Sharon Mullins McLendon, of Whitesboro, Texas, has received the 2025 National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) Legacy Award in recognition of her volunteer work with the association during its founding years.
The Legacy Award honors people or horses who have made, over a period of years, a significant and lasting contribution to the show horse industry. Emphasis is placed on the individual’s contributions to the betterment of the show horse industry, their ability to demonstrate integrity and reward those who have made a lasting impact on the direction of the industry.
McLendon grew up south of Atlanta in a horse family. “My dad, Harry Mullins, was an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) director for many years,” she said. “I grew up showing in the mid 1960’s. Back then, there was no Youth or Amateur division, so everyone showed against each other in the Open. I think I had the third AQHA Youth Champion East of the Mississippi. If there was a show in Alabama, Georgia, Florida or Mississippi, I was there.”
When McLendon grew up, it was natural that she would become involved with the Georgia Quarter Horse Association.
“I served as secretary for GQHA, and later became its first female president,” she said.
McLendon also became friends with Farley Barbera, wife of NSBA founding member Leo Barbera.
“I had always admired Farley,” McLendon said. “She would come to a horse show with eight or 10 horses, show all day and always look like she just came off the runway. I always said if I ever had a daughter, I was going to name her Farley after her and hope her attributes would rub off on her.”
McLendon remained true to her word, and named her daughter, NSBA exhibitor Farley McLendon, after her friend. Her son Nathan followed a few years later.
Between the connections her father had and her friendship with Farley Barbera, McLendon was soon recruited by Barbera to help with the fledgling NSBA.
“I believed in their mission,” McLendon said. “We needed to protect the physical and mental aspects of the young horses to allow for their longevity in the training programs. Leo, Jack Benson, Walter Hughes and the other founders realized that they needed to do something.”
Barbera enlisted McLendon’s help to help establish and organize the paperwork as the trainers worked to get the association started. It’s an often-told story that NSBA started on the sideboard at the McLendon’s home, where Sharon kept all the important NSBA papers.
“My brother Nathan and I were toddlers, but we knew not to bother any of the paperwork that was on that sideboard,” noted Farley McLendon.
The McLendon’s son Nathan was born the same year that NSBA became an official organization. “I remember going to the Quarter Horse Congress in October of 1983 and manning the NSBA booth with a three-month-old baby, promoting NSBA,” Sharon said.
One of her tasks was to write the articles of incorporation for the association. She also wrote the initial drafts of the NSBA Rulebook. “I think our second edition of the rulebook in 1986 was 25 pages plus the cover. We’ve certainly evolved since then,” Sharon said.
In addition, Sharon worked with the late Ruth Brown, editor of the Eastern/Western Quarter Horse Journal, to distribute news about NSBA, prior to the creation of The Way To Go membership magazine.
Sharon also solicited companies to develop relationships as corporate sponsors with NSBA, including the initial contact with Harris Leather and Silverworks.
“We were part of a lot of firsts,” Sharon recalled. “We were the first to push AQHA to establish that owners and riders should be members of the associations. We needed that to happen for recordkeeping, to recognize the rider versus the horse. No one had thought about it until then. Farley Barbera actually designed the first NSBA logo, that stood for many years. And our first Breeders Futurity was held in Louisville, Kentucky, during the Kentucky State Fair.”
Sharon juggled spending many hours on NSBA’s growing paperwork with working at Southwest Airways (now known as Delta), as well as family life.
She later stepped back from her NSBA duties to raise her family, but she never really left the horse industry. “My husband and I have been married for 47 years,” she said. “We always had horses, and I still have two broodmares and raise foals each year.”
The couple moved to Texas 15 years ago to be closer to their family. Sharon worked for Casey and Kathy Hinton at their ranch for 13 breeding seasons.
She never dreamed that NSBA would become what it is today. “It’s been amazing to watch all the others who picked up the association after those first few years and helped it grow,” she said. “So many aspects of the association that we have now are things we would have never thought of in the beginning, but they have helped the association grow.”
She is humbled by the recognition. “We didn’t think much about it at the time, we were just doing what needed to be done,” Sharon said of her work with NSBA. “I still really enjoy talking to horse people all over the world. Horses truly are a blessing and they are just magnificent creatures that bring us all together.”
Sharon Mullins McLendon was recognized with the Legacy Award during the NSBA Honors banquet, which took place during the NSBA World Championship Show and Breeders Championship Futurity in Tulsa, Oklahoma, earlier this month.
