Yearling Mares

Candys Mirror Image and Abby Floyd win youth gold

by Christine Hamilton
The American Quarter Horse Journal

Abby Floyd of Searcy, Arkansas, won her first youth world championship August 4 with her yearling mare Candys Mirror Image.

“I’ve been showing at (the Built Ford Tough AQHYA World Championship Show) since 2008, but this is my first time to win it,” Abby said in her Journal Winning Run interview. “It’s awesome; it’s so exciting; I’m just running with adrenaline right now.”

Abby got the mare earlier in 2012 from breeder Wallace Heck Jr. of Terry, Mississippi. She is by Dominates Image and out of Casino Candy by Casino Cool, and was the 2011 Select reserve world champion weanling mare. The filly has been trained and fit by Monty and Anna Horn, also of Terry.

“She’s been so sweet to work with,” Abby said, “and she’s a little baby doll in the show pen. She’s a lot of fun to show. Her best quality is that she knows she’s pretty! She will do whatever you ask her to do – she just stands there and is happy to do it.”

Abby first started showing halter in 2008 when her parents, Ricky and Kim Floyd, bought her a palomino aged mare. Riding and showing “has become a big hobby” for her since.

“We’re going to take ‘Candy’ to the open (AQHA World Championship Show), and I’m going to keep showing her next year as a 2 and hope for another world championship,” she said. Abby still has an aged gelding, Radiants Cool Image, to show August 5.

For now, Abby needs to decide how she will celebrate with the “big crowd” here to cheer her on: “My whole family and the people from my riding barn and all my friends.”

She added: “I want to thank my parents for driving me all over the place showing and buying me this great mare and I want to thank my trainers, Monte and Anna Horn, and, of course, Skyler Horn.”