INTERMEDIATE NON PRO BRIDLE

Tracy Adams & Perfect Light Time

RCHN: What was your most memorable NRCHA show moment in 2022?

Tracy Adams: Mine is at the Celebration of Champions last week. I ended up fourth in the Intermediate Non Pro Bridle. I don’t think I rode my horse quite as well as I should have, but I still ended up really good in such a hard class, so that was really awesome. Also, seeing Trent [Pederson] ride him in the Open Bridle. I have so much faith in both the horse and Trent, but I also know that’s an amazingly tough class, so to end up Reserve Champion, I was crying some crocodile tears.

RCHN: What was the biggest challenge you faced during the show season?

TA: The biggest challenge, which has been going on for a couple years, is that “Scooby” has decided he has claustrophobia a little bit in the trailer, so Trent has to give him a little extra room and does that so graciously. Otherwise, I have so very few challenges with him. My biggest challenge is just me remembering to do all I have to do on the cow. I need to really concentrate and do the things I’m supposed to do so I don’t get left in the dust.

Tracy Adams didn’t start 2022 planning to run for a National title with Perfect Light Time (CD Lights x BBR Perfect Timin x A Chic In Time), but after a successful run at the 2022 Teton Ridge Stallion Stakes, where the duo tied for Reserve in the Non Pro Bridle and Intermediate Non Pro Bridle, Adams started going to more shows. Still, she never expected to win a year-end award.

“I certainly never thought in my wildest dreams I’d end up National Champion,” Adams said. “I didn’t start really doing cow horse at all, including the boxing or reining or anything like that, until I was in my late 50s. To come into a sport so late in life and then luck out and get a horse that I wouldn’t trade for anything, I feel really blessed.”

Adams was grateful to her trainer, Trent Pedersen, and her equine partner, Perfect Light Time, a 2011 gelding she’s owned since 2019.

“Over the years, he was just waiting for me to get better and catch up,” Adams said of “Scooby.” “He was already there, but he was kind of looking around at me like, ‘When are we going to get this program together, lady?’ For me to have finally caught up, it’s a really once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

RCHN: What is your horse’s most special physical talent?

TA: He’s exceptionally good on the cow. He’s really strong, an amazing, hard stopper. He loves to work cows, and he’s really strong turning. His turns are so strong, I kind of look like a ragdoll once in a while. He’s got a lot of courage, and he’s an honest horse.