Tell us about your horse(s) (age, personality, running style, where you got them, etc). A Cute Cash, aka Cutie, is a 17-year-old mare with a heart of gold. She gives her all in every run. She loves her job and strives to please her rider no matter her environment. She is sweet and kind horse but has a snooty attitude in the hours before she knows she will be competing. This is why her nickname is sometimes “Snooty Cutie.” Her running style is very different from what I learned on. Cutie is a very smooth running horse that snakes around the barrels. She runs on top of the ground and keeps her forward motion throughout the run. My sister Mercede purchased Cutie from Hill Quarter Horses in 1999. Cutie is the mare I rode to qualify for the Circuit Finals.

Peace Policy, aka Peace, is my 20-year-old gelding. He has a very unique and lovable personality. He looks forward to feeding time. When I look for him in the field I always know where to look first, the hay feeder. He will spend all day, every day here if I let him. He is always the first to get to his grain and will run anyone or anything over to get to it. He is mostly very sweet, but similar to Cutie, he gets grumpy before he runs and does not want to be cuddled. Peace and I 'click' as his running style is very similar to mine. He comes into the arena flying and hunts for the first barrel. He is powerful around each barrel keeping forward motion all the way around it. I purchased Peace Policy from Julie Voigt in Beulah, North Dakota. She trained him and won the Badland Circuit with Peace 7 years in a row.

What horse(s) are you going to be riding at the circuit finals? I will be running Peace Policy at the circuit finals.

Tell us about your rig and traveling partners. I absolutely love the Bloomer horse trailer and Freightliner my parents have, but did not use it very much during the summer. The first half of the summer I traveled with Dave and Donna Johnson and Dasher in her rig. She was awesome to travel with and loves to sing and blare music of my taste, which was awesome. Donna was very helpful to me on the road and off. On the road she helped me and gave me advice everytime I asked, and off the road helped me with head-gear for a back-up horse. She and Dave are great people and I respect them very much. I had to stop traveling with them because of Cutie’s cycling schedule. The second half of the summer I traveled with Katie Rasmussen and her lovely daughters. Katie is a total sweetheart and was very easy to travel with. She and her gelding Dave were very fun to watch. Her daughters, Shelby and Paige, are very sweet and support their mom 150%. I loved traveling with this family, especially when I could watch Disney movies or barrel racing videos in the back seat.

What do you like most about being on the rodeo road? I love the relationships you build with people while being on the road. You spend a lot of hours getting from one rodeo to the next and it is interesting to get to know more about the people who share your passion for rodeo and barrel racing.

What do you like least about the rodeo road? My least favorite aspect of the rodeo road is driving to a rodeo at 4 a.m., setting up pens, taking care of horses, sleeping for maybe 2 hours and getting up to run in the slack at 8 a.m. I am not a morning person and I love getting my 8 hours of sleep in, so this is not my favorite aspect of the rodeo road.

What was your favorite 2010 Montana rodeo/committee (what special things did the committee do?) There are few rodeos/committees I do not like. It is nice to see people doing whatever they can to make a rodeo a good experience for everyone involved with a smile on their face. This was true for many rodeos/committees.

What was your best rodeo moment of 2010? yThis may not be my best rodeo moment, but it was very memorable. I was in the perfomance in Billings and I had been blowing by my first barrel the two previous runs of the weekend, so I sat very hard and said “whoa” for the first barrel. Cutie really responded and I wasn't ready for it and we hit the first barrel. I was irritated at my poor reaction time and was not thinking about preparing her for 2nd barrel, so naturally, I hit that barrel also. I heard the announcer tell me to go for three, so I kicked the third barrel over with my foot. The crowd went wild and I gave a little fist pump for their clapping. The next day my grandpa called my dad and said that I was in the paper, not for winning a rodeo, but being a good sport for knocking all three barrels over.

Besides pro rodeos do you compete in other rodeo or barrel racing organizations? Yes. Northern Rodeo Association, NBHA, JJK Barrel Racing, RCBRA among many others.

What are your rodeo plans in 2011? I plan to amateur and professionally rodeo and hope to crack out my 11 year old gelding Cash. He is very talented and fast but needs more experience. I will be graduated in December of 2010 from Montana State University and will hopefully have more time to dedicate to my horses.

What kind of tack and bits do you use on your horse? I have not upgraded my tack much since I started barrel racing. My mother first bought me a Ed Wright saddle but I sometimes ride in a Marlene McRae saddle my sister won from winning the circuit 5 years ago. Cutie runs in a chain bit while Peace uses a Balding bit.

What kind of saddle do you ride in? Ed Wright and Marlene McRae.

What do you feed your horse? Certified hay and a variety of grain and supplements.

What do you do for a warm-up and do you have any superstitions or rituals before a run? I long trot them to stretch their muscles out and lope big a small circles. I have no superstitions but I try to jack Cutie up right before I run her, while I do everything I can to keep Peace calm before entering the arena.

What do you do during the week to keep your horse in shape? A lot of long trotting in the fields next to my house or light barrel work.

Tell us about your family. I have the greatest family in the world! My parents have given me more than any little girl could dream of and I feel very lucky to have such giving and supportive people in my life. They have given me all the necessary tools to be successful and want nothing more than to see me succeed and be happy. My dad believes in me more than anyone and my mom is my voice of reason. She came up with a saying when we first started barrel racing. It is called the Three Rs of Barrel Racing: Run, Rate, and Wrap. This makes my sister and me laugh everytime she asks us to tell us what they are as a reminder to us.

What’s your occupation, besides barrel racing? I am full-time Business-Marketing student at Montana State University taking 21 credits. I will graduate this December.