BY TONYA RATLIFF-GARRISON, FIELD EDITOR
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| Kylie Knight and Reminic Moon Shine slide into their last stop for the dry work in the working cow horse finals. |
Kylie Knight and her gelding, Reminic Moon Shine, won the working cow horse at the 2005 AQHYA World Championship Show. It was Kylie's first world championship.
“The first one is always very special just because it’s the first time,” the 18-year-old said. “You aim for that your entire life and then it happens.”
But could she do it again?
Returning to Fort Worth, Texas, the next year, Kylie hoped to win it again. However, she and “Leroy” ended up in sixth place.
“There is a lot of pressure coming back after you won it before, and you put a lot of pressure on yourself about doing good,” she said.
Kylie hoped the 2007 Ford Youth World would yield a second championship.
Coming out of the prelims, she and Leroy were leading the field of 48 with an incredible 441 (219 in the dry work and a 222 in the fence work). The score was 11.5 points higher than the second-place qualifier.
At the working cow horse finals on August 6, Kylie and Leroy entered the John Justin Arena seventh in the draw. They immediately moved into the rein work.
“My horse is a really good horse, and he’s really solid in the rein work,” Kylie said. “He ran his circles good, came back good, stopped good and turned good. He did everything really good.”
Next up, the cow work. An energetic black cow jumped out of the gate. Kylie knew she’d drawn a good one.
“My horse knows how to handle a good cow,” she said with a smile. “On the back fence, I got a little bit tight going in that first turn, and I got hung up a little bit on that one, but I got around it. I looped the cow, got a good second turn and then my horse circled up really good. I definitely made it up a little bit on that.”
After the buzzer sounded, Kylie reached down, gave Leroy a big pat on the shoulder and a big smile to the cheering crowd.
“I was very happy with my run,” she said.
So were the judges, marking the dry work with a 218.5 and giving the fence work a 218 for a total of 436.5.
The score held through the next eight performers with Kelsey Irby of Wheatland, Wyoming, and her mare, Smokescreen Image, coming in reserve with a 436.
“It feels good to do it again and to be a two-time world champion,” Kylie said. “It was pretty exciting. It really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
But Kylie gives most of the credit for her second youth world championship title to Leroy.
“He’s an amazing horse,” she said. “He’s so solid. He’s there for me all the time. Every time I go show him, he wants to be good. He always tries to please me and he’s so phenomenal on a cow, and so easy to ride on a cow. He really just helps you out a lot, and he doesn’t make it more difficult for you. It’s great to get a show horse like that.”
Leory, however, will soon lose his rider. In three weeks, Kylie heads from her home in Peoria, Arizona, back to Fort Worth, were she’ll start college at Texas Christian University.
“I’m going to be on their equestrian team, and ride for them,” Kylie said. “I’m really excited about it, and I think it will be fun. I’m excited to go to college.
“But I’ll certainly miss my horse. He will stay at home with my trainer, Corey Cushing. It will be easier because I’ll be too busy going to school. But I know he’ll be in good hands, and he’ll be getting some much deserved rest.”
