Photo submitted by Kaci O’RourkeKaci O’Rourke tried reining — the western style equestrian sport where riders guide horses through a series of precise movements like circles, spins and stops — for the first time when she was 10 years old at her parents’ family-run farm Pond Hill Ranch in Castleton. Two decades later, she went down in history last week as the first woman to win the National Reining Horse Association’s top championship.After the two week-long national reining competition in Oklahoma, O’Rourke was the only woman to make it to the fourth and final stage of the championship on Dec. 7. With her horse The Firemen, she scored the highest score of the night and her career, and won a $350,000 prize. “It still hasn’t really sunk in,” said the 30-year-old O’Rourke during a phone interview from Texas. “It felt like the whole arena, the whole reining community, was definitely there with me.”In her teen years, she found early success in reining youth competitions —  including winning the NRHA non-pro division championship in 2011 — and decided at 16 years old that training horses for reining would be her life’s career. “I just fell in love right away with the temperament and the athletic ability of the horses, and just kind of immersed myself in the sport,” she said. At 18, O’Rourke joined the professional reining league and worked in Weatherford, Texas, for five years with Casey Deary, who has had “tremendous success” in reining, she said. In 2018, she went on to work with Craig Schmersal, who was another impactful mentor for her growth as a rider and trainer. While working with Deary and Schmersal, she saw them both win the NRHA Futurity in previous years, so she “definitely understood how big of a deal it is, how hard it is to attain and how lucky you have to be for it all to actually come together,” she recalled.Photo submitted by Kaci O’RourkeO’Rourke started a business in 2020 training and showing horses with her husband in Aubrey, Texas, and has competed in the NRHA Futurity a number of times. She and her husband picked out The Firemen to train for reining when he was a yearling on the pastures of Tamarack Ranch in Burleson, Texas.While the competition spanning a fortnight was “mentally and physically draining,” O’Rourke said that The Firemen attracted attention early on in the competition for his athleticism and talent. In the alleyway before going into the arena for the final performance, O’Rourke said she felt oddly calm, knowing she and her horse had done all they could to prepare and form a partnership. “We can’t do anything without the horse, so that’s the most important element of our team,” she said. “I knew my horse really well. I knew where he was at, mentally and emotionally. I knew what he needed, and he was really there for me for that run in the finals.”Her early mentor in reining, Dan Sanborn of MDS Farms in Salisbury, New Hampshire, said O’Rourke stood out in her youth for her passion for the sport. Sanborn said he was “over the moon” watching her winning performance, knowing that she was representing the northeast and her success would set a positive role model for young girls interested in getting involved in the male-dominated division of equestrian sports.Photo submitted by Kaci O’Rourke“She was probably one of the most determined, dedicated young horse women I’d ever seen in my life,” said Sanborn. “I told her when she was a young girl, I thought she could win the NRHA fraternity sometime, so, I mean, I was happy for her, but I wasn’t shocked.”O’Rourke said that she has found an inclusive community in the world of reining, but added that it is challenging for women to be taken seriously at a high level in western equestrian performance world. She encourages young girls who are interested in the sport to surround themselves with supportive people and to work hard. “Nothing that’s great or worth having comes easy. It’s not going to be an easy road all the time and you have to have perseverance and determination to get really anywhere,” she said. According to O’Rourke, The Firemen will be getting some well-deserved time off from shows though she plans for him to compete in the NRHA Derby in June and at the 100x Stakes in August of next year. She said her team will decide whether to put him forward as a breeding stallion but ultimately, she said, that choice will be based on The Firemen’s best interests. “We definitely want to make sure that we put him and his well-being first, and make sure we put his show career first,” said O’Rourke.As far as her career, O’Rourke plans to continue competing when the horse show season starts up again in February, including at the Cactus Reining Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is the qualifier for “The Run for a Million.” She hopes that more people take up the sport that has brought her joy and community throughout her life.  “I think one thing about our industry is the camaraderie,” said O’Rourke. “That’s what really brings me to our industry, and I think that’s what will continue to bring new people to our sport.”Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont-born Kaci O’Rourke makes history as the first female to win national reining championship.