“Etta is a nine-year-old quarter horse who I compete on in barrel racing. My grandpa surprised me by buying her for me in January of 2018. We bought her from Bo Hill, who raised and trained her for barrel racing when Etta was 4 years old. Bo had competed on Etta at two barrel futurities before I got her. It didn’t take much for her to transition to me, but rather I had to learn everything from her because she was the first horse I have owned that had the capability to win at big levels. We sort of clicked right away and I knew we would accomplish many goals together.

She’s won a few events, placed at several big events, and even with several setbacks, she has a heart of gold and loves her job running barrels. At the 2019 BBR Finals she ended up placing 4th out of thousands of entries. February 2018 in Kinder, Louisiana was my first barrel futurity to compete in and we placed 7th in the first round and 19th in the average. In March 2018 we won the amateur futurity in Waco, Texas. This year, she qualified for the American Contender Tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma and placed 7th in the first round there.

She has had a few setbacks, but she has overcome each one. In March 2020, she had an accident during an event in Waco and fractured her ischium bone in her pelvis. She was out for 13 months recovering but made her comeback and returned to competition in May 2021. Another setback occurred in May 2022 when I noticed her breathing was off. My vet scoped her and found she had a paralyzed flapper and she had to have surgery to remove the flapper for her to be able to breathe better. Once again, she made a comeback and returned to competition in August 2021. When she was able to compete again, I decided to start using FLAIR® Strips to make sure Etta was getting all the help she could get to be able to breathe better during her runs.

Etta always gives 100% every time we compete, and I just love her for that. Each time she’s had to have time off to recover, she’s come back stronger and ready to go win again. To me that shows how big her heart is and the try that she has each time she enters the arena. I don’t think she realizes what she’s been through, because she’s never hesitated to go back to work. She has opened so many doors for me and I’m blessed to go out every morning and tell her how much she means to me.”