It’s true what they say…the best things in life come when you are not even looking. Just ask Katherine and GW Tobin of Scottsdale, Arizona. The Tobins are longtime owners of leading Hunt Seat stallion, Allocate Your Assets and now they are the new owners of 2018 Super Sire of the Year, VS Code Blue.

The journey has been unexpected and nothing short of remarkable. For neither time, did the Tobins set out to be stallion owners.

Eighteen years ago, while attending the Redbud Celebration in Oklahoma, Tobin’s trainers, Jim and Deanna Searles, asked fellow trainer Brian Isbell a question that seemed innocent enough at the time.

“Got anything special?”

Jim and Deanna were looking for a new show partner for Katherine Tobin and they had just two important requirements – this horse needed to be good minded and it needed to be a good mover.

The only horse Brian had at the time was a 2-year-old stallion by the name of Allocate Your Assets.

At first, Jim and Deanna didn’t think that would work – Katherine is an Amateur competitor and the last thing they thought they were looking for was a stallion. That was, until, they took a closer look. What they saw was a handsome colt with a big lofty stride and a puppy dog personality.

“We bought him right then,” Deanna said. “He was this giant, beautiful and bay with a kind eye. We loved his natural movement.”

Sired by Protect Your Assets and out of the thoroughbred mare Katt Sass, Allocate Your Assets went on to win both the Gold and Silver divisions of 2-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle Breeders Championship Futurity at the National Snaffle Bit Association’s World Championship Show that year as well as the 2-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle Futurity at the Congress, with Isbell in the irons. He ended the year being named the NSBA High Point 2-Year-Old Open Hunter Under Saddle Horse. In 2004 Katherine Tobin showed Allocate Your Assets to a third place in the Hunter Under saddle at the AQHA Amateur Select World Show. Then in 2005, with Deanna aboard, Allocate Your Assets won the Junior Hunter Under Saddle at the Congress and in 2006 Sue Ellen Vickery piloted Al to a win in the Senior Hunter Under Saddle at the Congress and a Reserve AQHA World Championship in Senior Hunter Under Saddle.

His success, however, did not stop in the show pen and now, at the age of 20, Allocate Your Assets is one of the top hunt seat sires in the industry. His offspring have earned multiple AQHA World and Reserve World Championships, Congress Championships, NSBA World Championships and futurity wins at every major event across the country and in every division.

From over 230 performers, his foals have earned over 10,461 AQHA Points, and $1,000,000.

Among the most decorated are:

• 2018 NSBA Horse of the Year Couture Blue Genes, multiple Congress Hunter Under Saddle Champion; multiple NSBA Hunter Under Saddle World Champion; multiple AQHA Hunter Under Saddle Reserve World Champion; multiple NSBA High Point Hunter Under Saddle Champion; and Multiple AQHA High Point Hunter Under Saddle Champion.

• Pretty Assets: 2016 AQHA World Champion Junior Hunter Under Saddle; AQHA Reserve World Champion Amateur Hunter Under Saddle; Congress Champion 3-Year-Old Open Hunter Under Saddle; Congress Champion 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle; Congress Champion 3-Year-Old Limited Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle; and Congress Reserve Champion Amateur Hunter Under Saddle.

• Best Jazz Album Yet, 2017 Quarter Horse Congress Masters 2-Year-Old Open and Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle Champion.

• Al E Hondro, 2017 AQHYA Hunter Hack World Champion, Working Hunter World Champion and Equitation Over Fences Reserve World Champion.

• Blameitonthe Alcohol, 2017 AQHA Senior Pleasure Driving World Champion; 2015 AQHA Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle Reserve World Champion; 2015 AQHA World Show L2 Hunter Under Saddle Reserve World Champion; 2015 Congress Amateur Select Hunter Under Saddle Reserve Champion.

• She Says Aloha – 2016 AQHYA Hunter Under Saddle World Champion; 2015 Congress Maturity Open Hunter Under Saddle Champion; 2015 Congress NYATT Hunter Under Saddle Reserve Champion; 2014 Congress 12-14 Youth Hunter Under Saddle Champion, Junior Hunter Under Saddle Reserve Champion; NSBA Junior Hunter Under Saddle World Champion and Limited Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Champion.

“Al has stamped his foals with his great mind and beautiful movement,” said Katherine Tobin. “You can usually recognize his foals in the show pen because of their large floating trot and flat-kneed canter.”

Katherine grew up in Prescott, Arizona, the daughter of Robert and Dudie Kieckhefer. She has a brother and two sisters, including fellow competitor Susan Johns. Her father and grandfather owned a cattle ranch and they wanted great cow horses so her father went through the newly formed AQHA for registered Quarter Horses.

Her first experience showing a horse was with K4 Sissie, a 1951 chestnut mare by Johnny Boy out of Red Bird R (by Harry McCue) at an AQHA show in Prescott.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in U.S. History at Arizona State University she met Jerry in graduate school and they were married in 1976. They have two adult children, Hayden and Harrison.

Katherine and Jerry split their residence between homes in Texas and Arizona and spend much of their time on the road at horse shows. Over the years, she has had the opportunity to own and show such decorated horses as Hereicomagain, RA Undisputed, The Best Cookie, IE Copy, More Radical, Just Burning Money, New Lark In Town, Flashy Attraction and Suddenly A Goodbar, just to name a few.

Though Katherine and Jerry never set out to own a stallion, the experience has been fulfilling for them. So, when the opportunity to purchase VS Code Blue (Peyton) from good friend Jan Pittman earlier this year, they didn’t hesitate.

Peyton is a 2007 red roan stallion, sired by RL Best Of Sudden and out of Vital Signs Are Good. He was the 2011 AQHA High Point Stallion in both Western Pleasure and Trail and earned over 200 AQHA performance points during his show career. He is an NSBA Reserve World Champion with AQHA Superior Awards in Trail and Western Pleasure and a multiple Congress and AQHA World Show Top 10 placer in Western Pleasure and Trail. He was named the Super Sire of the year in 2018.

“It’s just an amazing honor to have been able to buy Peyton but we have some big shoes to fill that Jan left for us,” Katherine Tobin said. “We will always try our best to live up to the legacy Jan started.  We cannot thank Jan enough for making a longtime dream come true.” 

Although he is still young, VS Code Blue is already the sire of multiple World Champions, APHA World Champions AQHA and APHA World and Congress Top Fives and multiple futurity champions.

Some of his offspring include:

• Comin At Ya Blue, Tom Powers Longe Line Champion, Super Sires Longe Line Champion.

• Ona Good Kiss, AQHA World Show Bronze Winner in Junior Western Riding; NSBA World Champion and multiple futurity champion.

• A Cowboy For You, 2019 Congress Non-Pro Western Longe Line Champion; NSBA World Show Non-Pro Western Longe Line Champion.

Both Allocate Your Assets and VS Code Blue are standing the 2020 breeding season at Jim & Deanna Searles’ Circle S Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The 2020 stud fee for Allocate Your Assets is $2,020 (in honor of his 20th birthday this year). He has been tested for and is negative for GBED, HERDA, and PSSM and he is enrolled in the NSBA SIF and BCF programs, APHA Breeders Trust, Tom Powers Triple Challenge Futurity, and the Southern Belle Futurity.

The 2020 stud fee for VS Code Blue is $1,950. He is 5-panel negative and enrolled in the NSBA SIF, BCF and Color programs, The Southern Belle Invitation as well as the Iowa and Michigan Breeders Futurities.

For more information call Breeding Manager Jim Searles at (602) 549-7332. You can also find more information on Allocate Your Assets at www.allocateyourassets.com and on VS Code Blue at www.vscodeblue.com.