Pro barrel racer Shelley Morgan is no stranger to the ebbs and flows of life on the rodeo trail. The 50-year-old from Eustace, Texas, who’s won more than a million in career earnings, has experienced the exhilaration of winning The American in 2022, and knows the sting of losing her beloved horse Short Go in 2010. The 2023 season lands somewhere in the middle of those valleys and peaks, and Shelley and her sorrel mare Kiss are doggedly working their way through it.
At the time of writing, they are sitting 21st in the world standings with $61,709.87. “We’re having a good season. Maybe not great, but good,” says Shelley. “Kiss always tries hard. Our goals are always the NFR, but as long as she’s healthy and sound at the end of the season, I’ll be happy.” Shelley planned to compete on both Kiss and another mare, Phoebe, this year, but with Phoebe working through a lameness issue, the bulk of the competition has landed on Kiss. Shelley and Kiss have been competing together for more than five years, beginning with futurities when Kiss was three. The mare, who won WPRA Horse With The Most Heart in 2020, excels in big outdoor arenas and is clocking steadily faster in indoor arenas now too.
With such a demanding season for the duo, Shelley is grateful for good tools that protect Kiss and keep her sound. She rides in a 5 Star barrel racer saddle pad, and boots up in their sport boots. “I consider them pretty versatile. I use just about the same kind of pad on all my barrel horses. I have a swaybacked horse, then there’s Kiss who has high withers, and I have a young horse with no withers, and it doesn’t matter what horse I put them on,” says Shelley, who has been on the 5 Star team for three years. “I never feel like I have to girth my horse in two trying to get it tight enough. They fill in the imperfections in a horse’s back and they’re not nearly as sweaty under those pads. They never have sore backs when we go to the vet or chiropractor. The boots keep the dirt out well and have really good Velcro, plus they are so bright and pretty. All of those are positives when we’re asking our horses to give their best. Anything I can do for them to keep them feeling good is a positive.”
Shelley travels with her husband of 31 years, Rex, along with their German Shepherd and two Yorkies. They also have two grown sons, Zach and Tanner. She’s entered more than 40 rodeos this season, a highlight among them competing in the Calgary Stampede for the first time in her career. “This was my fourth invite, but the first time I actually got to attend. The first time, I lost my horse, Short Go, right before Calgary and I didn’t have another horse to take. The last two years there were COVID limitations, so this year it was pretty cool to actually get to go.”
As the 2023 season draws to a close, Shelley is anxious to return home to Texas and pick up working with several young horses she has started. “I think I do better if I ride my own horses that I’ve trained.” Much of her focus will be on the full brother to Kiss, a three-year-old named Smooch. “He’s become very sentimental to me. Not only because he’s Kiss’s brother, but we lost my dad (Bobby Bridwell) in May, and I had half interest in him with my dad. He’s the last horse I owned with my dad.” Shelley also has a four-year-old by Streak of Fling and out of Fames Fiery Kiss (Kiss’s dam). “I’ve been really slow with him to let him develop, and I’m excited to add the speed and get him to where he can help Kiss next year.
“My next goal if I don’t make the NFR is to stay in the top 20 or 30 to enter the big winter rodeos. As long as Kiss stays feeling good, I’d like to make it to Sioux Falls (Cinch Playoffs) and continue making it to those final rodeos. I’m just taking it week by week right now. Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!”
