HAPPY HORSE, HAPPY JOCKEY Sister and Kinsel Find Winner’s Circle in Guymon for Second Straight Year By Ted Harbin
S uperlatives are nothing knew for DM Sissy Hayday. Since she and her jockey, Hailey Kinsel, burst onto the scene five years ago, they have had unparalleled success. Twice they finished as the reserve world championships (2017-2021), which have sandwiched their three Montana Silversmiths gold buckles.
Five straight trips to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, and five top-two finishes. Along the way, Sister has been named the WPRA Horse of the Year, the Scoti Flit Bar Award and a co-winner of the Horse with the Most Heart honor. Most impressively, though, is that the accolades likely will continue coming for the pair from Cotulla, Texas. Over their incredible run, Kinsel has pocketed more than $1.6 million just in the WPRA. Take the $70,000-plus she’s collected in 2022; most of it has come on just 16 runs that Sister has made in the calendar year: Four in Fort Worth, five in San Antonio, five in Houston and two in Guymon, Oklahoma. While the Texas stops are big, indoor rodeos with high-dollar purses, Sister seems to excel in just about any situation, just as she did on the first Friday in May, when she and Kinsel placed twice and won the aggregate title. It marks the second straight for the tandem, which shared the 2021 Pioneer Days Rodeo crown with eventual world champion Jordon Briggs and Rollo. “Guymon has been good to me,” Kinsel said. “I’ll keep going as long as she wants to go.” Now living in Stephenville, Texas, she and her prized yellow speedster made it to the Oklahoma Panhandle with plenty of time to spare in order to compete in the first go-round during slack on May 6. As one of the first cowgirls to make a run, she and Sister rounded the cloverleaf pattern in 17.19 seconds and were done by 8:30 a.m. They finished second in the opening round, a quarter of a second behind the winner, Wenda Johnson of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. When Round 1 was complete later that morning, Kinsel found a trade and began getting Sis ready for their second run in the opening performance that night. Kinsel and Sister then ran a 17.03, finishing in a tie for second place in the second round but taking a solid lead in the two-run aggregate race with a cumulative time of 34.22 seconds. Nobody came close to it until the fourth and final performance on Sunday, May 8, when Johnson tallied 34.36 seconds on two runs. It was a resounding victory and added $5,738 to Kinsel’s earnings in the region once known as No Man’s Land; she has earned $17,349 in Guymon since 2017. It also proved that Sister is still capable even after getting more than a month off. Pioneer Days was her first run since the final round of
Photo by Dale Hirschman
RodeoHouston on March 19. In that time, Kinsel removed the shoes from her prized palomino and let her just horse around. “It had been a while since I’ve been able to pull the shoes off her,” she said. “I wanted to let her feet grow out. When you are shoeing to go fast, there’s not a lot of foot to work with. She needs to have her shoes on at all those winter rodeos, where we’re on concrete so much of the time. She didn’t leave the house to go anywhere since Houston.” They still got in some work, albeit away from harder surfaces and in the places that kept Sister happy and healthy. It was evident when they arrived in the Panhandle. By being able to run twice in the same day, it allowed Kinsel a chance to return home and work with other horses she has while also getting to spend Mother’s Day with her mom. It takes about seven hours to drive from her place in Erath County to Hitch Arena in Guymon, and the road tends to get longer depending on how the spring weather hits the Plains. The terrain in Texas County, Oklahoma, is a bit rugged and demanding, and it’s not a scenic bypass that gives way to competition. Still, Sister loves being among the prairie grasses and miles upon miles of pastureland. Once Kinsel gives the mare a peek through the alleyway, the palomino gets her engines started, and the results seem to always be good. “I keep asking, ‘Why western Oklahoma?’ ” Kinsel said. “It’s always further there to drive than it says on the map. It’s always interesting weather, because we don’t know what to expect. I can’t say it’s the size of the pattern. She handles all kinds of ground, and Guymon is a place that some horses can’t handle. “She does handle it, and I think that’s why she excels there a lot.” Guymon, Oklahoma, isn’t for everybody, but it works just fine for Sister. That’s good enough for Hailey Kinsel.
28 WPRA NEWS JUNE 2022
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