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Dena and Gracies Lane at the 2022 Pink Buckle.
she possibly could have been a superstar on the racetrack. Training her was definitely a challenge but I learned as much from her as she did from me.
“I had a partner with her but when Kate cut through both of her large tendons on her left front leg, the partner wanted out; we didn’t even know if she’d live,” Dena says. “They took the other trained horses, but I kept Kate. My vet, Dr. Brock, and his crew, along with prayers, saved her life and three years later, I was running her again! We won San Angelo,
small but pretty successful career after a life- threatening injury.”
Lexie Smith Media
The other horse on Dena’s list is Gracies Lane. “In all honesty, although Willy Nick Bar is way up on my list, Gracies Lane is the best I’ve ever slung a leg over. I bought her as a yearling from the Jarvis family. I’m so blessed to have her. She’s as smooth as silk, kind of stays on top of the ground and just has smooth turns and an unbelievable amount of speed.”
Gracie, a 2014 mare by the Lanes Leinster son The Goodbye Lane and out of Dash
Ta Fame daughter TS Up N Famous, is the Pink Buckle All-Time Top-Earning Horse,
in 2022. She also won the 2021 BFA World Championship Finals Derby.
LIFE CHOICES
Dena says her current challenges include balancing family, home and competition, which involves a lot of planning and timing of travel to mesh with home duties. “I don’t have an ‘I’m just rodeoing’ mode,” she says. “I just try to juggle a home, a family business, family and competition and if I do some clinics, then that means travel, too.
“I’ve never ridden more horses than I could saddle and ride myself,” Dena says. “I do have a person, Meg Walter, here at the ranch who’s great at taking care of and helping me with everything. She’s kinda the hub of the wheel here for both me and Cliff. But I’ve brushed, saddled, exercised and trained my own horses. I never took more than
I could do that with, probably because I’m just a little bit picky; even having someone lope circles on one, I can feel the difference on it and never did want to do that.”
At her maximum, Dena maintained eight head, but these days keeps about half that. “The older you get, the more you have to work smarter, not harder,” she half-jokes. “I’m able
to raise a horse I can’t even afford to buy and at this point in life, I’m just hoping to stay healthy enough to ride the ones I’m looking at.”
She strives to spend as much time as possible with her daughters and grandson. “If R.C. needs something, wherever I was scheduled doesn’t seem to matter anymore,” she says.
“The fact is, this is a business where you never have to stop proving yourself,” she says. “You’re only as good as the horse you’re riding, and you’re only as good as the last run you made on that one. Barrel racing is
a timed event and there’s no one way to do it. If you don’t fall off and you’re the fastest, you’re the winner.
“The main thing is, I love horses and my “a go-round at Houston and others; she had a winning the Derby and Open Champion titles relationships with them. I’m a huge believer in
“The main thing is, I love horses and my relationships with them. I’m a huge believer in God and His hand in everything, and I say that great horses are gifts from God.” – Dena Kirkpatrick
God and His hand in everything, and I say that great horses are gifts from God.”
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