Richard Carr’s mission to win a gold globe in Western Pleasure at the American Quarter Horse Association’s Amateur Select World Show is not new. What is new is his focus and connection with his show partner, OHK Goodbars Krymsun.

“We knew last year we had a special horse so we worked hard to put together a good team,” Carr said. “And we almost made it.” Finishing as Reserve Champion in 2015 has only strengthened Carr’s determination to ride all the way to the top.

“We still think we have a special horse and we are getting stronger and stronger in Gil Galyean’s program,” he said. “But I know very wellhow hard it will be to duplicate last year’s results, not to mention improve on that.”

But Carr has worked hard, put in the time and feels more confident in what he’s doing.

“I think we are a lot better than we were last year but the competition is better too,” he said. “The great thing about the Galyean team is that they spend as much time as I want to invest teaching me ways to improve. One thing I’ve been working very hard on is to get my horse shaped correctly so that the first step in each gait is the best it can be.”

Carl Yamber, of Roberta, Georgia, found OHK Goodbars Krymsun (Riley), for him in 2013. Carr said he clicked with the 2009 mare by One Hot Krymsun and out of Goodbars Glory right from the start. The new team placed 10th in Amateur Select Western Pleasure at the Quarter Horse Congress that first year showing together. But just a month later Yamber suffered a stroke and was sidelined for nearly a year. At the 2015 Tom Powers Futurity Galyean agreed to help and just a few months later the team rode away with a Reserve Championship at the 2015 Amateur Select World Show.

Since then, success in the show pen has come quickly for the Indiana businessman.

At the Arizona Sun Circuit Carr and Riley were Circuit Champions in Amateur Select Western Pleasure. They followed that up with a Reserve Circuit Championship at the Madness in Wilmington, Ohio, in April. Then at the Little Futurity in Raleigh, North Carolina they won the Intermediate Division of the Non-Pro Western Pleasure Maturity and followed that up with a win in the same class at the Tom Powers Futurity in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

“The way I look at it, knowledge is power and I’m starting to understand why I’m told to do certain things and what they accomplish,” Carr said. “I’m in a really good place right now. When I go in the pen I just try to do my best showing each time against myself. If you do that most times you wind up getting what you deserve.”

Carr said that while he has had the opportunity to ride several very nice horses, like Crystals Legacy, Rhapsody In The Rain and Ima Good Rodder, OHK Goodbars Krymsun is by far his favorite.

“Much of her allure,” Carr explained, “and what sets her apart is the way she swings her front leg and lays it out in front of her.”

But since Carr has had such a demanding professional career as senior vice president of Southwire, a company that fabricates and insulates copper wire, what’s most valuable to him is Riley’s personality.

“She is really laid back and just loves to be in the show pen. She acts all together different in the practice pen than she does in the show arena,” Carr said. “She never cheats, she listens to me and I trust her completely.”

When not working or at a show, Richard spends a lot of time at home with his wife, Betty, their two children and their spouses, and two grandchildren in Bremen, Indiana. Betty runs the Carr breeding program and the family’s 328-acre grain (corn and soybeans) farm plus farms 15 additional acres of hay. She has enjoyed a very successful career in Hunter Under Saddle events.

Her first AQHA World Championship was in Hunter Under Saddle at the 2004 Amateur Select World Show aboard Dont Ya Wanna Dance. After that she bought his dam, Ready To Dance. Betty has since competed on two of her outstanding daughters, These Irons R Dancin and These Irons R Ready (by These Irons Are Hot), both now an integral part of the Carr breeding program. This year she is riding the last foal out of Dont Ya Wanna Dance, a 2012 brown mare named Come On Lets Dance (also by These Irons Are Hot). They just won a Hunter Under Saddle Championship at the 2015 Tom Powers Futurity.

These Irons R Dancin has already proven herself as a broodmare and the Carrs think These Irons R Ready will do the same.

These Irons R Dancin (Sasha) won the 3-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle at the 2009 Quarter Horse Congress and was Reserve AQHA World Champion in Junior Hunter Under Saddle that same year. In 2010 she added a National Snaffle Bit Association World Championship to her credentials and Betty rode her to a Reserve AQHA World Championship in Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle that year as well. She is the dam of 2015 Congress Masters Hunter Under Saddle Champion, A Boy Named Hoo (by Hot Ones Only), owned by Tammy Dyer. The Carrs also own a 4-year-old and a 3-year-old out of her by  Good I Will Be and a yearling and weanling out of her by Hubba Hubba Huntin. Additionally, the Porters own a 2-yearold out of her by Hubba Hubba Huntin, named Hubbout A Dance and Sasha has a 2-year-old by Good Hotrod.

These Irons R Ready was the 2012 Quarter Horse Congress Reserve Champion in Junior Hunter Under Saddle and earned numerous futurity wins and NSBA World Show Top 10 placings. She is carrying her first foal, by Hot Ones Only.

Also in the Carr’s most impressive broodmare band is Congress Champion Rhapsody In The Rain, a 1996 chestnut mare by Zippin Bonanza Flash and out of Widow Rider, with AQHA Superior Awards in both Open and Amateur Western Pleasure. Her foals have earned over 1,880 AQHA points and have over $75,000 in NSBA earnings. Her foals include Sleepin In The Rain (by Too Sleepy To Zip), AQHA Amateur Western Pleasure World Champion and Reserve Congress Champion in Green Western Riding and Amateur Western Riding; Gota Lota Rain (by Gota Lota Potential), earner of 418 AQHA points, AQHA World Show Performance Halter Gelding Intermediate Exhibitor Champion, third in Junior Trail at the Congress; Too Rainy To Sleep (by Too Sleepy To Zip) earner of 140.5 AQHA points, AQHA High Point Amateur and Select Pleasure Driving Champion; twotime AQHA Reserve World Champion Junior Pleasure Driving. The Carrs own a yearling and weanling by Machine Made out of Rainy.

Crystals Legacy is just beginning her career as a broodmare but the Carrs say her foals are outstanding. The 2005 brown mare by Certain Potential and out of Crystal Affair was third in the Congress Masters Western Pleasure and has lifetime earnings of over $21,000. She has a 3-year-old by Blazing Hot and both a yearling and weanling by Machine Made.

This year the Carrs retired their AQHA stallion Gota Lota Potential (by Potential Investment and out of Assets) and he is now at home with them in Indiana. He sired Lazy Loper, an AQHA World Champion in Junior Western Pleasure and two-time Congress Reserve Champion. Gota Lota Potential also sired numerous Congress and World Champions in Western Pleasure and Hunter Under Saddle. In all, his foals recorded over 6,400 AQHA points and over $228,000 in AQHA and NSBA earnings. You can keep up with Carr Quarter Horses on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Carr-Quarter-Horses-297271520615187/.