Mandy McCutcheon Rides Spookin At Nite to two Championships at All American Quarter Horse Congress

While Mandy McCutcheon is no stranger to the All American Quarter Horse Congress, this is only her 3-year-olds horses’ first Congress. Spookin At Nite has already started out strong by taking the Championship title in the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Non Pro Reining Level 4 Futurity and the All Star Reining Stakes Level 4 Futurity Championship.

“Tom and I raised him, so we’ve had him his whole life. He’s by Gunners Special Nite out of a mare called Spooks Little Princess, [by Smart Spook]” McCutcheon said.

Despite Mandy and Tom McCutcheon’s lifelong ownership of Spookin At Nite, it was only recently that Mandy started working with him and showing him before taking their Congress Championship.

“We have a crew that did the training with him as two-year-old, and then Tom actually did most of the recent training on him. Last year, Mandy Yarbrough used to work for us, and she did most of the work on him as a two-year-old before Tom took over training him this year. I didn’t get him until right before the 100X show in Tulsa, in late August, and I did win the 100X Futurity on him in Tulsa. I showed him there, and then the next time I showed was here at Congress,” McCutcheon explains.

McCutcheon says that Spookin At Nite, known as Alvin around the barn, is good at all the maneuvers, and has a big personality to go with his already impressive show record.

“He’s pretty good at everything, really. He’s a big turner, a big stopper, and he’s cute to look at. He is definitely ‘Dennis the Menace’ back at the barn, and he’s getting in your business all the time. He’s also very spoiled and gets lots of treats, which is probably why he’s in your business all the time,” added McCutcheon.

McCutcheon plans to attend a few more shows after Congress before the year is over, and hopes to have the same success they’ve had the last few shows.

“I’ll probably take him to the Southwest Futurity just to school a little bit in Ardmore is in a few weeks, so we’ll go there and do some schooling classes. Then, we’ll go to the reining futurity in December,” McCutcheon explained.

Despite his age, Spookin At Nite has already proven to be an excellent show horse for McCutcheon.

“He was just on point today. He’s been a good show horse already, and that’s really important for a three-year-old when they walk in the ring — you want them to just try to do what you ask them to do, and he did,” McCutcheon said.