Luck and hard work lift Charlo barrel racer to the top

Some rodeo people won’t wear a yellow shirt in a rodeo arena and others will only wear a certain “lucky” hat. But for Charlo barrel racer Abby Knight, luck is woven into six braids in her horse’s mane.

“It’s got to be six,” she said, laughing. “Not five, not four.”

Maybe those braids were part of the magic that helped Knight and her black gelding Pistol bring home two saddles from the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals held Jan. 9-11 in Great Falls. One saddle was for the year-end championship and the other was for the Circuit Finals average winner.

“I went into the Finals leading the circuit,” Knight said. “I had a little padding. Then I won the first round and placed fourth in the second round.”

For the third round, Knight needed a good solid performance, which was delivered when she and Pistol blazed into second place. That solidified her winning the average and the year-end championship and also qualified her for the National Finals Rodeo Open, held July 9-13 in Colorado Springs.

Although she’d usually be heading to Rapid City, “Right now, I’m on a break,” Knight said last week, since snowstorms had closed I-90 between Bozeman and Park City.

Also, she has the perfect rodeo competitor’s job, working for Jan Lake at the Lake Seed Inc. agricultural lab. The crew is very busy in March and April, but after the mint and potato plants are shipped, it slows down in the summertime, and the lab tries to accommodate everyone’s schedules.

Knight has been a member of the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association for at least six years, so her rodeo season begins in June.

“The weather is better, so I can hit some rodeos in Idaho and Washington,” she said. “Newport, Washington, is only a couple of hours away.” Knight uses these shows for getting back in the routine of things although she’ll branch out a bit, too.

Entering bigger rodeos, like those in Houston or San Antonio, is based on the money contestants have earned or how high they’ve placed in qualifier rodeos. Since the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit finals are in January, the money they win doesn’t get added to their standings until the following year.

Entries to the Calgary Stampede are by invitation only or with high standings in qualifier events. “I’m hoping to go to the Calgary qualifier so I can compete,” she said of the big Alberta event. “It’s one of those bucket list rodeos.”

Pistol and Junior

Barrel racers and their horses are a tight team, and Pistol was born and raised on the Knight place so he and Abby got a head start.

He’s the first barrel horse she trained herself, and a home-raised, home-trained horse brings “a different sense of accomplishment.”

“He’s very, very special,” Knight said of the black gelding. “He’s my heart horse – he will always be with me. He’s quirky, and he has his little things he does and,” she pauses, “he’s mine.”

Pistol’s mother is a mare called Mabel (her registered name is Tinka Rocket Command) that her dad bought when she was “really little,” Knight said.

“My dad team roped on her, my mom ran barrels on her, and my aunt breakaway roped on her,” she added, calling her “old-school cow bred” – going back to Oklahoma Star on the topside and Leo on the bottom.

Pistol’s sire is Instant Income, a Dash for Cash-bred stud owned by Paul and Yvonne Yorgensen in Stevensville.

Knight rode a sibling of Pistol’s in college and recognizes their similarities. It’s a magical cross, she says, creating horses that “are just gritty and give it their all and try their hearts out.”

“I think that’s what makes them special,” she added. “They’re always ready to go to work.”

Then, about a year and a half ago, Mike Lyons of Pablo sent a horse over to the Knight ranch for training.

“I just fell in love with him, and he’s never left my house again.” she said, adding that she now owns half of him. “We call him Junior, and he’s one for the team. He’s won me several rodeos so far.”

Pistol and Junior are different flavors of equine. Pistol is a hard keeper and likes a smaller pattern; he’s really solid on them, Knight said. Junior, on the other hand, is an easy keeper and likes the big arenas.

“He’ll run real hard and fast, but he’s all cow-bred so he’ll sit and come back around his turns really fast,” she said.

Advice to young barrel racers

It’s safe to say Knight has barrels in her blood.

“I don’t think I ever really got the option not to be” a barrel racer, she said. “My family has always been a rodeo family,” including her dad, mom and sister.

“I’ve just always loved it. I’m very, very competitive and have always had the drive in the horse world … When I get the chance, I’ll ride 10 horses a day.”

Even with cold weather and deep snow, she loves to “just go hang out with the horses. It just makes you feel better.”

Her advice to young barrel racers is to keep working at it.  

“A lot of people forget we are working with animals, and every day is a different day. I always say you can’t have a bad ride, so just keep remembering to chip away at it every day … then one day it will all come together, and when it does, it’s really exciting.”

She says the same is true of training young horses.”

Another slice of horse wisdom: “I try never to walk out of the arena mad because we are running animals, where weather and ground conditions and all those things play such a big part in it.”

“I might not ride the best, so I try to reinforce that they are always great,” she adds. “If you walk out of the arena with a sound, safe athlete that is the best thing we can ask for.”

    Charlo barrel racer Abby Knight poses with the two saddles she won at the Montana Pro Rodeo Finals – the 2024 year-end championship and winning the best average at the rodeo. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)