Americasnextgunmodel changed lives even before she became an NRHA Million Dollar Dam.
Article by Lindsay Humphrey
Photos by Waltenberry
Although nobody probably felt it, the earth very likely shook the moment Americasnextgunmodel hit the ground in early 2009.
Sired by NRHA Hall of Famer Gunner and out of Cee Dun It Do It, Americasnextgunmodel had the bloodlines to move mountains in the reining industry. Her dam was sired by NRHA $2 Million Sire Hollywood Dun It.
The bald-faced mare was an Easter morning surprise for seasoned breeder David Silva Sr. of Pilot Point, Texas. Aptly named “Lily,” the Paint mare would become so much more than just another show horse for her future owners.
Now one of only 11 mares to become an NRHA Million Dollar Dam, Americasnextgunmodel is owned by NRHA $2 Million Owner Arcese Quarter Horses USA. The worldwide breeding giant keeps the special mare at NRHA Corporate Partner Oswood Stallion Station in Weatherford, Texas, near NRHA $4 Million Rider Casey Deary.
“She’s pretty special to us now, but at that point in my career, I didn’t know what a great horse looked like at that early stage,” Deary said.
The Conrad Effect
Americasnextgunmodel came into Deary’s life through a longtime connection.
“I used to coach Whitney Conrad in the youth, and her dad, John, and I teased each other relentlessly; we had such a fun relationship,” Deary said with a chuckle. “He always said that he wished he had the money to buy me a great horse [to ride].”
John died in early 2011, leaving behind his daughter and wife, Dana. From this heartbreak came a gift disguised as a deaf, bald-faced mare.
“My daughter and I wanted to honor John’s memory, so we used his life insurance money to buy a Futurity prospect
for Casey like he always wanted to do,” Dana said. “Lily was the only horse at the 2011 NRHA Futurity Prospect Sale that Casey was interested in.”
Lily was the first, but she wouldn’t be the last deaf horse Deary trained and showed. That’s not what made her challenging though.
“We struggled with a lot of different things once we got home,” Casey explained.
“She had a wild way of doing things. She was not your typical broke, submissive, humble style of reining horse. She had a lot of expression, and she was explosive.”
The partnership that formed around this horse settled in for a wild ride together. The first show for Deary and Lily was at the Fort Worth Cowtown Classic. “I remember coming out of the showpen after our first run knowing that we had a one-point penalty, thanks to me, and I was just hoping we marked a 70 because it felt pretty wild out there,” Deary said. “When they called out a 222, I figured it was a mistake and that it would get changed after a review. When I watched the video of our run, I couldn’t believe how incredible it looked compared to how it felt.”
The show and the score were a turning point. Deary realized he just needed to stay out the explosive mare’s way.
“When Lily won Vegas by five points with a 226.5 [at the High Roller Reining Classic], my phone sounded like a slot machine because everyone wanted to buy her,” Deary said about their first major win together. “Being a broke horse trainer with a couple of kids, it was a challenge to see offers like that roll in for the mare.”
Dana never doubted that Lily would be everything her late husband dreamed of, and she wanted Deary to take the mare all the way to November. Even though Deary first became an NRHA Professional in 2001, he’d been going to the NRHA Futurity for 10 years and only made the Level 4 Open Finals once. Lily was the type of horse that could easily change that.
Every year prior to 2012, Deary sold his best 3-year-olds before he got the chance to show them at the Futurity. With multiple six-figure offers on the table for Lily, it was hard not to be tempted to advise Dana to take one of them. Deary and his wife, Nicole, discussed the pros and cons of all the options.
“Casey finally said, ‘How will I ever reach my goals as a trainer if I don’t take my best 3-year-old? Don’t you believe in me?’” Nicole Deary said. “It was a really intense moment for us, but I finally committed to it and told Casey I was in 100 percent.
If things didn’t turn out how we wanted, I wasn’t going to have any regrets. Let’s chase the dream.” Although the offers were tempting, Dana knew the best way to honor John was to watch Casey and Lily show at the Futurity together just like he always dreamed of doing himself.
A Pillar of Faith
“That decision really strengthened our marriage and our faith in God, because she was easily the greatest horse we’d ever been involved with,” Nicole added. “She taught us way more than we ever taught her.”
Reflecting back on the type of man her husband was, Dana knew John would have loved Lily.
“She never backed down from anything and that’s what he was like: full of grit and try,” she said. “She went out there and gave it her all. She was just like John: Nothing stopped him, and I think he would be proud of what we did.”
Lily and Deary had the high score in the first go-round at the Futurity, so they only needed to make a clean run in the semifinals to qualify for the finals.
They did exactly that and more when they tied to win the composite with NRHA Hall of Famer Shawn Flarida on Yankee Gun (Rowdy Yankee x Snow Gun).
For most of that show, potential buyers hunted Deary down to ask for a price on Lily. It made the event the most intense show of his life.
“The night before the finals, the Arceses made a deal with Dana that they wanted to buy Lily and breed her to [NRHA $4 Million Sire] Walla Walla Whiz and change the reining industry,” Nicole said. “Part of the agreement was that Casey would get to show her through her derby years. It was incredible how much they believed in both of them when Casey and Lily were still so young.”
Effectively introducing a new style to reining the following night, Deary and Americasnextgunmodel laid down a 228. The pair was on fire, and the competition could see that even in the warmup pen.
“I remember Shawn Flarida was jogging around before his go when Casey said, ‘Take it easy on me and good luck,’ but we were surprised when Shawn said, ‘You don’t need luck, you’ve got this one tonight,’” Nicole recounted. “It was a hugemoment of encouragement that was a turning point in Casey’s confidence.”
The following spring, Deary and Americasnextgunmodel placed third at the National Reining Breeders Classic (NRBC) as well as the NRHA Derby. Another appearance at the 2014 NRBC and the 2014 NRHA Derby were the
punctuation marks on Lily’s show career, which raked up $289,486 in NRHA Lifetime Earnings (LTE).
“Casey Deary is the reason for Americasnextgunmodel’s success in the show arena, and for the success of many of her Walla Walla Whiz offspring,” said Leonardo Arcese of Arcese Quarter Horses USA, which has owned Lily since late 2012. “He’s done a fabulous job developing the majority of her offspring that we bred and raised over the last 10 years. Much credit is due to Jeff Oswood’s outstanding management and decisions with our breeding and sales of her offspring. It’s a team effort to be shared with all of our customers, owners and riders.”
More than $920,000 of Americasnextgunmodel’s offspring earnings come from the cross with Walla Walla Whiz, including her four top-earning offspring.
Lily’s impact on the reining industry is cemented in the history books, but she also changed the lives of her owners along the way.
“We’ve never been wealthy people by any means, and it was a real gamble using that money to buy
a horse, but Lily absolutely changed my life and my daughter’s life,” Dana said.
Lily left her mark on Deary, helping him become a horseman capable of taking a horse to great heights at the biggest events.
“It’s been neat to ride her colts and not only see but feel the similarities to Lily. She’s the reason I’ve been able to ride and show those horses successfully,” Deary said. “Her impact on my life both personally and professionally has been profound. She gave me the confidence to be more vocal about my faith and essentially gave me the platform to do that. There was a lot of praying and trusting God when it came to this mare and as a result, my walk with Christ was significantly strengthened through that process.”
NRHA Reiner
article by Lindsay Humphrey