There is another reason that Thurston’s smiling face was also filled with tears this afternoon. What sparked the initial conversation was a pink breast cancer pin she wore on her hunt coat during the class.

“She’s really good in her neck, and she’s really tight-built. You really don’t have to worry about making her go slow. She just goes slow naturally.”

The crowd applauded a touching moment when Starnes’ proud husband gave his wife a kiss while she was still on horseback.

Tearney says Goober definitely lives up to his nickname by partaking in all sorts of crazy antics. He’s something of a class clown.

“The NSBA World was my first show since I was ten,” Green says. “I’ve been going to the shows with them, and I wanted to get back into it.”

There is special meaning to Anderson’s win today considering the fact that she’s owned “Teddy” for just a few months.

“The first thing he said when he got up this morning was, ‘Ride Aunt Sarah horse,’ ” Kathy says. “We told him that might be a little bit of a rodeo this morning.”

“Her neck is a mile long. It’s really clean, and that right there will set a show horse apart from the rest of them.”