven to be very complementary, Madeleine said.

Last June Madeleine’s position shifted somewhat when RFMS was acquired by a global software company focused on technology for interior design spaces, Compusoft and 2020 (recently rebranded as Cyncly).

“While I still oversee the flooring division as General Manager, we now enjoy the support from colleagues worldwide as we integrate into the broader organization,” she explained.

When Madeleine and Lynnley are not showing, the family loves to travel.

Our family is always on the go and have had the privilege of traveling to many interesting places around the world,” Madeleine explained. “We always have a trip in the works.

She admits she is a bit of a “Francophile” and loves all things French.

“The food, language, culture, and beautiful country of France all have drawn me in since I was a teenager,” she admitted. “We also love being at the beach, especially the 30A area along the Florida panhandle where we have a home and our kids have grown up playing.”

This year, Madeleine’s focus will be on showing.

“Starting the year with two new show partners is exciting, but nerve-wracking,” she said. “In the short-term my goal is to build a great foundation with them both and make sure we are getting in the riding time to truly gel together. My longer-term goal is to find success at the majors. I have dreamed of an NSBA World Champion title and so that is on my radar, as is the Congress.”