King

Stunt Horse Extraordinaire

Within any great team there lies trust, and for Trixie Chicks trick rider Kelsey Lauberth it was the trust in her horse King that propelled her to the top of her game. The 2016 North American Trick Riding Champion believes King’s ability and trustworthiness are what enabled her to develop quickly into the trick rider she’s become. When King came into her life, she said she "advanced six years in six months." For trick riders like Lauberth, a trusting relationship with your horse is essential.

© Casey Martin

Trick horses have a unique skill set, and no one wants to sell a good, seasoned horse. When Lauberth was looking for a new horse, she put the word out into the small trick riding community and got a call about King. He’d been the star horse in Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede show, but was recently retired after getting cranky about performing seven days a week with multiple shows a day. Lauberth took a chance on the palomino Paint Horse gelding. From their first performance in 2014, she knew she could count on him.

King loved his new schedule with Lauberth. Coming off the farm two days a weekend to go rodeo in a different environment, with different people, was exactly his cup of tea. For two years King was Lauberth’s main trick horse, and now he’s her number one horse for lessons and clinics. The laid-back, trustworthy, dependable gelding will be with Lauberth forever.

King's Breyer portrait model was available from 2018 to 2019.