Quarter horse awards Jim Payne's stallion, Mister Treasury, was named Sire of the Year at the recent Indiana Quarter Horse Association Banquet. Payne is pictured here with one of Mister Treasury's offspring, Yella Te. The four-year-old mare earned the AQHA Superior Halter Award last summer and also came in third at this year's Palomino World Championship show. Photo provided At the Indiana Quarter Horse Association Banquet held recently in Indianapolis, Mister Treasury, a stallion owned by Jim Payne of Bringhurst, was named the 2008 Sire of the Year.

The honor is based on the stallion's offspring earning more points than any other stallion at last fall's 2008 Indiana Quarter Horse Futurity. Dr. Duane McDavitt, a national AQHA director, presented the award.

Soon to be 20 years old, Mister Treasury was named the Reserve Amateur Aged Champion at the All American Quarter Horse Congress as a five-year-old. Mr. T (as Payne calls him) is the sire of 95 foals, of which 42 are performers (point earners at shows). He has sired two Buckskin World Champions, six Buckskin Reserve World Champions, one AQHA Superior Halter Horse, and nine Register of Merits. Because of Mister Treasury and his foals' success, Payne has been able to compete at the state and national levels.

"Along the way, I've met many nice people and made several lifelong friends from across the country," he said.

The Sire of the Year award is the top award in the state for a stallion.

"This is a lifetime achievement award for a small breeder such as myself and I am very proud to have one of my horses earn this award," Payne said. "I have been breeding and showing quarter horses for 42 years and have bred or raised over 200 foals. This is the first time any of the four stallions I have owned has won this award. I have been fortunate to have raised some pretty good babies and have had some good years at past futurities, but the points were never quite good enough."

This year Payne exhibited six of Mister Treasury's offspring, and two of Payne's customers also showed three foals. Mr. T's foals won five classes, two were 2nd, one was 3rd, and two were 4th. They competed in both Open and Amateur divisions.

"Ironically, I didn't even get to show my best foal as she was disqualified because of her attitude," Payne said. "She was my easiest baby to get along with at home, but uncharacteristically, she spent most of her time rearing up in the arena on her back two feet, making it impossible for her to be judged."

Payne bought his first horse when he was in college. In 1972 he and Don Roth bought a stallion named Sir Pirate. Payne started showing his foals in 1974 at the Indiana Futurity and has shown at this futurity every year since, He also has shown some years at futurities in Ohio and Illinois.

"A futurity is where you nominate a foal by paying a fee in the early part of the year for either newborn foals or yet to be born foals that year and then in the fall of that year they have a show where all the breeders get together to show their babies and see what stallion has the best offspring," Payne explained. "Many futurities also include yearlings if they were nominated as babies. They are judged on confirmation, much like they do at the swine and cattle show at the 4-H fair."

Payne currently has 19 horses and is expecting seven more foals this spring. He said hopefully about a dozen of these horses will be sold by next winter to make room for more foals the following year.

"I enjoy taking care of them and training them, and it's something different from what I do at the pharmacy," Payne said.

His "day job" is owner and co-pharmacist at Payne's Pharmacy in Flora. He describes himself as a "drug store cowboy."