Jessica and Billi Rey Photo By: Inflecture Photography/ Noah Fletcher

Jessica Strayer attended horse camps as a kid, igniting a passion for life. She always wanted to do more than just trail riding and had dreams of competing in the show pen. A friend introduced her to reining as an adult but after a while she sought out something more thrilling and found the cow horse sport.

Strayer turned her reiner into a cow horse and has been involved in the sport on and off for 11 years. Strayer recently bought a cow horse named Billi Rey and is excited to show at some of the bigger events.

She currently shows every four to six weeks in Florida at her home barn and she said that timing works well because she can practice and spend time with her family in between.

“[What I love about cow horse is] you have three events, you’re not going to get bored. There’s always so much to master, especially having a horse that can master all three too.”

“You don’t have to memorize a pattern, you just shut your brain off [and not be a mom] and it’s you and your horse and you are locked into the cow. That’s my favorite part. Just me, my horse and that cow,” she said.

Her favorite moment in the sport was flying out to California and meeting Doug Williamson who she bought her horse, Billi Rey, from. Her goal is to go to the Celebration of Champions next year.

Why Jessica Uses RCHTO:

“Because I am a mom and I can’t go from trainer to trainer and travel all over. It’s right there when I’m sitting at basketball with my kids, I can be watching a video of something I want to practice with my horse the next day. One trainer can tell you one way of doing something and it doesn’t click, and you hear it from another trainer and [realize] that’s what they meant, that makes sense…. You can do it when you’re not riding, it’s like homework. Plus you get to watch it. It’s not like reading a book.”