Local horsewoman places in NCHA World Title

LIME SPRINGS - December was a banner month for local horsewoman Kate Grover of Lime Springs. She and her six-year-old mare, CD Sugarbritches, placed seventh in the 2021 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) World Championship in the 25k Novice Non-Pro class. 

In addition, she tied for third place on three-year-old gelding, Smart Stylin Rey, in the Limited Non-Pro at the 2021 NCHA Metallic Cat World Championship Futurity competition.

The World Finals, held at Watt’s arena in Ft. Worth, Texas, include riders from the United States, Canada, Mexico and sometimes Australia. In order to qualify for an invitation to the finals, the horse’s annual winnings must rank in the top 15 horses in the world. Grover has been competing in cutting since high school, but “She really got serious about it these last couple of years,” her father, Travis, notes. 

Serious indeed. 

In July 2021, CD Sugarbritches (Sugar, for short) was ranked 29th in the world. “It seemed like a bit of a stretch [to qualify for World Finals],” Kate says. 

“But this was the last year we were going to be able to show her in this class, so we wanted to go for it.”

In pursuit of that goal, Kate and Sugar hit the road, showing 15 times in eight competitions. “We didn’t see her much between July and November,” Travis says. “She was driving straight from one show to the next with no break in between.” 

“Between all of these shows I had very little time to regroup at home – if I even made it home,” Kate agrees. “Life seemed to be go go go all the time with no slowing down.”

“I loved every minute of it,” she adds. “The long hours on the road, the early mornings and late nights at the shows, meeting new people, walking into different herds of cattle, discussing runs with different trainers. It was all very enjoyable to me. It, of course, wasn’t fun when a run went poorly, but I always learned a lot from them, and that was very important for the next time I walked into the herd.”

But it was challenging for Kate to go to shows without her dad. “During the shows that I went to by myself, I learned a lot,” she says. “I really had to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people and trainers and study the cattle even harder. There’s something extremely reassuring about having your dad there. You feel more ‘at home’ with new places, not as nervous when the cattle look a little iffy, there’s always another couple hands to help get horses ready, and the reassuring ‘your horse looks ready’ before a run and ‘good job’ as you’re walking out of the herd.”

Although Kate and her dad train their own horses at home, Luke Barnhart, another trainer, proved invaluable on the road. “He was my go to man when I had questions about how our horses were working or different things I could do to make them and myself better. He never hesitated to give his honest opinion to give us a more competitive edge. Luke took me in during the Futurity/World Finals and offered his best advice on how to properly work Joey (Smart Stylin Rey) and Sugar to have them prepared for the show.”

And all that hard work paid off. “From the time we decided we were going to haul for the World,” Kate says, “Sugar and I hauled to eight shows, competed in the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro class a total of 15 times, and placed every time but two. Out of these placings, eight were first place wins and we took second four times. By the end of the show season, we had qualified for the World Finals in ninth place, climbing 20 spots.”

An invitation to the NCHA World Finals is “something I’ve dreamed about my whole life,” Travis says. Kate’s mother, Vanette, agrees: “She made her dad’s dream come true. Granted, it was his dream for himself, [but] nothing could be better than your daughter hitting it.”

At the competition itself, Kate explained she and Sugar “marked a 221 in the first go, placing us second in the round, and a 223 in the second go, placing us third in the round. With these scores combined, we placed second in the average. Sugar rounded out the year seventh in the World!”

In addition to her seventh place World Final finish with Sugar, Kate tied for third place in Limited Non-Pro at the 2021 NCHA Metallic Cat World Championship Futurity competition on gelding Smart Stylin Rey (Joey, for short). All horses in this class are first-time competitors, so she was a little unsure how Joey would do in the arena, but he really liked the noise and energy of competition. 

With loud music and a crowd going crazy for every competitor, “some horses get unwound,” Kate notes. But not Joey. Rather, he “turned up the volume and gave it all he had.”

But it isn’t all competitions and shows. Just last year, Sugar got a really bad cut on the inside of her hock that imperiled her cutting future. She was in a very tight bandage for three weeks while Kate nursed her back to health. After two months of care and rehab, Sugar was showing again, so everything turned out okay, but was a really scary time, according to Travis.

Horses and rodeo are a family affair in the Grover household. Kate’s sister, Brettyn, is a barrel racer and Kate’s biggest fan. Her brother, Judd, rodeos for South Dakota State. Kate, herself, has been riding since she was three-years-old. 

She participated in youth rodeo riding ponies and started competing in breakaway roping and cutting in high school. She rodeoed for Missouri Valley State College in Marshall, Mo. for Coach Ken Mason, where she competed in breakaway roping, goat-tying, barrel-racing and team roping. “They didn’t have cutting in college,” Kate notes, “so that was something I competed in a little while I was home for the summer.”

At the present time, Grovers plan to show only Sugar and Joey this year, but they also have a couple of three-year-olds they are training for the next Futurity competition in December.

“We are grateful for this life and thankful for the opportunity to show these talented horses,” Kate says. “I have so many [people] to thank who helped me throughout the year at shows and in the practice pen at home. Thank you to all of our family and friends who reached out supporting us and cheering us on along the way! It means the world to us! Thank you for believing in us!”