Mallory Greiner competes in all-around events but that is not everything that makes her an all-around girl. She is also an aspiring racing American Quarter Horse owner and trainer of racing greyhounds.

“One of our local groomers at our vet clinic who has racehorses told me about a program over at our local track, and I started with that,” Mallory said.

The program, Youth Days Racing for the Future, allowed Mallory to see an unforgettable race.

“I won a trip out to Los Alamitos to the Bank of America Challenge races,” she said. “I still have contact with some of the trainers that I met.”

The Youth Days Racing for the Future, run by the Iowa Quarter Horse Racing Association, allowed her to have one-on-one mentoring with a trainer, assist with the barn upkeep and help with the training of a racehorse.  

“I learned how to ride on a flat track. I don’t think that I would want to race them, but train, raise and participate in the racing experience. I would really enjoy having horses at the track,” said Mallory.

Mallory also trains racing greyhounds for her dog kennel, Plum Creek, in eastern Iowa. She first started working with greyhounds at the Horse and Dog Breeding Bureau of Iowa.

“The first time I was introduced to the racing greyhounds was fun. I got to meet the greyhounds, work with them hands on and learn how to train them,” Mallory said.

She has many goals for herself: raising a racehorse, training a winning greyhound, and to continue showing. Next year she will begin competing in amateur, but she plans to show in the same events.

“I wouldn’t stray from all-around. I couldn’t go to anything else. I love the challenge of a pattern. It takes a lot of skill out of your horse. It takes a special bond between you and your horse.

 “In the future, I would like to breed and raise an (All American Quarter Horse Congress Master’s horse) and put it in a class. To have a horse of that caliber to raise and compete would be really neat. “