Keay sisters join the Crazy Cowgirls

Kelsey Keay, 7, performs a trick ride with Cassie Horner on Chase during the rodeo July 29. Keay’s sister, six-year-old Lindsay, rode with Shelby Cummings.

Mac Olsen
South Peace News

It was the moment sisters Kelsey and Lindsay Keay shined in the limelight, performing tricks on horses with Shelby Cummings and Cassie Horner. Cummings and Horner, aka the Crazy Cowgirls Trick Riding Team, spent a day with the little girls to practise for the first night of the Elks Pro Rodeo. For her performance, Kelsey Keay stood up in the saddle and held a Canadian flag while Horner held her in place. Lindsay Keay trained, then rode with Cummings in her saddle. The little girls’ smiles revealed how much they enjoyed the experience. Before partnering with the Keays, Cummings performed a stroud layout (see front page photo), a shoulder stand, a side back bend and a neck layover. Horner performed a backward fender, a one foot stand, full fender and a suicide drag. For the finale, the duo performed a hippodrome layover and a tail-drag stand combo on one horse. They gave a similar performance for the second day of the rodeo. Horner loves trick riding, starting with barrel racing and other rodeo activities as a child and getting into horse acrobatics later. “It was the need for speed, the adrenaline rush,” says Horner. “I’ve been around horses ever since I was two years old, riding them on my mom and dad’s ranch.” Horner also says some of the tricks are intimidating such as the suicide drag, whereby she hangs her head and hands by the horse’s back hooves as it trots along, but she loves it. “I love to do the suicide drag, it looks really neat and it’s dangerous. It’s an interesting position to be in, you don’t often see people riding a horse like that.” Horner does a lot of weight training and cardio and she rides and conditions several horses at home. Cummings has been trick riding for nine years and likes the adrenaline rush too. “It’s really cool,” she says. Cummings finds the stroud layout difficult to perform because of the muscle requirements. She does strength training and practises new tricks with her horses whenever possible. She will stay in the profession as long as she can. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. You have to be very flexible and enjoy what you do.” These Crazy Cowgirls care about children. They work with the Children’s Wish Foundation and contribute all their profits from merchandise sales to that organization. They encourage children to follow their dreams. “We think you should set a goal and do everything you can to achieve it,” says Horner. She also says take lessons and learn about the physical demands of trick riding. “It’s a good place to start and you can always determine if you like it or not. If you do, you can continue on with it from there.” While in High Prairie, Cummings and Horner participated in the Elks Pro Rodeo parade and visited seniors at Pleasantview Lodge and the J.B. Wood extended care facility at the hospital. The Crazy Cowgirls thank the community for its hospitality and would like to return, possibly next year.

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