After winning an APHA World Championship in July, Sissie Wherrell aims for a second championship aboard her home-raised and trained mare.
Raised on a multigenerational cattle ranch in Florida, Sissie Wherrell has been riding horses for as long as she can remember. Now a resident in Norman, Oklahoma, she has big aspirations for her home-raised and trained mare, Good As Bully Gets.
The 2017 mare by As Good As Nick Gets out of Dial Three Four Four by Bully Bullion and Wherrell won the American Paint Horse Association Amateur Solid-Paint Bred Barrel Racing World Championship as well as the Paint Barrel Racing Incentive Program Sweepstakes at the APHA World Show in July, taking home more than $3,500 and a variety of awards.
“She is double registered, so my goal is to win the APHA & AQHA World Championship in the same year,” Wherrell said. “I am so Blessed that God put this horse in my life. I lost her mother when she was a week old, so we have a strong bond.”
“Annie” is a free runner, which is different than the push-style 4-year-old Wherrell is used too but believes when you ride different style it makes you a better rider.
“I am extremely slow on my young horses so the first time I entered her was March of her 5-year-old year,” Wherrell said. “She is 7 this year so she isn’t quite solid yet. She is very bossy and opinionated. I am lucky that she gets along with my 4-year-old, that’s about the only horse she likes.”
This is Wherrell’s second year going to the APHA World Show and likes the long weekend of shopping and enjoying the World Show, held at the Will Rodgers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I like running at the Will Rogers Coliseum,” she said. “She runs to the left, so I have been successful figuring out which alley works best for us to set her up correctly for the first barrel. The Sweepstakes is such a great event! We certainly appreciate the PBRIP program putting up the great added money for us and it pays great.”
PBRIP was designed by APHA for barrel racers who run Paint horses, making it easier for barrel racers to be a part of APHA without having to attend traditional breed shows. PBRIP adds money to barrel racing events nationwide for those enrolled in the program. Additionally, APHA had $53,000 added to barrel racing events at the world show in 2024.
“I know the breed association races don’t have the entries the open 4D’s have but it’s fun to do something different and run against people that I only see at the World shows,” Wherrell said. “The Sweepstakes payout certainly makes it worth coming to. I have been blessed to place both years I have attended. I like to stay close to home, so I am blessed that the World shows are close for me.”
