It’s breeding season and in print, social media and conversations across the United States and abroad, it’s stallions, stallions, stallions. Who sires the best dispositions? Can I duplicate that stallion’s balance and topline? What get to trainers prefer?

But what about the mares?

As most savvy breeders agree, the dam contributes more to a foal than its sire. So why don’t we see broodmares featured front and center in advertising?

That’s a question Florida AQHA breeder Meghan Tierney has been asking herself.

“I started thinking … mares are at least 50% (arguably more) responsible for the result of that foal. Most everyone will agree that the dam ends up mattering more than the top side of the papers anyway, and yet we barely market and showcase the mares as breeders. I know it’s a bold statement to make, but I think it’s time to shake things up a bit. If the boys can do it, why can’t we?”

The answer? They can.

This story is about Tierney’s young but dynamic breeding program – one in which she is quick to point out is just getting started at a time many others are throwing in the towel. At the center of that burgeoning operation is Pretty Assets (Lacey), a 2013 bay mare by Allocate Your Assets out of Art I Pretty (AQHA Hunter Under Saddle Reserve World Champion, NSBA World Champion and Congress Reserve Champion). Bred by Rebecca Bailey, Pretty Assets got her own show career started by winning the Hunter Yearling Longe Line at the 2014 All American Quarter Horse Congress. She went on to capture  AQHA World and Reserve World Champion titles in Hunter Under Saddle as well as numerous National Snaffle Bit Association World Championship and Quarter Horse Congress titles. Her lifetime earnings surpass $61,000.

Tierney purchased Lacey in 2016 to be her amateur partner at the suggestion of North Carolina trainer Keith Miller.

“I had never seen a hunt seater like her before,” she said. “Setting aside the flashiness of her bald face and four white legs at a time where nothing like that was typically seen in an AQHA Hunter Under Saddle pen. She always has had, and still possesses this undeniable presence and athleticism that I’ve yet to recreate in anything other than her offspring.”

And speaking of her offspring, there are few mares, even stallions with percentages as high as that of Pretty Assets. Tierney says one after another Lacy’s foals have been great minded, and easy horses to get ready and be around.

“Every single owner and trainer that have had the pleasure of training and showing a Pretty Assets foal all agreed that they’re the best of the best, physically and mentally,” she said.

Take a look for yourself.

Lacey’s first foal, Hello Pretty, arrived in 2017. The doubled registered (AQHA/APHA) bay mare, sired by Hes A Cool Hotrod, won the Hunter Longe Line at the 2018 Tom Powers Futurity and went on to earn amateur and youth points in AQHA and APHA.

Both Enticed and Born With Assets followed in 2018.

Enticed, a bay stallion by Its A Southern Thing is a multiple NSBA World Champion, Congress Champion and AQHA World Champion. He has earned 109 performance points in Hunter Under Saddle and Western Riding and has lifetime earnings surpassing $35,000.

Born With Assets, a sorrel mare sired by The Born Legacy, won the 2023 Quarter Horse Congress Open Versatility Stakes class. She has AQHA points in Halter, Showmanship, Hunter Under Saddle and Equitation and lifetime earnings of $7,201.

Shes Southbound, a 2019 sorrel mare out of Pretty Assets and sired by Its A Southern Thing, won the 2021 NSBA 2-Year-Old Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle at the Championship Show in Ocala, Florida and has lifetime earnings of over $4,000.

In 2020 Pretty Assets foals included Pretty Dang Good and Real Southern Assets.

Pretty Dang Good, a bay gelding by Good Better Best won the Breeders Championship Futurity Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line at the 2021 NSBA World Championship Show and was Reserve in the Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line. In 2022 he won the Breeders Championship Futurity 2-Year-Old Open Sale Graduate Incentive of $10,553 at the NSBA World Championship Show and was Reserve in the 2-Year-Old Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle. Last year Pretty Dang Good was Reserve Champion in the 3-Year-Old Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle Futurity at the Quarter Horse Congress as well as in the Southern Belle Futurity portion of that class. He ended the year by winning the Level 2 Junior Hunter Under Saddle as well as the Level 2 3-Year-Old Open Hunter Under Saddle Stakes at the AQHA World Championship Show.

Real Southern Assets, a bay gelding by Its A Southern Thing, won both the Breeders Championship Futurity 2-Year-Old Limited Non-Pro and Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle at the 2022 NSBA World Show. At the Quarter Horse Congress that same year he won the Level 1 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle. Last year, Real Southern Assets won the 3-Year-Old Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle and the Breeders Championship Futurity 3-Year-Old Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle at the NSBA World Show.

Down In The South and Pretty Lil Outlaw were foaled in 2022.

Down In The South, a doubled registered (AQHA/APHA) bay gelding sired by Its A Southern Thing, won both the Color Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line and the Breeders Championship Futurity Color Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line at the 2023 NSBA World Show. He was also Reserve Champion there in the Limited Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line and the Breeders Championship Futurity Limited Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line. He already has lifetime earnings of more than $8,400.

Pretty Lil Outlaw is a bay mare by Outlaw Enterprise. She placed seventh in the Open Hunter Longe Line at the 2023 Quarter Horse Congress, earning $645.

Several other Pretty Assets foals are still awaiting their show debut.

Pretty Darn Southern, a bay gelding sired by Its A Southern Thing arrived in 2021.            

And last year’s foal crop included PrettyIzAsPrettyDoes, a bay mare by Its A Southern Thing and Coded Pretty, a red roan mare by VS Code Red.

In all Pretty Asset is the dam of 12 foals, eight of which have already earned a total of $125,033. Four of her babies have earned a total of 166 AQHA points as well.

Tierney is expecting two Pretty Assets foals this year –  by What Matters Most and VS Code Red – at her private, 15-acre farm located in the heart of horse country in Reddick, Florida. It’s where she keeps her broodmares and a few young performance prospects and Meghan’s fiance, professional trainer JD Koffel keeps his training horses there as well.

“He is without a doubt the hardest worker I know, the most dedicated man in the world, and you will never find a more honest and kind human,” Tierney said. “He basically is my constant daily inspiration of how I can better myself every day.”

Tierney describes their operation as a full service facility.

“Between JD and I, we basically can cover just about any service,” she said. “Were a small and private fully operating breeding and foaling farm and JD can fulfill any and all sales and training needs.”

For the most part, Meghan and JD do everything from cleaning stalls to building  breeding stocks.

“We do have one employee, Aubriann Scowden, who has worked for us for almost a year and a half now while she’s completing her animal science degree at the University of Florida. She not only helps us in the day to day stuff, but she also comes and stays in the house on the farm while we are away horse showing,” Tierney said. “I cannot describe how much peace of mind she brings us when were gone because I know I can trust her with our home and horses.”

Tierney’s goal is to develop a program in which she can make a living raising and selling quality foals.

“Afterall, it’s not cheap to keep a roof over your head nowadays, but I keep hoping that one day I’ll get to breed and keep one for myself.”

While Pretty Assets is the cornerstone of her breeding program, Tierney and her mother, Melissa Hendrix, also own three other mares together. Bedecked N Bedazzled, a 2012 brown mare by Its All About Blue out of a thoroughbred mare (Duplicated Girl). She will be bred to Outlaw Enterprise this year.  Bedecked N Bedazzled is the dam of Meghan’s 3-year-old contender, The Social Enterprise (Angel Baby), by Iron Enterprise.

“I bought her (Angel Baby) and her pasture mate as a package when they were weanlings,” Tierney explained. “I sold the other filly to my friend, Kristy Wagner, and kept Angel Baby for myself. She was bred by Kelly Rager, of Ohio. Originally named Lila, she soon became the heart horse I never expected. After the first two times she almost died I started calling her my “angel baby” because she liked to visit heaven so often. She gave me one more bad scare and has escaped death three times now. She is the light of my life and has retaught me how to love horses like I used to as a little girl. I like her so much that we tracked down her dam and bought her too.”

Tierney and Hendrix also own Peaceful Eazy Feelin, a 2020 double registered (AQHA/APHA) sorrel mare, sired by Peace Out Man and out of Captured My Checkbook, who is in foal to Enticed for a foal this year. They also own World Champion producer No Doubt Shes Hot, a chestnut mare by No Doubt Im Lazy who is one of the last daughters of Sheza Hot Cookie. She is expecting a Made For It foal this year.

Tierney is the first to admit that breeding horses is not for the faint of heart.

“Putting aside all the complications and devastations that can occur, it’s long hours, late nights, early mornings, and can have a lot of disappointments along the way,” she explained. “However, I’d put money on the fact that there is no greater joy than watching a foal you bred winning a title. I’d almost say it’s more fulfilling than winning the trophy yourself. It makes the not so fun parts all worth it in the end.”

Tierney has built her breeding program with patience, trying to learn lessons along the way. For example, after some trial and error, she has decided she’d rather control the offspring of Pretty Assets.

“I stopped offering her to the public about five years ago,” she explained. “The demand got to be too much and there was no way to satisfy all that wanted one. I also enjoy having a hand on the controls when it comes to who she’s bred to, where the resulting foal goes, and who ends up owning said baby. I’ve sold foals in utero in recent years, but there will be no Pretty Assets embryo rights sold.”

Tierney says she loves having her mares with her and that they all have their own individual personalities, especially Pretty Assets.

“Lacey is the quintessential queen,” she admitted. “She knows she’s special. She knows she’s important and is not afraid to remind you of her status. Lacey is a mare that demands two things in life: respect, and Mrs. Pasture’s cookies. Anything much past that, she could not care less about. She’s never been particularly cuddly and does not want to be anyone’s pet. She is everyone’s boss, and will be until the end.”

Building a successful breeding program has been Tierney’s dream for as long as she can remember. Born in Alpharetta, Georgia, she grew up on a small farm surrounded by horses, sheep, goats and turkeys.

Tierney studied business management and non-profit organization management at High Point University in North Carolina where she also earned a degree in Spanish linguistics. She says she is a fourth-generation horse crazy girl. Her grandmother used to do the huge cattle drives across states in the midwest. But it’s her mother, Melissa Hendrix, who introduced Meghan to the horse show life.

“My mother is the most  amazing human to ever walk the planet, she said. “She has earned several World Championship titles and has done her fair share of winning.”

In fact, Hendrix won the Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle at the 2016 American Quarter Horse Association’s Level 1 East Championship Show.

Because of her mother’s involvement with horses Meghan started out pretty much where everyone does, at local fair shows and doing anything and everything on a horse.

“A lot of my younger years were spent running barrels on my childhood horse, Mojo, who later on turned into a professional pony horse to the stars,” she explained. “It was important for us to find a spot for Mojo in the show world, even if he was never going to be a show horse.”

Meghan quickly graduated to breed shows and futurities and over the years has earned numerous Quarter Horse Congress championship titles as well as NSBA World Championship titles and Breeders Championship Futurity wins.

“So far I’ve won a majority of my trophies in the Hunter Under Saddle and Longe Line pen,” she said, “but I do have a few from Western Pleasure too.”

In addition to all the work that comes along with managing a breeding program – selecting matches, ushering new foals into the world and caring for mares and foals  – Tierney spends a lot of her time working in other aspects of the horse industry.  She helps several management companies put on horse shows across the United States, including at the Virginia Spring Breakout where she and Cameron Van Sickle organize the Virginia Maiden.

Meghan and JD have thought a lot about their future and try to focus on their mission.

“We’d like to keep JD’s core group of customers, keep my breeding operation going and growing, and end up in a place where we can own and train our own personal horses, while not sacrificing our family life,” Tierney said.

You can contact Meghan Tierney via her personal Facebook page or by calling (973) 303-6804.