Three Texas cowgirls dominated the first of the 2024 winter rodeos.
There is no feeling quite like the beginning of a new year of rodeo for barrel racers of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. A successful start can wind up being the difference between staying home in December or running down the alley of the Thomas and Mack Center arena. Katie Jo Halbert got off to a hot start with a win at the Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo in Odessa, Texas, and Hailey Kinsel and Halyn Lide were crowned co-champions of the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, Colorado.
Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo
Last year at the 2023 Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo, Katie Jo Halbert had just teamed up with 2017 mare Miz Milania four months prior, and it literally was the mare’s first rodeo — and they were just a tenth of a second away from placing. The duo returned to west Texas in 2024 with a year’s worth of rodeo seasoning under their belts and laid down a 14.14 in Odessa to take the win and pocket $5,956.
“A day or two before, we ran at the Uvalde (Texas) qualifier and she worked really well but stood up and ran around her turns. I got to Odessa and wanted to put her in my stop-and-turn hackamore to sharpen her up and quicken her turns,” Halbert said. “We get there, the wind is blowing, there’s dust everywhere and it’s miserable. I warmed her up in it, and she felt really good. I probably looked like a goofball because I warmed her up in her fly mask just to keep the dust out of her eyes. I get up there to run and she’s pretty quiet, but she about loses me at the first barrel. Poor thing, I’m balancing on her face, and she just takes it and works like she does. I ended up with a bruise on my thigh from hanging on for dear life, but she just takes care of me.”
Halbert and “Milania” have been a rockstar team from the very beginning of their partnership. Purchased toward the end of her futurity year in 2022 and owned by Halbert’s parents Debbie and Randy Boyd, Milania was trained by Jodee Miller and ran to more than $130,000 her futurity year under Miller’s guidance. Halbert and Milania kicked off their career together as reserve champions at the 2022 Oklahoma City Futurity to end the mare’s futurity year with over $150,000.
But the Port Lavaca, Texas, cowgirl had rodeo aspirations and planned to use 2023 to season the talented mare to the rodeo road, letting her see the sights and get accustomed to travelling with no real pressure on her.
After a humbling experience at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, Halbert set to work on finding throttle control to keep the hard-turning mare on her feet and in a good position.
“I always believed she was a great horse, but at Sisters, Oregon, it was maybe her second outdoor run ever, and she set the arena record and just threw down. That was pretty cool, then I was like ‘OK, she can hang with the big dogs of the WPRA,’” said Halbert of the mare who has now won over $280,000 in EquiStat reported earnings. “We didn’t go super hard [in 2023]. I just wanted to create a better horse for the future. It has been a fairy tale story. I’ve never fit a horse like her, and she has taught me a lot about feel and timing. It’s pretty incredible how talented and amazing she is. She’s definitely my once-in-a-lifetime. I know for a fact I won’t ride another one like her. It’s effortless for her. This year when I’ve asked her to step up, she’s been right there and two steps higher than I could have asked her to be.”
Halbert thanks her sponsors EquiBoss Performance, Anna Wayne Clothing Company, Empresario Beef, MVP, Alfa Force and Longhorn S Livestock. She is also grateful to her parents for their support, her husband Reid Halbert, and most importantly Jesus Christ for the opportunities and blessings that she has been given.
“I’ve always dreamed of this, and for it to be a reality is just incredible,” Halbert said. “She is a fire-breathing dragon on the ground; so confident, so smart and so tough. She is a warrior. I’ve never been around a horse like her. It gives me confidence — if she believes in herself that much, then maybe I should have some confidence in myself too.”
National Western Stock Show and Rodeo
Hailey Kinsel and her marvelous mare made their return to the NWSSR in grand fashion. Kinsel and DM Sissy Hayday had not ran in Denver since 2020, but the four-time WPRA world champions proved they hadn’t missed a beat as they blazed a 14.63 to win Performance 13 and reset the arena record. The pair followed that up with another win in Performance 14, banking $1,136 for a 14.78.
“The first round was a matinee performance, with the second round later that night, about seven hours apart. My first run I was second out, and I told myself ‘Don’t go play it safe, go capitalize right now,’” Kinsel said. “I had gotten in the arena that morning, which is really important for her to see the pen and be comfortable. I full-sent it; the first round was normally how I’d treat a third or fourth round. She was spot-on perfect, really soft and let me handle her. It was fun; she didn’t have any trouble and kept her footing everywhere. She recovered well and was comfortable for the second round later that night. We got hung up a little in the dirt on the second, but she was honest and solid.”
The Texas team got to relax on Friday as they stayed at a friend’s house outside of Denver.
“We went back in Saturday morning for the semifinals but didn’t go to the practice session. I just got ready for the perf and trusted that what we did the first two rounds was good enough,” Kinsel shared. “It was probably the roughest of the four runs, but it was just timing things; no big mistakes.”
A 14.84 placed second in Semifinals One, punching their ticket to the finals and earning $2,330.
“I drew up ninth out of 12 in the finals. I was at practice when the draw came out, and my mom texted me and said, ‘You’ve drawn worse in your life, you can handle it.’ It was nice going into seeing what my draw was with that frame of mind already,” Kinsel said. “I just thought we’ll go for it and be as fast as we can. I knew I had a horse that can place anywhere in that finals at any spot on the ground. She was feeling good.”
Kinsel joined fellow Texas A&M graduate Halyn Lide at the top of the clean-slate finals leaderboard with a time of 14.73, worth $4,257 for each. Kinsel thanks Maggie Poloncic and McKenna Coronado for helping her care for Sister after their runs, taking her boots off and making sure she was comfortable.
Though she is grateful to have other good horses to ride, Kinsel admits that nothing quite measures up to swinging a leg over her beloved Sister.
“I like going to the rodeos and seeing [other horses] progress, but there is not a lot that compares to running Sister,” she said. “Getting on her is like putting on your favorite pair of jeans and knowing that they go really fast.”
Halyn Lide and Jettin Ta Heaven
“Well it’s always fun to win, right?” quipped Denver co-champion Halyn Lide. “Last year was my best year thus far and we had $2,000 won come June, so to win a little money in the winter time is just exciting.”
The China Spring, Texas, cowgirl made the most of her first-ever trip to the NWSSR, clocking a 14.73 in the finals to end up on top with Kinsel for $4,257.
“I intended to go last year but would have had to go to the qualifier, and the weather frightens me so I didn’t go,” Lide said. “I qualified from last year’s standings and told myself I should take advantage of that opportunity this year. My sister-in-law [Katelyn Scott] made it in through the qualifier, so we got to go up there together and had a lot of fun.”
Photo by Andersen C Bar C Photography
Lide jockeyed her home-raised 12-year-old gelding Jettin Ta Heaven to a hot start, winning Performance 15 and $2,446 with a 14.78. A solid run of 14.99 placed third in Performance 16, good enough for second in their bracket and to progress to the Semifinals.
“‘Keeper’ was pretty excited for all the runs, which is a good sign for him,” Lide said. “If he’s excited and having fun, it tends to go better. He’s 12 and a little opinionated these days. If he’s not wanting to run, he’ll let me know. The first run was excellent I felt like, and the second run he got a little short on me. The semis and finals were one of those deals I was trying to be as fast as we could be. The semis were super tough, and we squeaked in there.”
Keeper and Lide slid into the finals in the fourth and final spot of Semifinals Three, clocking a 14.84 for $777.
“In the finals, he took a step on the third where he stumbled on his front end and had a bit of a step off the third. But he ran really hard home,” Lide said. “The ground was really good and consistent. It was deep, but good, safe ground, so I was super thankful for that. I would also like to thank the Denver rodeo committee, Olive Insurance, and Katelyn for all her help.”
Lide and Keeper’s road to victory has been a family affair, 10 years in the making.
“When my husband started him at 2 years old, he let me know he was a keeper. I think it was the second ride he put on him. We raised him, so all his bad habits are my fault,” Lide said with a laugh. “He can be very mean and pushy, and I guess I am to blame. He is out of a mare I had at the end of high school and beginning of college. She got hurt, so we ended up breeding her to JL Dash Ta Heaven. She was really amazing, and I definitely see some of her and some of JL Dash Ta Heaven in him. He is super easy to run the barrels on; always has been. He goes in there and knows his job and loves it as much as I do.”
After Lide’s husband Aaron started the gelding, he spent some time with a family friend while Aaron was in vet school. Stephanie Fryar rode him for a bit, as did Katelyn Scott.
“We held him until his 5-year-old year, and Katie actually took him to his first futurity. My other sister-in-law, Lorissa Merritt, took him to a few rodeos while I was pregnant, but he has been with me since then. He has been all over the place, but we have all won money on him,” Lide said. “I don’t know if he really likes anyone. He’s not the kind of horse that wants to come get pet — he’s a bully and likes to pick on you. But I think he likes picking on me the most.”
This article was originally published in the April 2024 issue of Barrel Horse News.
