Dedication and commitment are what transfer dreams into realities and if you don’t believe that then just ask 34-year-old Non-Pro competitor Mallory Menard.

Menard, a Michigan native, was raised around horses. Ever since she was a baby her mother has had Arabs. She started taking riding lessons at the age of five and has not stopped riding since.

Showing, on the other hand, started abruptly when a friend of her mom’s called to ask if she thought then six-year-old Mallory would like to show her black Morgan by the name of Dixie in Lead Line at the local 4-H fair.

“We went out and bought all my clothes that same day,” Menard explained. “I ended up winning and have been hooked ever since.”

In fact, she is so dedicated to riding and training that you could say she is a professional Non-Pro rider.

“I make a living buying and selling horses,” she explained.

And there’s been plenty of winning along the way.

In 2016 Menard teamed with Bruce Wayne, by Batt Man, to win the 2-Year-Old Intermediate Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the Tom Powers Futurity and they captured a Reserve Championship in the 2-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure at the National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Show.

Menard won the Super Sires 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the 2017 Tom Powers Futurity riding Hourgirl Sleeps, a sorrel mare by Too Sleepy To Zip out of Hourradical Valentine.

She also won the Congress Super Sale Stakes at the Quarter Horse Congress that year riding Rite Off The Batt, a three-time Tom Powers Futurity Champion.

She returned the following year to win the class again, this time riding Say Somethin, a brown gelding sired by RL Best Of Sudden and out of Sheiks Bodys Hot.

2019 was a big year for Menard. She won a NSBA World Championship title in the 2-Year-Old Intermediate Open Western Pleasure with Made In Detroit, a gray mare by Machine Made and out of Smoke A Lil Smoke. They also earned a Breeders Championship Futurity (BCF) win there in the same event.

Then at the Congress Mallory rode Couldnt B Any Lazyer, a black mare by Lazy Loper and out of Who Could Be Certain, to a Reserve Championship in the 2-Year-Old Sale Stakes class and Hes Got It Goin On, a bay gelding by Winnies Willy out of One Cylinder Short, to a win in the 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure and a Congress Championship in the Limited Open Western Pleasure.

“Winning the 3-Year-Old Open Non-Pro and 3-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure classes at the Congress that year was pretty amazing,” Menard said. “Going into each final I was just happy to be in there amongst so many great horses and riders that I look up to. To win one, let alone both is just something I could have never dreamt of in a million years. Just thinking back on those moments makes me emotional, it was a feeling I will never forget.”

At the 2021 Quarter Horse Congress, Mallory piloted Got What I Got, a sorrel mare by Mr Sherlock Holmes out of Hot Cookin Cookie, to a win in the 2-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure and they were Reserve Champions in the Limited Division of the Coughlin 2-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure.

This year Mallory is showing her home grown gelding, Homemade, a full brother to Made In Detroit in the Maiden 2-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure at the Congress and in the 2-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure. She will also compete with Shes All That, by Living Large out of Al Be Watching, in the 2-Year-Old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle.

“Starting yearlings and bringing them along as 2 year- olds hoping that they make show horses is what motivates me,” Menard said. “I love starting over new each year with several prospects and seeing what they become. It is usually something new every day with them but when they do make it, there is nothing more rewarding.”

Menard lives in Whitesboro, Texas now and says her favorite show is the Quarter Horse Congress.

“Yes, sometimes the weather isn’t always cooperative but there is just something about pulling into those gates every year that lights a fire in me,” she admitted. “From 3 a.m. rides in the Celeste to the golf cart trips to McDonalds, there is no other show like it.”

Menard earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, in 2012. When she is not riding or at a horse show, she enjoys spending time with her family, including her parents, Martin and Carol Menard; brothers, Matthew, Mark and Mitchell.

“My niece Magnolia is 5 and has horse fever so I love taking her to lessons and watching her ride her pony,” she explained. “I love visiting new places and seeing new things, I am always up for trying something new and thrilling.”

Amateur Profiles are part of InStride Edition’s editorial content. If you know someone who would make a good subject for an amateur profile email Corrine Borton, Editor, at: CorrineBorton@InStrideEdition.com.