TTU Ranch Horse Team is the Stock Horse of Texas Collegiate Champions

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Members of the Texas Tech Ranch Horse Team are now proudly carrying a champion title. This is following a successful weekend in Fort Worth at the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) shows.

Iris Baker and LaKayla Phillips have been riding horses all their lives, but the cow horse industry is new to them. In addition, Phillips says she didn’t think riding was something she’d continue in college.

“Wasn’t really planning on doing the horse deal while I was at school and then I learned about the ranch horse team here at Tech and I was like, ‘You know what? I think I want to give this a try,’” Phillips said.

Phillips enrolled in a cow horse class at Tech, then the rest has been working toward her goal in the saddle.

“There’s points where you’re like, well this is taking so long, and it gets frustrating but like whenever you’re able to like work through that there’s so much reward,” Phillips said.

This Stock Horse of Texas (SHTX) Collegiate Challenge is Phillips’ first time showing in Fort Worth in the novice class. She got third place on a horse she borrowed and wasn’t familiar with.

Baker is a first-year grad student who’s also fairly new to the cow horse industry. She says her and her horse ‘Bean’ didn’t cow down in the challenge.

“It was a little bit nerve racking, but when we got into the pen and took a deep breath, and it all went from there,” Baker said.

Baker now has a shiny addition to her outfit. She’s the reserve champion of the Limited Non-Pro class. With that win, she won a buckle and she says she will be wearing it proudly for quite some time.

“It’s my first NRCHA buckle, so I’m going to take it and I’m going to use it for sure,” Baker said.

Baker finished with 291 points, Phillips finished with 273.5 points, and Tylor Todd, who competed in Non-Pro, finished with 290 points. Combined together, these three girls are the Stock Horse of Texas Collegiate Champions.

Both cowgirls say this is something they will keep improving on and competing in.

Baker will continue in the cow horse industry as a hobby, and Phillips hopes to make a career out of it.

Copyright 2023 KCBD. All rights reserved.