Winning Pinto Congress Grand Champion means more to Mustang's Kyle Dunbar than blue ribbons and a trophy — it's a personal triumph.
Dunbar and his gelding JBS Imprints Skipheir won the top prize in amateur and open halter Pinto Congress shows Nov. 4 in Tulsa, and it was no secret judges favored the 16-hand tall equine's build and muscle.
“They just smiled because they liked him,” Dunbar said.
The event was his first return to the show ring after a long absence helping out at his parents' Cotton Wood Farms stables. His mother JaLane Dunbar said the arena is her son's element, and caring for horses is his passion. Life can be a struggle for him, she said — a constant fight to overcome a learning disability.
“For him to accomplish what he has accomplished with the problems he has had through his life, I am an ecstatic mom because he has done it,” she said. “It's not me or my husband doing it.”
JaLane Dunbar said her son was diagnosed with the learning disability and attention deficit disorder in kindergarten, but his love for horses outshines it all. Kyle Dunbar started helping his family at the stables at a young age, and his mother said she's watched him grow.
Dunbar does a lot of the work, which she said helps keep Cotton Wood Farms going. He feeds the family's horses and customers' equines four times a day — before dawn, noon, dusk and before he goes to bed. Dunbar mucks stalls, brushes and grooms horses, makes sure the animals have plenty of water and helps customers prepare to ride.
Then he works on his own horsemanship skills. Dunbar bought JBS Imprints Skipheir, called JJ for short, in January and has worked with him for 40 minutes each day since to prepare the horse for the show ring.
JJ is trained to be a halter horse. Dunbar said he doesn't ride as much anymore because he's developed balance problems.
That doesn't mean Dunbar and JJ work any less hard preparing for competition. JaLane Dunbar compared the horse to a bodybuilder being judged on his muscles and symmetry. In the show ring, Kyle Dunbar walks JJ past the judges, then leads him into a trot and stops him, squaring the animal's legs to show off the muscle. Then all of the contestants in a class show their horses together.
“He was the biggest in his class, conformation wise,” Kyle Dunbar said.
JJ received an unanimous vote from the Pinto Congress judges. But, Dunbar said he doesn't intend to dwell on the success — he plans to attend the Pinto Holiday Classic on Dec. 20 through Jan. 3.
'He's a good boy,” Dunbar said.