JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION
BRIGHT FUTURE Kara McDonald Adds Junior World Champion to Resume By Kristen M. White K ara McDonald likes the mindset of “everyday is a new day.” But sometimes she probably wishes she could hit repeat like Groundhog Day - like the day when she won the WPRA World Championship.
The 15-year-old sophomore from Brunswick, Georgia, embarked on her first year in the WPRA Junior ranks and said she didn’t have huge expectations for herself. “I really didn’t expect to go in and win it!” she said. “I started and had one really good horse and then we unexpectedly bought another and between the two of them, they’ve added to my earnings.” She finished the season with $15,061. Makayla Maddie finished as runner-up with $12,470. Barrel racing is in McDonald’s blood. She’s been running the pattern since she was tiny, and her grandfather trains horses (including some past NFR horses). She began small, and once she got “really competitive and leveled up all the horses” she decided to try WPRA. There aren’t a ton of WPRA approved shows near home, so it required McDonald and her family to travel mostly to Florida and South Carolina. “We only made 13 shows, and thankfully I did well. There were a couple that were big money which helped,” McDonald said. She said she always knew she and her horses, Blue and Truck, had the ability to do well. There wasn’t any huge turning point in the season for her necessarily, but at some point, she realized she had a big enough lead on her competition that she could win. “It was about getting (the performance) out of myself - keeping the barrels up,” she said with a laugh. McDonald had enough of a lead that she was a lock for the championship without competing at the WPRA Finals. However, she did travel to the rodeo so she could receive her saddle, and said it was a little surreal. “I got out of the car and there was Fallon Taylor who I’ve always looked up to, just walking by and I thought, ‘Whoa. To be here with these people is an honor!’” McDonald said. “It’s such a huge honor to win this. I had high hopes and kept going when I saw that I had the potential.” McDonald said she’d love to continue moving up in rodeo, taking advantage of future opportunities. She said that it feels like “big shoes to fill,” noting that some previous WPRA Junior World winners have gone on to do well in the pros (Jackie Ganter in 2014 and Callie duPerier in 2010, for example). She said she would like to go pro if she had the right horse, or possibly train horses. Another possibility is to become a large animal vet for mainly equine and bovine. The closest emergency large animal
vet near her home is a couple of hours, so she understands the need. For now, McDonald can continue working with Truck and Blue to see what other hardware they can rack up. Blue is “oddly trained” and so she has to ride him in a different and specific manner, but the duo clearly makes it work. Truck was originally slated to be her back-up horse, but McDonald said, with a laugh, that he “decided not to be the backup horse.” He’s a big horse with a lot of speed, while Blue is smaller. Together they’re propelling McDonald forward and she’s excited. Kara McDonald, the 15-year-old sophomore from Brunswick, Georgia, embarked on her first year in the WPRA Junior ranks and said she didn’t have huge expectations for herself. While she didn’t expect to win the world that is exactly what she did. She finished the season with $15,061 and the future looks quite bright for this young star. WPRA photo by Rodeobum.com (James Phifer)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 WPRA NEWS 35
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