NBHA Florida State Director Linda Jones Retires after a Lifetime of Advancing the Sport of Barrel Racing

Celebrating a Lifetime of Contributions to the Barrel Horse Industry

By Katie Navarra

Linda Jones still has a copy of the six-hour VHS tape of the meeting that officially established the National Barrel Horse Association in 1992. For two years, Talmadge Green talked to Jones about the new barrel racing association he and Rick Sykes were forming, along with several financial backers and co-founders, including Morris Media Network Chairman William “Billy” Morris III. They planned to revolutionize the sport with the “D” format, making it widely accessible to backyard and professional runners alike. Green saw Jones as a key player in making the NBHA a reality.

“Talmadge said to me, ‘We’re going to start a barrel horse association, and you’re going to be the Florida state director,’” she recalled. “I told him he was pipe dreaming, and then all of a sudden, he calls me and tells me it’s going to happen. I told Gary they’re really doing this, and I was going to try it.”

When Jones accepted the role of Florida State Director in 1992, she had her work cut out for her.

“I felt like Florida would be a good state but felt it would be an act of Congress to get them involved,” Green said. “I said, ‘Linda, I need you.’ Her work and dedication are how Florida went to be one of the biggest states.”

She recruited Kim Landry, retired National Director Paul Stanley, Bobby Haberlandt, Rita Strader, Anna Lee and Patty Davis Roberts to serve as the first district directors. At the start, she had no added money to offer, but she was determined to make the inaugural NBHA Florida State Championships in 1993 pay money. That year, the group tallied around 230 entries.

“At that first show there were no computers, and nobody had a clue how we were going to keep up with times,” said Paul Stanley, who worked alongside former district director Kim Landry before serving as a national director. “We came up with this idea to write everybody’s name on index cards and shuffled them.”

Under Jones’s leadership, the championship show eventually moved to the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, and at its first event there tallied 1,300 entries. At the show’s 25th anniversary in 2018, it boasted $50,000 in added money.

Because of Jones’s tenacity, Florida has one of the country’s largest NBHA membership and participation rates. Jones said that relationships within the barrel racing community, especially with the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, were instrumental in making this happen.

“I have been so blessed to work with the best district directors over the past 32 years,” she said. “The district directors are the heart and soul of NBHA. My deepest appreciation goes out to each and every member of the Florida state show staff. You are the best team ever.”

Jones’s passion for NBHA and divisional barrel racing has shaped the organization. But her influence on the sport began much earlier with a breeding program that produced one of today’s top sires.

Becoming a Barrel Racer

Before Jones became synonymous with NBHA Florida, she was a top barrel racer despite never riding until June 1961 when she met her husband, Gary. They married in December of that year, and since Gary was manager of the 3C Cattle Ranch, a position he held for 52 years, she wanted to get in the saddle too.

“Gary always said, ‘You married me for my horse,’” she said. “I always told him, ‘It didn’t hurt that you had one.’”

In addition to managing the ranch, Gary was a steer wrestler, and it was only natural that Linda would pick up barrel racing. Her first horse was the stud horse, Blaze Fisher.

“I knew absolutely nothing about studs and not that much about horses,” she said. “He was such a nice horse. I put a pattern on him as a 5-year-old. When I finally kept up with him, he went to winning — all I did was sit up there and hang on.”

The duo collected barrel racing wins at the Kissimmee Rodeo, Immokalee Rodeo and La BelleRodeo and twice at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo. Blaze Fisher fueled her passion for the barrel horse industry, where she and Gary were as influential outside the pen as they were inside.

Creating a Breeding Legacy

In 1984, the couple unexpectedly bought the AA racehorse mare Dyna Snow (Dothan x Ima Vans Girl x Mr Van Meyers) out of a sale in Ocala. Another buyer purchased the mare thinking she was bred, but a vet check confirmed she wasn’t. Linda explains that Gary thought she was a “nice little mare they ought to buy.” For $1,500, they came home with what would become the foundation of an industry-changing breeding program.

“We hadn’t planned on buying anything,” she said. “We just went to the sale with a couple of friends and had to find someone to bring her home.”

Dyna Snow arrived on a Sunday, and Gary saddled her up to ride down the road the next day and she “broke in half,” going to bucking, Linda recounted. Once she learned her job, she was unstoppable. Jones recalls Green riding Dyna Snow at the end of a futurity in Ocala. The barrel race was over, but the timers were still up, and he ran her through to the fastest time of the multi-day event.

Dyna Snow was crowned the 1986 Barrel Futurities of America Derby Reserve Champion, ridden by Talmadge Green. She also tallied money-earning experiences at multiple prestigious rodeos and circuit finals with Beverly Wallace in the saddle. Then Linda bred her to their stud Special Feelins. The resulting foal was Dynas Plain Special (Special Feelins x Dyna Snow x Dothan), aka “Dee Dee.”

Judd Little bought Dee Dee in 1996, offered her to Janae Massey (Ward) late in the 2003 season when Massey’s main horse came up lame. In just a few rodeos, the pair qualified for the National Finals Rodeo. Little called Linda and said, “This is your travel agent,” she recalled.

“I said, ‘Well, where am I going?’” she recalled. “‘You’re going to the NFR. How many days do you want to be there?’”

Through embryo transfer, Little bred Dee Dee to Dash Ta Fame. The cross produced leading barrel horse sire JL Dash Ta Heaven (Dash Ta Fame x Dynas Plan Special x Special Feelins) in May 2005. The stallion was an NFR qualifier, producer of more than $2.25 million in barrel horses, and in 2020 sold for $1.75 million to Lainie and Ray Whitmire of Whitmire Ranch. Through the years, Little and the Joneses became close friends and the EquiStat leading breederinvited them to the first sale at his ranch.

“Judd gave Gary and I credit for starting that line of breeding,” she said. “He was a very good friend and treated us with loyalty.”

Honoring a Lifetime of Dedication to NBHA

At the 2024 Florida State Finals, held June 12 -16 at the Silver Spurs arena, district directors honored Linda’s unwavering commitment to NBHA and celebrated her recent retirement as state director, a role Tracy Haberlandt has stepped up to fill.

“She built this whole thing in Florida to what it is today,” Stanley said. “She’s a very caring person, and she loves the NBHA. She has been an ambassador, sometimes going against her best friends, not wanting her to do it, but she was always steadfast and never did back down.”

While Linda was honored for her contributions, she was quick to point out she couldn’t have done it alone. Building a barrel racing empire in Florida took an entire statewide team and volunteers, all of whom she appreciates for their contributions throughout the years and for hosting the retirement party.

“I want to thank the Silver Spurs Club and their secretary, Heather Burns, for all their help over the past 20 years,” she said. “I also want to thank Kyle Downs and his son Weston, who have spent the last 25 years perfecting dragging arenas — we run 65 horses an hour without sacrificing ground.”