The Sunny Side of Eighty-Six
Ruth Ellen’s Sister, 86-Year-Old Martha Hoff, Hits the Big Time in 2025 with “Amazing.”
By Delores Kuhlwein
Martha Hoff stood smiling, and beaming, in the Arizona sun after she and her new horse, “Amazing,” were crowned circuit champions in Amateur Aged Geldings at Arizona Sun Circuit on Tuesday.
Martha, a lifelong horsewoman, who doesn’t even come close to appearing to be an 86-year-old, was surrounded by friends, her Mike McMillian Quarter Horses barn family, and most importantly, accompanied by her sister, Ruth Ellen.
“Horses are my passion,” declares Martha, who explains she’s had horses since the age of ten. “I have a small farm at home – it’s a rental facility, and I have two boarders and my two old show horses. I go to the barn every morning, seven days a week, clean my stalls, turn the horses out, bring them in. I’m out there every day doing my thing. I love doing it; it gives me purpose.”
But it wasn’t that long ago Martha decided she wanted to jump into the big time for the first time, and she came up with a plan.
“I wanted a really good show horse,” she says, “and I wanted it to be a Quarter Horse, and I asked Ruth Ellen to help me find one because she is not only my sister, but she was a Quarter Horse judge, and she knows more than I do!”
So Ruth Ellen found her a horse named Gus, and she was welcomed into the barn of Mike McMillian Quarter Horses. Then last year at the World Show, Mike and Amanda found Amazing, aka “Robin,” for Martha, with a different trainer. So they sold Gus, Martha bought Robin, and it has been a dream come true as the new duo blossomed under Mike’s and Amanda’s guidance. “Mike and Amanda are the perfect people for him, and for me,” says Martha. “I need all the help I can get!”
She adds this is also probably the first year of her life she’s had a horse of this caliber – after all, at Sun Circuit in Amateur Aged Geldings, Amazing had earned five Grands, three Reserves, and 53-1/2 points, as well as five Grands, three Reserves, and 23-1/2 points with Mike in the Open Aged Geldings.
“I had really good Palomino Quarter Horses I showed on the Palomino circuit and did very well with them, but this is a whole different ball game,” says Martha.
But for her, showing is all about loving life. “I really enjoy it, and it’s something I look forward to — I love getting on the airplane, I love flying to wherever the show is; I just love doing it. I love the people I’m with, the crew the McMillians have, and I love the people I show with, and I love the fact that they love their horses.”
When asked what her plans are for this year, she’s keeping it all about enjoying the horse shows. “Whatever horse show we’re going to, I’m going – I’ll fly to wherever it is. I don’t know where our next show is, but I’m going to do whatever they tell me. We’re going to this horse show? I’m going. We’re going to that horse show? I’m going. It’s just not an option for me not to go.”
Martha laughs that she’s spending her kids’ inheritance, and then she adds, “You know what? They don’t care. They just say go for it and they’re extremely supportive.”
In fact, it’s Martha’s support team that makes everything possible. “I cannot do what I’m doing without the McMillans, or without my sister. She goes every single horse show, and she make sure I’m dressed the way I’m supposed to be dressed and have the makeup on that I never wear when I’m home at my barn. She takes care of me, and I love it.”
