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By Jim Steele
steele@mckenziebanner.com |
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Former McKenzie High School senior Mallory Brandon
excelled at basketball and track for McKenzie High
School. For her part in a Lady Rebel uniform, she
received many school honors, including the MHS
leadership award her senior year.
What some may not
know is that Brandon is a championship-level barrel
racer. So good is she that she just won the National
Barrel Horse Association Tennessee championship in the
3-D division.
The recent MHS graduate said she had no idea that she
had done so well. In fact she thought her time was too
fast. More on that later.
"I was really excited," Brandon said. "I didn't know
I had a chance of winning."
Brandon had a pretty brisk run, but she thought it
might have been too fast. One might ask, "But isn't
going the fastest the object."
It is and it isn't. The fastest horses run in the top
division. The slower times run in D-2, D-3 and so on.
Brandon's time may have been too fast to win in D-2 or
D-3, but not fast enough to win in D-1.
Turns out, her run was just fine, enough to earn
Brandon her third saddle.
Brandon now qualifies for the youth world
championships in Jackson, Miss., on July 25. She also
qualifies for the open division world barrel horse show
in Augusta, Ga. this November.
This isn't Brandon's first state title. She captured
the NBHA 3-D state championship two years ago.
For her efforts, she picked up a huge saddle
signifying her state championship. This was her third
saddle, which is the symbolic rodeo trophy.
She won a saddle last year for having the most points
in her district.
"We have a district and you get points for riding all
year," Brandon said.
For individual achievements, many cowboys and
cowgirls earn belt buckles. Brandon has enough buckles
to outfit the military as a result of her performances
in area shows.
Brandon rides her horse "Precious," a Palomino
quarter horse that she and her family raised on their
farm. She and Precious have traveled all over the region
for competitions. Missouri, Mississippi, Trenton,
Martin, Lexington and Huntingdon have all been stops on
her tour.
But Mallory and Precious didn't see eye-to-eye at
first. That's probably because Mallory wasn't even five
feet tall when they began raising the horse.
"I was scared to death of the horse before I started
riding her," she said. "We raised her and my dad trained
her."
Brandon said she would take Precious for a leisurely
ride, but wasn't very comfortable.
"Now, I wouldn't trade her for anything in the
world," she said. "She's been very good to me." The NBHA
will have a competition at the Carroll County
Fairgrounds in August.
Riders negotiate a small maze of barrels and the
cowgirl with the best time advances. Last year, Brandon
missed going to the finals by one-tenth of a second.
