Long live cowgirls: HPR chats with Stellar Trick Riding Cowgirls

By Sabrina Hornung

sabrina@hpr1.com

Rodeo is a family tradition for sisters Kate and Tera Flitton. The duo performs under the moniker Stellar Trick Riding Cowgirls. The Utah natives will be performing along with bareback riders, steer wrestlers, barrel racers and more at the Fargo PRCA Rodeo at the Fargodome on March 28-29.

Kate, who is 18 years old, has been trick riding for 11 years. Tera, age 13, has been trick riding for five years. Kate fell in love with the sport after seeing a performance at a rodeo in their home state. They learned the craft from a number of trick riders including Ginger Duke, and the rest is history.

Trick riding consists of acrobatic feats on a moving horse as the horse runs the periphery of the arena. Each trick requires coordination, grace, balance, strength and (most importantly) trust between both horse and rider.

When not performing on horseback Kate and Tera also know their way around a trick rope and bullwhip. Considering the agility required in trick riding, I couldn’t help but ask if gymnastics were part of their training.

“We're not very flexible,” Kate answered. “So it's kind of surprising that we're able to do it.”

“No, but I wish I was in gymnastics first,” Tera added. “I did a little bit of gymnastics for a couple months, but then I quit, and now I'm just trying to train to be more flexible for a couple tricks. But you really don't have to be that flexible for most.”

You won’t see these young women at a gym. They stay in shape and maintain their strength by helping out with chores.

“We carry five-gallon buckets of feed, throw haybales, little bales, quarterbales, and even have rolled a whole ton-size bale back on a trailer for strength training while we feed our bucking horses and bulls,” Kate said.

The Flitton family owns Big Bucks ProRodeo, formerly known as Mosbrucker Rodeo. After a series of unfortunate events, the company they grew up with was sold, and the family had to start over.

The Flitton sisters have spent their lives traveling and performing throughout the country. Tera continues her education online taking classes at both the eighth and ninth grade level. Kate had one year of college under her belt, but decided it wasn’t for her. In addition to performing, the two also lead horse clinics in which they share their skills and horse knowledge with others along the trail.

They have a performance survival kit that includes straps for certain tricks, vet wrap and athletic tape. The horns on their saddles (that serve as somewhat of a handle) are metal and tend to be slippery, so the tape provides a much needed grip for them. Also in the bag is a measuring tape in case they need to measure for costumes on the road. Speaking of costumes, what does a trick rider wear?

“We wear wrestling shoes, just kind of whatever brand or whatever one fits our feet the best and is the most flexible,” Kate said. “The material for trick riding costumes, it's just kind of whatever we like and whatever fits with the costume, but it has to be stretchy… spandex, polyester.”

“Sometimes we do like sequins though,” Tera added. “To just like…spice it up a little.”

Now on to the horses. What are the desired qualities in a trick riding horse? Is there a breed used specifically for trick riding?

“A horse that will keep running forever and only stop when you cue them and that is still controllable,” Kate said, detailing the attributes that an ideal trick riding horse needs. “We don't really get a lot of options because we cannot afford a trained trick riding horse. So we actually train our own with our dad. My horse was actually an ex bronc. His mom and brother both made it to the National Finals Rodeo, that is like the Super Bowl of rodeo. He's a saddle horse, so it's kind of funny.”

“Our great-great grandpa gathered wild horses off of the desert in Moab, Utah,” she continued. “That's kind of how a lot of different bucking horse breeding has started, horses that buck people off and are not rideable. That’s his breeding. It's not very specific.”

With every sport, there is the risk of injury. Kate mentioned that she separated a rib and fractured her wrist. But she rides with a brace and that helps. She’s also gotten stuck in the straps and dragged under her horse, which she said “was not very fun.”

“I've only had moments where the horse tried to bite or kick me while I was hanging upside down,” Tera said. “My current horse tries to bite me a lot. That's about it. Though I've never had any actual injuries, it's just horse problems.”

Rodeo is not only a way of life, but a family tradition for the Flitton sisters. So do they plan to carry on the rodeo torch? Or is it too early to say?

“I definitely want to take it on someday,” said Kate. “I mean, we probably wouldn't have tried to get back into it if we didn't want to continue it. We were looking toward our family legacy. It fills our hearts. We love horses.”

IF YOU GO:

Fargo PRCA Rodeo

March 28-29, 7:30 p.m.

Fargodome, 1800 N University Dr.

https://www.fargodome.com/events/detail/fargo-prca-rodeo