story by Lindsay Humphrey
Pistol was the horse that taught Spring Pennington to ride and he very likely built the foundation that her confidence stands on today. He was an old team roping horse from her dad – Shawn – who took care of the eager young girl when she was literally and figuratively cutting her teeth on the barrel pattern. “My parents were a little worried that he would be too much for me, but he took really good care of me,” said the 15-year-old. “I remember my first-time loping on him: I picked up a whip and swatted him and he took off loping. I thought we were going so fast.” That was until it was time to step up to her next mount, a 1D barrel horse that her mom – Sissy – used to compete on.
“I still remember that transition from a babysitter into something a little higher powered. Since then, I’ve progressed through different levels of horses. I can still remember the last time I used Pistol. It was at the AJ finals and those are still my favorite pictures of us together.” Back when Spring was first getting started, it was her mom putting the first rides on the colts that they bred and raised. Now, the tables have turned and it’s Spring in the saddle. “It’s amazing to take a horse from their first breath to hitting the arena; it’s been something for me to cherish more than buying a horse to use would be.”
Twelve-year-old Prissy is Spring’s favorite horse her family has bred, raised and trained so far. She’s her main mount in the barrels now. “She’s freakishly fast and because of that, she’s won us a lot of money.” Prissy was the last foal out of Cisco Lena before he passed away. “She has the funniest, most quirky personality of any horse I’ve ever seen. She can be in her stall and she’ll duck her down and then pop back up real quick like she’s playing peek-a-boo. There’s more, but it’s hard to explain; it’s something that has to be seen to understand.” All that quirky gets balled up and used to fuel the rocket horse who carried Spring to the THSRA state champion barrel title and then a fourth-place finish at high school nationals this past summer.
While Prissy is a huge part of that success, a lot goes back to the mental game Spring’s developed for herself. “Like everyone else, I went through a rough patch and was trying to figure out what was costing me time. I realized I was letting the adrenaline and nerves get to me to where my run felt super fast and I couldn’t think about what I was doing.” It took a lot of practice at home and on the road to slow everything down mentally that Spring could really focus on every event and horse individually. “I ride so many different horses and all in different events that I had no choice but to get it figured out, otherwise I wasn’t going to be able to ride each horse correct so they could work their best.” Smooth is fast and fast is smooth drums through every one of Spring’s runs nowadays.
Even though running barrels is the easy favorite, Spring also competes in poles, goats, breakaway and team roping both in high school rodeo and the AJRA. She’s been competing in the AJRAs for almost 10 years now. “I like the atmosphere and energy of AJs. I’m the kind of person who thrives off energy and those really get me pumped up.” Defending her state title this summer is a priority of course, but so will earning a saddle in the AJRA. “The AJs are one of the toughest junior rodeos, and it really shows who’s the best of the best.”
