Perfectionist |pərˈfekSHəˌnist|  noun

A person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection

Richard Carr is a self-described perfectionist. He finds it impossible to settle for “good enough” and for that he makes no apologies.

That process of improving something until it is free of flaw is how he’s succeeded in business and it’s also how he approaches showing horses.

Rich is finally close to where he wants to be with his current show partner, OHK Goodbars Krymsun, a 2009 sorrel mare by One Hot Krymsun and out of Goodbars Glory. But his quest for perfection in the show arena has been a long journey. In fact, it goes all the way back to the early 1990s in Bremen, Indiana, long before he first swung a leg over a Western Pleasure horse himself.

“I’m a workaholic and (wife) Betty is a great mom,” Rich explains. “When our kids were little it was her mission to get them involved in both the arts and athletics. For our daughter, Nikki, riding was the ‘athletics’ and since Betty had always had horses around, in one form or another, their path led quite naturally to the show ring.”

It wasn’t long before Betty talked Rich into joining them at a show to watch Nikki compete and he clearly remembers his first impression.

“It was horrible,” Rich recalls. “I’m very competitive in anything I do, from mowing the grass to shoveling the snow, and so I told her if we’re going to do this, we are going to do it right.”

The Carrs bought a 1990 black mare named Black ET Black and returned the next year to win the State Fair. From there improvement came quickly. They started showing with Rick and Heidi Cecil with the 1992 bay gelding Scootin Spider Man and by 1996 Richard found himself in the arena on a horse named A Copper Top Rose.

Over the years, Rich says he and Betty have had the opportunity to work with some of the industry’s most talented trainers and they have learned volumes from each and every one.

“I worked with Troy Oakley early on and clearly remember him taking me up on the top of that hill in Lexington, Virginia, and giving me my first real riding lesson aboard Beaus Fine Choice.”

The 1994 sorrel mare by Izzy Fine out of Beaus Royal Te, eventually became Richard’s lesson horse while Dynamic Fashion was selected to be his new show horse. Rich continued to show, learn and improve.

In June of 1999, while discussing breeding to Potential Investment with Steve Heckaman, the Carrs purchased Gota Lota Potential, a 1996 bay stallion by Potential Investment and out of Assets. Heckaman showed “Webster” in futurities during the colt’s 3 and 4-year-old years and then Oakley showed him to a 10th place finish in Junior Western Pleasure at the 2001 AQHA World Show. Rich earned an AQHA Amateur Superior and placed seventh aboard him in Western Pleasure at the 2003 Amateur Select World Show. The Carrs still own “Webster” and stand him with their friends at BSB Quarter Horses in Sturgis, Michigan. He is the sire of numerous World and Congress Champions in both Western Pleasure and Hunter Under Saddle, including Lazy Loper.

Around that same time, Betty was showing with Rusty Green and eventually Rich joined her in that program. Rhapsody In The Rain, who had just won the Senior Western Pleasure at the Quarter Horse Congress, was purchased in November of 2002 for Rich to show in Western Pleasure events. Over the next three years, Rainy and Richard racked up countless wins; earned a Superior in Western Pleasure; was Reserve Congress Champion in Amateur Western Pleasure 50 & Over in 2003; and placed eighth in Western Pleasure at the 2005 AQHA Amateur Select World Show. She was also a top competitor in Open events with Green and his assistant, Andrew Sharp.

While Rich enjoyed enormous success with Rhapsody In The Rain (a 1996 chestnut mare by Zippin Bonanza Flash) his focus was simply on becoming the best he could be at riding and presenting his own horse.

“It was nice that trainers thought enough of my horse to show her in open events but my goal has always been to be prepared enough and know enough to show my own horse,” Rich explains.

At the end of 2005 Rhapsody In The Rain was retired but she remains an intregal part of the Carr’s successful breeding operation. Her foals have earned over 1,600 AQHA points and include: Sleeping In The Rain, Amateur Western Pleasure World Champion; Too Rainy To Sleep, Reserve Junior Pleasure Driving World Champion; and Gota Lota Rain, Open and Amateur AQHA Champion.

“I was between horses after Rainy was retired and was at a show in Findlay, Ohio, where Betty was showing Dont Ya Wanna Dance,” Rich recalls. “I spotted Carl Yamber riding a big bay mare and called Betty over to watch. I had never seen a horse stick a front leg out like she could.”

That mare was Ima Good Rodder and she would become Rich’s next show horse.“Not right away though,” Rich admits. “I’m not sure Carl thought I could ride her.”

But he could. And he did. By the time the 2006 Amateur Select World Show rolled around, the new team was more than ready. They placed fifth in Western Pleasure.

“We were in the lead after the preliminaries but I let my nerves get the best of me,” Rich says. “I used to get nervous a lot but the more I ride the more comfortable I get. These days I don’t get as nervous. I feel a lot more confident.”

Rich showed Ima Good Rodder for the next two years, racking up nearly 100 AQHA points, while the 2001 bay mare was the AQHA High Point Open and Junior Western Pleasure Horse in 2006 and Reserve NSBA World Champion in Junior Western Pleasure that same year, with Yamber aboard.

“Carl has a really good eye when it comes to matching a horse with my skills and abilities as a rider,” Rich says.

So when Yamber suggested Crystals Legacy, a 2005 brown mare by Certain Potential and out of Crystal Affair, Rich bought her sight unseen.

“And then he is brilliant at getting them ready,” he adds. “It’s a gift he has…at least it has worked for me.”

The Carrs purchased Crystal in 2008, after she had placed third in the Congress 2-Year-Old Masters Western Pleasure and Rich showed her from 2009 until 2013, earning over 75 AQHA points, numerous circuit and futurity championships and placing in the Top 10 in Western Pleasure at the Amateur Select World Show twice. Yamber rode Crystal to a third place finish in Senior Western Pleasure at the NSBA World Show in 2009 and that same year they were Reserve Congress Champions in the Open Western Pleasure Maturity.

Rich acknowledges that both he and Betty have had the opportunity to own and show some incredible horses. But none has been as special to him as his current show partner, OHK Goodbars Krymsun (Riley). They teamed in 2013 and although they just seemed to “click” Rich attributes their success in the Western Pleasure show arena once again to Yamber’s ability to find him just the right horse.

“I have had more fun this year showing Riley and I have learned more than I have in all the time up to this point in my show career,” he says. “I attribute that to having the right horse, getting some really good coaching and my skills improving all at the same time.”

Not that even this new venture has not been without its challenges. Just after Richard placed 10th in the Amateur Select Western Pleasure at the 2013 Congress, Yamber suffered a stroke and was sidelined for nearly a year.

“But as happens so many times, when bad things happen good comes out of it,” Rich says.

The first example of that came at the 2014 Tom Powers Futurity when Yamber climbed back in the saddle for the first time following the stroke to ride Riley to a victory in the Bridleless Western Pleasure Special event class held there to benefit the NSBA (Foundation) Trainers Crisis Fund. Rich also counts the addition of Andy Cochran to the CT Quarter Horses team last year as another example.

“I learned so much from Andy, as I have with all of the trainers I have had the opportunity to work with,” he says. “I think it takes a big man to set aside his ego and Carl arranging for Andy to come and join CT Quarter Horses is an example of that. It also says a lot about Andy to uproot his operation to move across the country. But then again, it’s times like this that we see how people in this industry really do help each other.”

Even though Cochran has since left CT Quarter Horses, Rich says he values the attention he paid to both him and his horse while he was there.

With the departure of Cochran, Oklahoma trainer Gil Galyean has agreed to help Rich and OHK Goodbars Krymsun prepare for the NSBA World Show and the Amateur Select World Show.

“Even though Gil is busy with his own horses and customers he agreed to help us and for that I am most grateful,” Rich says. “I know there is a lot wrong with this industry but there’s also a lot right. Betty and I just choose to focus on the right and this is a great example of that.”

One reason Rich is so appreciative of Galyean’s help is his enthusiasm over competing at the Amateur Select World Show.

Richard and Betty Jo Carr (center) are pictured at their home in Bremen, Indiana with their family which includes their son, Andy and his wife, Tracey (to the couple’s left) with their son, Austin (front and center); and their daughter and son-in-law, Nikki and Jeremy with their daughter, Henley.

For Rich, it has always been a challenge to balance his time riding with the demands of his family and career.

He attended Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana, and in 1973 earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Economics and one in Political Science. His senior year he met Betty, then a sophomore at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. They met on a blind date on Friday the 13th in 1972.

The following year Betty transferred to Goshen College and after graduation Rich moved to Bremen, Indiana, to be closer to her. They were married in 1974 and Rich went to work for a wire harness company in Bremen, as a supervisor working his way up to president of that company. In 1990 he and two partners founded Copperfield, a company that fabricates and insulates copper wire for “almost anything you can think of,” Rich explains.

In 2007 the company was sold to Coleman Cable and Rich stayed on as senior vice president. In 2014 the company was sold again to Southwire and Rich continues service as its senior vice president. The Carrs have a son, Andy and a daughter, Nikki. Andy and his wife, Tracey, both work at Southwire and they have a son, Austin, 4. Nikki and her husband, Jeremy Nolan, also work at Southwire and they have a 1-year-old daughter, Henley.

Betty runs the breeding program and the family’s 328-acre grain (corn and soybeans) farm plus farms 15 additional acres of hay. She also has Hereford cows, raising 6-8 calfs each year.

“There are almost always about 15 horses at our place, including broodmares, recipient mares, weanlings and yearlings and that takes up a lot of time,” Betty says.

The broodmare band, which reads like a “Who’s Who” of the AQHA, includes Rhapsody In The Rain, Crystals Legacy, One Hot Rainy Night, These Irons R Dancin, These Irons R Ready and their dam, Ready To Dance, a 1992 mare by Streakin Winner, herself an AQHA Honor Roll Champion.

Betty’s 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. She was Reserve World Champion in Hunter Under Saddle at the Amateur Select World Show in 2010 aboard These Irons R Dancin.

Betty’s passion has always been Hunter Under Saddle and this year she is excited about Come On Lets Dance, a 2012 brown mare by These Irons Are Hot and out of Ready To Dance, now being shown by Trisha Yamber and Allison Clark.

They also raised She Be Dancin, a 2013 mare by These Irons Are Hot out of These Irons R Dancin, who will make her debut in the Congress Masters Hunter Under Saddle with Trisha Yamber in the irons and later become Betty’s show horse.

“We only do Western Pleasure and Hunter Under Saddle classes,” Richard says. That’s what we love and when you see it done right, it’s like poetry or a wonderful symphony.”