A $500 horse, an all-around horse, one of the year’s highest-earning futurity horses, young and seasoned riders, trainers and amateurs, a Marine Corp veteran — each came out as one of the No. 1 2022 EquiStat Divisional Barrel Racing Leaders.


Leading 1D Horse: JL Roc Lost A Sock

JL Roc Lost A Sock
2017 sorrel gelding, JL Sirocco x Reddy To Rebound (TB) x Red (TB)
Owner: Jill Lane Quarter Horses through
October 2022; Presley Smith thereafter
Breeder: Jill Lane Quarter Horses
Riders: Mark Bugni and Presley Smith
2022 1D Horse Earnings: $69,200
2022 Total Horse Earnings: $402,613
Total Lifetime Horse Earnings: $402,613 since 2021

Mark Bugni turns the first barrel
JL Roc Lost A Sock, bred by Jill Lane Quarter Horses and ridden by Mark Bugni, earned the
Leading 1D Horse of 2022 honor with $69,200 in 1D earnings and $402,613 in 2022 total earnings. Mark Bugni also earned 2022 Leading Senior Rider honors. Photo by Lexi Smith Media.

2022 Highlights: Only one barrel horse in the country won more money than JL Roc Lost A Sock. Running as a 5-year-old futurity horse, “Mo” won $319,943 in aged-event competition to rank No. 2 at $10,018 behind leading futurity horse KL Touch Of Heaven. However, Mo’s overall earnings of $402,613 made him the No. 2 horse overall behind Jordon Briggs’ Famous Lil Jet by $14,631.

He captured leading 1D horse honors by just $1,803. Mighty Mo, as he became known as his prowess grew throughout the year, won $66,230 with Mark Bugni, the leading senior competitor in the country.

Mo helped Bugni win the leading senior title handily, winning $15,517 in senior rider side-pots. They won significant 1D checks at the Pink Buckle, where they finished sixth in the Open average and collected checks totaling $13,875. The Big Time Race in Queen Creek, Arizona, paid the pair $9,893. At the three Royal Crown Races — Buckeye, Arizona; Waco, Texas; and Rock Springs, Wyoming — Mo and Bugni pocketed $10,451 in 1D money.

After the gelding sold to Presley Smith during the Pink Buckle Futurity, his new rider, a Women’s Professional Rodeo Association Rookie of the Year contender, took the reins. Together, Smith and Mo won $2,970 for placing ninth at the Run For The Rubies in Ocala, Florida.

Bred by Jill Lane of Fort Benton, Montana, Mo is by Lane’s homebred stallion JL Sirocco and out of the barrel futurity money-earning Thoroughbred mare Reddy To Rebound, by Lane’s late National Finals Rodeo sire Red (TB). Lane had Mo started on the pattern when she handed him over to Bugni, who instantly clicked with the gelding.

“He knew the pattern and knew where he needed to be in the turn, he just needed the confidence,” Bugni said. “I read his personality to know that he needed to pick his head up and haul butt across the field once in a while to have that part of himself he craved so much. Once he had all that, he started rising. He craved it and loved it.”

Mo developed into one of the most honest-running futurity horses in the country.

“The coolest thing about him is when you have a horse that’s so honest, that leaves the barrels up every single time, no matter what your timing is or what you do in the saddle, you’re going to win a whole lot of money,” said Bugni, who splits his time between his new home in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and Lane’s place in Arizona.

Bugni only hit two barrels on Mo all year. One cost him dearly — nearly $27,000 — at a futurity, and the other was at a Bulls And Barrels rodeo-type event, where Bugni didn’t think the gelding was paying attention when he clearly was.

“Those were the only barrels he tipped all year,” Bugni said. “He just kept adding paycheck after paycheck. When you go in with a horse like him that’s so honest, I could sit down three strides before the barrel and he was still going to go right up around it. Mo was so forgiving that way.”

Leading 1D Rider: Kassie Mowry

Kassie Mowry
Dublin, Texas
Age: 41
Profession: Barrel horse trainer
2022 Overall Earnings: $1.3 million
2022 1D Earnings: $178,578
Lifetime Earnings: $5.5 million since 2000
Top Horses: CP He Will Be Epic (15G, Epic Leader x Percilla x Dash Ta Fame), $44,296; Famous Ladies Man (15G, Dash Ta Fame x Lady Perks x Dash For Perks), $43,461; KL Touch Of Heaven (18G, JL Dash Ta Heaven x Junior Country Girl x Deep Note Jr), $35,217; Sir Epic (18G, JL Sirocco x So Very Epic x Epic Leader), $31,224; Force The Goodbye (18G, The Goodbye Lane x VF Forcit x Burrs First Down), $22,017; and Sand In My Socks (17M, BHR Frenchies Socks x JC Pick Six x Tres Seis), $2,362.

KL Touch Of Heaven with rose awards
Kassie Mowry earned the Leading 1D Rider title in 2022 and set a new annual barrel racing earnings record at $1.3 million — $769,023 at futurities, $113,417 in derbies and $178,578 in 1D earnings. Mowry has more than $5.5 million in EquiStat lifetime earnings. Breeders Challenge photo by Carolyn Simancik

2022 Highlights: Kassie Mowry set a new annual leading barrel racing record with the $1.3 million she won in 2022. The Dublin, Texas, trainer was the leader in every single EquiStat rider category, from overall to the 1D. She won $769,023 at futurities, $113,417 in derbies and $178,578 in 1D earnings.

Most of her 1D earnings were on carryover times, from either a derby or futurity at a breeders incentive event. Her two derby horses did most of the heavy lifting.

—> Read more: Kassie Mowry’s First-Year Training Program for Barrel Futurity Colts

CP He Will Be Epic was the Ruby Buckle Open 1D champion in August, collecting $26,406. “Will” also picked up $10,681 at the Royal Crown Race in Waco, Texas, in May and $4,591 at the Ruby Buckle in April.

The Royal Crown Races were extremely good to Famous Ladies Man. “Emmitt” won $18,007 at Rock Springs, Wyoming; $6,911 in Buckeye, Arizona; and $4,435 in Waco. He also picked up $4,200 at the Breeders Challenge Finale in Fort Worth, Texas.

With the country’s leading futurity horse KL Touch Of Heaven, Mowry won the Breeders Challenge Finale Open 1D championship for $13,125. They also picked up $10,156 for placing fifth in the Open 1D average at the Ruby Buckle in April and $7,142 in 1D earnings at the Royal Crown in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Sir Epic’s Royal Crown Waco futurity round win netted $8,388 in 1D earnings at the event. He also won $15,690 for placing 15th in the Pink Buckle Open with his carryover times from the futurity.

Force The Goodbye’s biggest 1D checks came from a ninth-place finish in the Open at the Pink Buckle for $8,250 and the Royal Crown in Rock Springs for $7,626.

Leading Youth Rider: Caleb Cline

Caleb Cline
Circleville, Ohio
Age: 18
Parents: Joey & Lisa Cline
2022 Youth Earnings: $57,012
2021 Total Rider Earnings: $101,654
Total Lifetime Rider Earnings: $171,684 since 2013
Horses: Guys Dashing Jet (12M, Frenchmans Guy x Perks Dashing Jet x Dash For Perks), $44,992, Seis Shots Of Crown (14M, Tres Seis x LK Crown Royal x Sun Frost), $7,797; SR Moonshine Onrocks (14M, Firewaterontherocks x Me Moonshine x Invisible Injun), $4,223.

Caleb Cline rides home at NBHA Youth World
Caleb Cline of Circleville, Ohio, topped the field of youth riders tracked by EquiStat in 2022 with more than $57,000 in earnings, led by his main mount Guys Dashing Jet. Photo by James Phifer/RodeoBum.com

2022 Highlights: Caleb Cline almost cracked the ranks of the industry’s leading riders in 2022 with his $101,654 in total earnings. More than half of that total came from youth races— straight pay and divisional.

Cline’s biggest youth payday was a $39,615 third-place finish at the Jr Patriot aboard Guys Dashing Jet (“Stella”). The buckskin mare, who was his partner for three years, has since sold and now runs under the direction of Wrangler National Finals Rodeo barrel racer Ivy Saebens.

“I’ve won almost everything that I could on her since I can’t rodeo,” Cline said. “I want to see her go to the NFR.”

His current main mount is Seis Shots Of Crown. He didn’t have the mare long before he was sixth at the All American Youth on the mare.

“I want to try to win on her what I won on Stella,” Cline said.

He also picked up $4,223 in youth checks on SR Moonshine Onrocks. Like Stella, “Farrah” has gone on to the rodeo ranks with current WPRA Rookie contender Kalli McCall.

Cline grew up in a horse-oriented family. His mother Lisa ran barrels, while his father Joey’s family had racehorses.

“I rode with my mom since I could sit up,” Cline said. “I got my first good horse when I was 12 or 13. The past four or five years we’ve been going to the really big shows.”

His first good horse was Whistle Me Sunfrost (“Frosty”).

“You could hang on his tail and he would run a perfect pattern,” Cline said. “He taught me a lot, and he’s the reason I got these better horses.”

Cline will finish his high school education this spring through a home school program after attending public high for the three prior years.

“For the next couple years, I’m going to run horses and see how much money I can make doing that. Aside from that, I’m going to figure out what I’m going to do for a living outside of horses and go to trade school for that,” said Cline, who added that he didn’t want to train horses full time for a living.

He thanked his parents for all their help and support. He also thanked Caroline Boucher, Joy Wargo and Stella’s trainer, Pete Oen.

“Pete Oen helped me with Stella,” Cline said. “It took me over a year to get with her.”

Boucher and Wargo helped him with his riding as well.

“I used to not be very good,” Cline humbly admitted. “They helped me learn to feel a horse out.”

Leading Senior Rider: Mark Bugni

Mark Bugni
Shawnee, Oklahoma
Age: 53
Occupation: Barrel horse trainer, futurity competitor
2022 Senior Earnings: $17,734
2022 Total Rider Earnings: $408,143
Total Lifetime Rider Earnings: $1.5 million since 1994
Horses: JL Roc Lost A Sock (17G, JL Sirocco x Reddy To Rebound (TB) x Red (TB), $15,517; JL Twist Of Red (18G, JL Reddy To Charm x JL Twisted Sister x JL Sirocco), $1,796; VF NFL Draft (16G, Eddie Stinson x Curiocity Corners x Silver Lucky Buck), $297; JL Seraphina (13M, Dash Ta Fame x Solara x Band Of Azure), $124.

2022 Highlights: “It pays to be in the blue hair brigade,” laughed leading futurity trainer and rider Mark Bugni, who took advantage of the senior side-pots at every race he entered.

His biggest senior victory was in the straight-pay Breeders Challenge Senior Finals, where he and JL Roc Lost A Sock (“Mo”) won $5,312. They also won $7,634 in senior 1D money at the three Royal Crown Races: Buckeye, Arizona; Waco, Texas; and Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Bugni grew up in the northern great plains and was introduced to horses by his mother. His small stature and love for fast horses found him working off-and-on at the racetracks in Wyoming and South Dakota. After dabbling in team roping, he found his way to barrel racing.

Sharon Camarillo’s barrel racing book became his Bible, and he took lessons from Judy Myllymaki. His first futurity money came from the amateur class at the 1994 Fizz Bomb Classic in Gillette, Wyoming. After several years of dabbling in horses part time while working in the hotel industry, Bugni decided to give it a go full time in the early 2000s. In 2008, after moving to Oklahoma, his career took off.

Now with career earnings of more than $1.5 million, Bugni has trained such superstars as two-time slot race champion I R A Grand Victory, Old Fort Days Futurity Champions BT Buddy Stinson and Red Carpet Zoom, BBR World Finals Champion JL Twisted Roc and NFR qualifier Dirty Dan Stinson. Bugni was the No. 6 1D rider with $69,022, largely thanks to Mo, the No. 1 1D horse, and was the No. 4 rider overall with $408,143 won in 2022.

Leading 2D Horse: Mamahadafling

Mamahadafling
2017 red roan mare
A Streak Of Fling x Shegotitfromhermama x Reds Western Native
Breeders & Owner: Cinder Lakes Ranch (Jade Ford)
Rider: Janna Beam Brown
2022 2D Horse Earnings: $39,153
2022 Total Horse Earnings: $52,311
Total Lifetime Horse Earnings: $77,263 since 2020

Janna Brown turns the first barrel at Bonus Race Finals
Mamahadafling, raised by Jade Ford of Cinder Lakes Ranch, earned the Leading 2D Horse of 2022 honor with $52,311 in earnings. Photo by Fessler Photography

2022 Highlights: Mamahadafling was raised by Jade Ford of Cinder Lakes Ranch in Valley View, Texas, where the Fulton family’s great A Streak Of Fling stands. Her mother, Shegotitfromhermama, was Ford’s barrel horse.

As a 3-year-old, “Stitch” went for training to Janna Beam Brown. The duo placed in Stitch’s debut outing in the Barrel Futurities of America SuperStakes slot race. Stitch also made the finals in the BFA World Championship Futurity the next year.

“She was easy to train and took the pattern really easily,” Brown said. “She got sore her futurity year and changed her style a little. As far as her pattern goes, she’s always stayed really solid. You always knew what she was going to do. Sometimes she runs a little stiffer than others. She’s fun, because she’s pretty solid.”

In 2022, her first season as a derby horse, Stitch was a Pink Buckle Derby and Open 1D finalist but won the majority of her money in a strange twist of fate at the Bonus Race Finals, where she tied herself for the 2D win in the Bonus Race and Ultimate Bonus High Stakes Race for $37,639.

“It will never happen again,” Brown said with a laugh. “There’s no way. It was very unexpected. Her runs were actually really different. Her second run I thought she was going to be faster, because it was more correct and felt better and I thought she was running harder. She was more round versus the first run where she was stiffer, more in and out. It was the exact same time.”

Stitch, a 14.3-hand, stoutly built mare, is currently back at Cinder Lakes.

Leading 2D Rider: Randee Prindle

Randee Prindle
Gilman City, Missouri
Age: 33
Profession: Farmer, rancher and professional barrel racer
2022 2D Rider Earnings: $51,858
2022 Total Rider Earnings: $151,463
Total Lifetime Rider Earnings: $671,463 since 2002
Top Horses: Red Man Jones (11G, Brownie Jones x Dinkys Purple Rain x Dinky’s Red Man), $21,979; JL Littlebitoheaven (16G, JL Dash Ta Heaven x Littlebitofstreakin x Streakin Sixes), $13,446; Famous French Cagen (09G, Frenchmans Guy x Love Ta Dash 123 x Dash Ta Fame), $9,338; Rock N Fame (13G, Firewaterontherocks x SB Halieva x Dash Ta Fame), $3,524; Dash Ta Flit (17G, Dash Ta Fame x Verymary Firewater x Fire Water Flit), $1,957.

Randee Prindle turns barrel at Xtreme Million
Randee Prindle earned $151,463 in 2022 2D earnings to snag the Leading 2D Rider title of 2022. Photo by Boaz Dov Elkes

2022 Highlights: Randee Prindle and her life-changing mount Red Man Jones were both ranked within the top 30 of all riders and horses in 2022.

Together they won $104,185 including a $22,500 bonus as the Future Fortunes Regional Champions. Prindle was the No. 9 1D Rider with earnings of $66,997, while “Scooby” was the No. 7 Horse with $54,629.

While the majority of their earnings were in the 1D, Prindle and Scooby picked up $19,533 after finishing third in the 2D at the Xtreme Million Finals. Scooby’s total 2D earnings ranked him seventh among all horses.

Prindle’s younger horse JL Littlebitoheaven won the bulk of his money in the 2D. “Preacher’s” biggest check in that division came from the Better Barrel Races World Finals, where he won $6,279. The gelding also earned $6,862 in the 1D. His total earnings for 2022 were $20,724.

Rounding out Prindle’s top three mounts is Famous French Cagen, owned by Tom and Linda Kay. In addition to his 2D money, Cagen won $4,409 in 1D checks for total earnings of $14,103.

Leading 3D Horse: Famous Harts

Famous Harts
2017 sorrel gelding
Carrizzo x Bully For Sarah x Call Me Together
Owner: Cami Henry
Breeder: Debbie Hart
Rider: Cami and Caryn Henry
2022 3D Horse Earnings: $27,969
2022 Total Horse Earnings: $32,165
Total Lifetime Horse Earnings: $41,974 since 2020

Caryn Henry turns second barrel
Famous Harts, owned by Cami Henry and ridden by Cami and Caryn Henry, earned the Leading 3D Horse of 2022 title with $27,969 in earnings. Photo by Lexi Smith Media

2022 Highlights: Famous Harts is a slot machine when it comes to hitting the money in the divisions, said barrel horse trainer Caryn Henry of De Leon Springs, Florida.

“He’s not one of those that’s going to go out there and win the whole thing, but he’s going to hit the right numbers,” said the 2016 National Barrel Horse Association 1D World Champion.

“Oliver” actually belongs to Caryn’s daughter Cami Henry, 20. Both won money on Oliver to give him the top 3D horse honors. With Cami, Oliver won $1,719 in Future Fortunes and Triple Crown 100 incentive money, and with Caryn, the gelding won the Open 3D average at the Pink Buckle for $26,250.

Bred by Debbie Hart, Oliver was an orphan. Deanna Mixon Pietsch, who previously owned his 3/4 brother, purchased him and raised him on a bottle. The Hodges family — Kenny, Jamie and Austyn — trained and campaigned the gelding for Mixon until the Henrys purchased him in August 2021.

“We were very fortunate to get him from her,” Caryn said. “We really appreciate her selling him to us.”

The Henrys purchased Oliver because he was in all the major incentives.

“With the incentives, he’s more than paid for himself,” Caryn said. “These incentives have been a game changer. I won’t buy a horse now that isn’t in the incentives.”

Caryn, who was the No. 2 3D rider with $37,590 in divisional earnings, got to ride Oliver at the Pink Buckle because Cami was busy with graphic design classes at the time and was unable to go. She only had a month’s worth of runs on the gelding before she headed to Guthrie, Oklahoma.

“I was aggravated with myself, because I had been running better back home,” Caryn recalled. “I felt like I rode him horribly out there, and I was disgusted with both of my runs. I was really mad at myself.”

She was already on her way home when her daughter called to tell her she’d won the 3D average.

“It was quite a surprise,” Caryn said.

Leading 3D Rider: Emma Abbott

Emma (Chapman) Abbott
Bluff Dale, Texas
Age: 40
Profession: Owner/operator Abbott Equine
2022 3D Rider Earnings: $43,113
2022 Total Rider Earnings: $64,455
Total Lifetime Rider Earnings: $308,443 since 2010
Top Horses: ME Talk Dirty To Me (17S, A Streak Of Fling x Short Lane Ta Fame x Dash Ta
Fame), $24,739; Mister Sharp (Sweet First Down x Whisper Of Magnolia x Jet’s Pay Day), $7,700;
Shesadesignerteddy (Slick By Design x Shes Free To Flame x Flaming Fire Water), $3,970; RR
Tooslick Eye Mist (Slick By Design x KN Fabs Mist Of Fame x Frenchmans Fabulous), $3,915.

Emma Abbott turns the third barrel to run home
Emma Abbott captured the leading 3D Rider of 2022 title with $43,113 in 3D earnings and more than $308,000 in lifetime earnings. Photo by Lexi Smith Media

2022 Highlights: The daughter of a rope horse trainer, Emma (Chapman) Abbott grew up in Georgia. She taught school for five years before migrating to Texas, because that’s where the horses were.

“I had two horses, a dog and a living quarters trailer and went West,” Emma said. “I’ve been out here for 13 years now.”

She and her husband Nick Abbott, a realtor and equine dentist, established the multifaceted business Abbott Equine together.

“We do a little of everything,” Emma said. “I train futurity horses. I have sale horses. We also have a salt water spa.”

Emma tells her clients she starts all her horses like they’re going to be futurity horses, then lets the horse dictate its path and progression.

“They’re going to tell me if they want to be a futurity horse,” Emma said. “If they want to go down that route, great. If not, my goal is to make them a lifetime horse, something that’s going to be solid for the wife or the kid or whoever that is.”

Emma and her equine crew did well at the incentive events to make her the year’s leading 3D rider. Her biggest 3D score was a $20,250 Pink Buckle 3D reserve championship aboard Melinda Edwards Dunn’s homebred stallion ME Talk Dirty To Me. Emma and “Poncho” also picked up 3D checks at the Breeders Challenge Qualifier at the Kinder Cup, Elite Extravaganza/WPRA World Finals, and the Run For the Rubies East in Ocala, Florida.

The Ocala Ruby Buckle event was extremely good for Emma. She finished fourth in the 3D on Mister Sharp, owned by Lauren Viva. Originally a Ruby Buckle stallion himself, Mister Sharp won $7,700, and it was only his second time entered.

Emma’s personal mare Shesadesignerteddy was ninth at the 3D, earning $2,940. The Pink Buckle provided the $3,915 won by RR Tooslick Eye Mist, owned by Pete and Holly Carr. “Slick” and Abbott were 11th in the 3D average.

Leading 4D Horse: Fast N Frosty Fling

Fast N Frosty Fling
2015 bay roan mare
A Streak Of Fling x Bugs With Frosting x Dash Ta Fame
Owner: Coy & Maesa Kummer
Breeder: Monica McClung
Rider: Elle Kummer
2022 4D Horse Earnings: $38,031
2022 Total Horse Earnings: $44,692 including breakaway
Total Lifetime Horse Earnings: $54,903 including breakaway

2022 Highlights: “She’s the definition of a family horse,” Elle Kummer said of Fast N Frosty Fling.

“Roany Pony” carried 15-year-old Elle to $38,448 in barrel racing earnings last year, while her 17-year-old sister Graycn won $6,244 in the breakaway roping.

Elle’s parents Coy and Maesa Kummer also ride the mare. She was a futurity horse for Maesa in 2020, and Coy ropes calves on the mare.

“Dad uses her all the time,” Elle said. “His favorite horse we have is her. He likes her personality.”

The Kummer family purchased Roany as a weanling from her breeder Monica McClung. After 30 days with Seth Schafer, husband of leading rider Ashley Schafer, Maesa started training the mare for barrels. Coy trained her for the roping.

Elle started riding Roany in March 2022.

“My mom trained her; I took over when she was nice,” Elle noted.

In August 2022, Elle and Roany took seventh in the 4D average at the Ruby Buckle in Guthrie, Oklahoma, a few days after sister Gracyn won the 3D average in the breakaway roping on the mare.

Two months later at the Pink Buckle in Guthrie, Elle and Roany got the 4D championship in the Open.

“The first run at Pink Buckle, she ran by the first,” Elle said. “I got her going too fast. The second one was pretty tight. I could feel her giving up going to the third so I tapped her with the whip and the third was really good. The second run went way better. I got my approach figured out, and she turned the first really good. We almost knocked the second. I could hear Mom in the video, ‘Oh, no!’ I whipped her going to third and she turned that one nice too. It turned out perfectly.”

Elle Kummer turns a barrel at Pink Buckle
Fast N Frosty Fling, owned by Coy and Measa Kummer and ridden by Elle Kummer, earned $38,031 in 4D earnings to earn the Leading 4D Horse of 2022 honor. Their success as a team lead Elle Kummer, 15, of Briggsdale, Colorado, to top the division as the Leading 4D Rider of 2022. Photo by Lexi Smith Media

Leading 4D Rider: Elle Kummer

Elle Kummer
Briggsdale, Colorado
Age: 15
Occupation: Sophomore at Biggsdale High
2022 4D Rider Earnings: $38,031
2022 Total Rider Earnings: $38,448
Total Lifetime Rider Earnings: $39,016 since 2021

2022 Highlights: Elle Kummer and her family’s roan mare Fast N Frosty Fling (see Leading 4D Horse) had a knack for hitting the 4D money at Buckle events in Guthrie, Oklahoma. They were seventh at the Ruby Buckle in August for $11,781 and won the 4D average at the Pink Buckle for $26,350.

Elle, who also ropes, followed her family into the arena at a young age. Her parents both compete — mom Maesa barrel races and dad Coy ropes calves.

“When I was really little, I did the peewees and then took a little break from it,” Elle said. “I got back into it when I was 12 or so, then I really started barrel racing.”

Elle hopes to continue competing as she gets older and would like to try training on her own as well.

“I want to try out the training side, and I really like to rope,” Elle said. “I’d like to try to pro rodeo in the roping and maybe futurity in the barrel racing.”

She thanked her parents for their help and support.

“They’re the ones who pushed me when I didn’t really want to as much,” Elle said. “When I first started riding [Roany], I didn’t like her at all. Then I realized you have to get through the tough part of it to get to the really nice part of her. The only ones I had ridden before her were older and knew their jobs. They were going to take care of me. She was more of step up. She knows what she needs to do but likes to take a detour every now and then.”

Leading 5D Horse: DW I Eat Cash

DW I Eat Cash
2008 bay mare
Three Ohs Wild Dash x Jet Chick Annie x Jet Bank
Owner & Rider: Serena McCann-Morris
Breeder: Kelley McGuire
2022 5D Horse Earnings: $19,769
2022 Total Horse Earnings: $21,700
Total Lifetime Horse Earnings: $25,155 since 2017

2022 Highlights: Serena McCann-Morris purchased DW I Eat Cash from her breeder Kelley McGuire.

“I paid $500 for her,” McCann-Morris said. “She was 6 years old and had never been touched.”

After teaching “Cashmere” the basics using Clinton Anderson fundamentals, McCann-Morris turned to a friend to help train her for barrel racing.

“I wanted to learn how to do this,” McCann-Morris said. “If there were issues, I wanted to know how to fix them. It took me two years to train her, and she won a check in the 3D when I first started running her. She’s been in the 1D several times against 2-300 people. It was just in the past couple years I changed my riding style — I got really heavy-handed — and she didn’t like it.”

A few months after winning the 5D at the Xtreme Million for $18,081, McCann-Morris went to work to fix her issues.

“I went back to a really good friend of mine, Jill Chatfield, and I said, ‘I need help with my riding. Something is wrong with me, not my horse,’” McCann-Morris explained. “I wanted to learn to change my riding style. I wanted to not be so heavy-handed. That was five months ago. She’s a completely different horse now.”

By the end of the year, she was picking up 2D checks at the All In Barrel Race in Las Vegas.

girl turning the first barrel on bay horse
DW I Eat Cash, owned and ridden by Serena McCannMorris, earned $19,769 in 2022 5D earnings as the Leading 5D Horse of 2022. Their success as a team also lead Serena McCann-Morris of Winnemucca, Nevada, to claim the Leading 5D Rider title. Photo by Boaz Dov Elkes

Leading 5D Rider: Serena McCann-Morris

Serena McCann-Morris
Winnemucca, Nevada
Age: 50
Occupation: Horse trainer, barrel racing coach and boarding barn owner
2022 5D Rider Earnings: $19,769
2022 Total Rider Earnings: $21,700
Total Lifetime Rider Earnings: $27,832 since 2016

2022 Highlights: A Cody, Wyoming, native, Serena McCann-Morris grew up riding horses off and on throughout her life. She used them to decompress while serving in the Marine Corp for four years.

“To get my head clear, I’d go ride down in Temecula (California) and enjoy the trees and the river bed and the beaches,” she said.

She started running barrels in 2013 at 41 after being introduced to the sport by her husband Kesler’s co-worker.

“The next thing I know, my husband bought me this amazing sorrel gelding,” McCann-Morris recalled. “I went on Mother’s Day and won my first check. I have been hooked ever since.”

Now, she boards horses, trains and barrel races. McCann-Morris also does a lot of physical therapy for horses and is finishing up her farrier certification this summer. T

his past summer, McCann-Morris won the biggest check of her barrel racing career, nearly $20,000, when she won the 5D at the Xtreme Million Finals in Salina, Utah.

“Holy cow! My name popped up as first in the 5D and I screamed so loud I think everyone from two trailer parks over heard me. I was so excited,” McCann-Morris said. “I was crying. I was so happy. I couldn’t believe it. I had never won that kind of money in my life. To do it on her was such a blessing. I’ve been nothing but grateful for it. I was able to buy all my hay this year. I was able to continue traveling and barrel racing. It was truly life changing.”

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