Everything Happens for a Reason with Two-Time Champion Taylor Manning

Everything happens for a reason, especially when horses are involved. 

In this episode, Chad Hewlett sits down with Taylor Manning to trace her journey from growing up in Edson, Alberta, surrounded by barrel racing, to becoming a young CFR competitor with a deep respect for training, pressure, and perseverance. 

Taylor reflects on the horses that shaped her, including Silver, Tivio, Matlock, and Bling, while giving credit to the strong women who guided her, especially her mom, Shelly, and Rael Little. 

From making the Canadian Finals Rodeo at just 13 to learning how to reinvest winnings, move through hard seasons, and surround herself with elite horse people in Texas and Ponoka,  

Taylor’s story is a powerful reminder that success is built through grit, humility, great horses, and the courage to keep learning.

Listen For:

00:00 What does it feel like to compete at the Canadian Finals Rodeo at 13 years old?

13:35 How did Taylor's mom keep the pressure off at the biggest rodeo of her young career?

25:19 What was it about Bling that made Taylor know she was different from the first day?

34:42 What happened when Taylor showed up to a futurity with only $19 to her name?

33:02 What does being around world-champion barrel racers in Texas actually do for you?

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Transcript

Taylor Manning (00:00):

Our do or die situation, I had to ride good and perform as well as I could. I had to win that weekend. I didn't really, I actually have a really good support system, but in my mind I kind of made it like that so that it would kind of like light a fire in me so that I had to be better. I had to perform at the highest that I could.

Chad Hewlett (00:28):

Hey everybody. Thanks for joining us again. Welcome to another episode of Unbridled and Legendary. I'm Chad Hewlett. I'm here today with my friend Taylor Manning. I've known her family since she was real little. I think the first time her mom brought her for some horses to be looked at. She was in a bassinet and she has an older sister and she has a twin brother. We'll kind of go through all the family stuff today. I know her family through barrel racing, through her mom and a little bit through Ray L. Robinson. We'll talk about these folks as we go through the podcast today. But again, thanks for joining us. We're going to call this episode everything happens for a reason, I think is what Taylor had said. So we'll go through that. We have three different chapters. We'll go through her origin story. We'll talk about sort of a difficult time in 2022 as far as personal and professional and then we'll finish up with just moving life changing and maturity and all that sort of stuff as far as like moving from one part of Alberta to another and going from how we travel in the United States in the wintertime and stuff like that.

(01:33):

So Taylor, thanks for joining me today. Let's kind of dive right in and let's just talk a little bit about where it all started, like how you were born. Tell me what's going on there with your family and your mom and your dad and all that sort of stuff as far as Edson Alberta.

Taylor Manning (01:46):

So I grew up in Edson. My mom's a barrel racer, so I just kind of grew up brow racing and loving horses. Here I am now, still brow racing and riding.

Chad Hewlett (01:55):

Yep. So there's three of you in your family, I think, right? Can you kind of go through who's who in the zoo there as far as like you got a sister and you got a twin brother, I think, right?

Taylor Manning (02:05):

Yes. I have an older sister named Paige. She used to brow race a little bit. Now she's an awesome hairdresser. And I have a twin brother named Tristan. He does a bit of boat

Chad Hewlett (02:14):

Riding. Yeah. And you guys would sort of hang out together, I'm thinking as kids, right and all that sort of stuff. Because you guys are stairstep pretty good, right? Your sister's what, two years older than you? Three

Taylor Manning (02:27):

Years old. Three

Chad Hewlett (02:28):

Years older. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And did she kind of start with the riding first or was that something that you did mostly? Because I know when I met you guys, we were all kind of hanging out. There was this little herd of kids whenever they would come, whenever your mom would bring you guys.

Taylor Manning (02:43):

I think we kind of all started at the same time, just come everywhere old enough to get on a silver or a little white pony.

Chad Hewlett (02:49):

Yeah. Yeah. So can you tell me more about silver as far as how he got him or where he came along or anything like that? Because everybody has a few. I know we got a few horses to talk about today.

Taylor Manning (03:00):

Oh my gosh. My sister's going to kill me for saying this, but silver, I loved him and he was a pretty good pony for me. But for some reason with her, he would lay down on her or do something clunky. She did not have it easy. She either trained him to be good for us or he maybe just liked me a bit more.

Chad Hewlett (03:17):

A bit more funny with her. Yeah. Well, that'll happen. We all know that there's horses that fit with certain people and then there's other horses that just don't fit. I mean, because we're going to get into this as we go along. You were 13 years old when you went to your first Canadian finals rodeo, right? And I feel like there's only one Canadian that's ahead of you a little bit from the southern part of Alberta, right? I mean, I think she was eight when she went, wasn't she?

Taylor Manning (03:44):

Yeah, Railey, right?

Chad Hewlett (03:45):

Railey. Yeah. So I mean, it's not like Taylor has sort of a normal upbringing, but with Silver, how old were you when you started riding Silver?

Taylor Manning (03:56):

I'm not quite sure, but I was probably four or five.

Chad Hewlett (04:01):

And you would've done some Pee Wee barrel racing and stuff like that sort of thing?

Taylor Manning (04:05):

A little bit. My first Pee Wee horse was Tivio. I got him when I was seven.

Chad Hewlett (04:09):

Okay. So if we jump from the pony to Tivio, because Tivio's kind of the main horse of this first part of the podcast, how did we get Tivio? Where did he come along? Your mom last found him or did your dad find him or rail find him for you? Or how did you guys get first polling or first horse?

Taylor Manning (04:27):

Found him. I still actually remember the day I tried him out in Drayton and my mom said I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I just loved him. And it's kind of funny because this is another story about my sister, but sometimes he would not turn the first or duck off or something would go wrong. I was only seven, so I couldn't really probably ride that good, but she'd be all mad at Tivio and I'd be so upset because I just loved him and just

Chad Hewlett (04:53):

Thought

Taylor Manning (04:53):

He was the best horse. Well,

Chad Hewlett (04:55):

That's good. So Drayton Valley is where you tried him out. Do you remember who you guys bought him from?

Taylor Manning (05:00):

Crystal. I can't remember her last name right now, but her name was Crystal.

Chad Hewlett (05:05):

Yeah. And it would be somebody that your mom knew through barrel racing and stuff like that or through rodeo because we talked a little bit about some horses. Let's circle back around to your mom for just a second because she's kind of in that group of BC barrel racers that came out to Alberta. I mean, you have your mom, you have Rael. There's a group of them that kind of came out from that area. Can you tell us a little bit about your mom grew up in Williams Lake, is that right?

Taylor Manning (05:36):

Yes. So she grew up in Williams Lake. She met Rail little then and got to live with her for a couple years and learn her style and what she does for training, which is amazing because she's so handy and just brilliant. And so then I've kind of got to learn everything from my mom

Chad Hewlett (05:54):

And Rayal, it'd be Rail Robinson or Rail little now. When I first came in, it was Rail Robinson, but she's been rail little and they live in Texas and Alex Alberta back then and Rail had been to the CFR, I don't know, 15, 20 times, right? Yeah. Canadian champion a few times, Calgary Stampede, all the things, right? But it's interesting because your mom, I can remember when I would talk to your mom on the telephone, sometimes she'd be on her way to Charles's or back from Charles, like Dr. Briggs' and we'd visit about certain things and she would be like, "Ray all this and Ray all that and all these other things." Taylor's doing this and Taylor's doing that. So from a standpoint of when you had Tyvio, your mom was helping you with that, but was Rail involved in that too a little bit or was it mostly ... Who was the early coach?

(06:45):

Because I mean, we're seven years old and we were at the CFR when we're 13, that doesn't happen to every kid.

Taylor Manning (06:51):

Yeah. Rail's always been very helpful. But with Tivio, mom would be up early in the morning trying to make sure he was going to be good, work him and just try and have him ready for me to run. And she put in a lot of work to get him to be good for me at those last couple of years.

Chad Hewlett (07:08):

Yeah. I mean, we could say this because we love your mom, but we were just like, even today, Shelly's still in the background. We talked to her twice during the vet appointment. And so we all have people that are a strong part of our life and your mom's just been a really good backbone and just a great support and obviously on your team from the beginning. I mean, there's three of you and so she's on everybody's team, but it's just easy. For me, I've always just seen her as part of it and I've talked to her on a telephone, I don't know, for 20 plus years, different things with different horses and sea horses when we go up there. So we got Tivio going and you kind of did a different sort of trajectory than a lot of us do as far as like, and I say all a lot of us, but I mean the rodeo industry in general is kind of we do some junior rodeo and we do some high school, that kind of tivio, you got that horse, you're seven.

(08:00):

By the time you're 13, you're at the CFR. So we weren't going to junior rodeos for very long. We were doing some amateur stuff. So was it LRA? Where were you at in those days?

Taylor Manning (08:10):

So I went to the BRA and the LRA. So once we had sold Tibio, I was seasoning a horse named Ladybug for that one year. And then that fall, mom let me run Matlock a few times and he had worked really good so it helped me make the finals and then he worked amazing there, so I kind of got to keep him.

Chad Hewlett (08:30):

Matlock was your mom's horse, I think, is that correct?

Taylor Manning (08:33):

Yes. She bought him as a five-year-old and then did all the work and the seasoning after that. So by the time I got him, he was just kind of ready

Chad Hewlett (08:40):

To go. I would say that my experience of being in the rodeo world, that's not that uncommon that you have a mom or a dad that's very talented at what they do. They sort of, I don't like the word sacrifice, but they're sort of like, "Well, I got this kid that's pretty talented. So if I get this horse going for them, I'll ride a horse someday." And we'll get around to that because your mom's riding horses again, which is kind of cool to see. I don't want to jump ahead to the third chapter, but it's just kind of interesting that back then if you go back to 2010 or whatever that was, is that right? I think that'd be about right. Anyway, you're Ontivio now we need a better horse, which is not that Octivio wasn't a good horse, but we need a faster horse if we're going to beat our friends because that's the reason that I exist is people want to beat their friends and they want to do it on a sound horse and they don't want to hurt them, but we're not going in there.

(09:40):

You probably never went in there to be second, right? You've always been interview first. So tell us that your mom had started Matlock. How did we find Matlock, all those sort of things.

Taylor Manning (09:50):

So Rail Little had trained Matlock. So mom had got to see him go for Turity a little bit. So then mom had bought Matlock, I think at the end of his fraternity year and then did all the seasoning and then I guess I kind of got

Chad Hewlett (10:04):

To have him. Yeah. And your mom didn't really compete on him per se, but she'd just kind of ridden him or did she go to some fraternities with him or anything like that?

Taylor Manning (10:12):

I think so. She'd bought him and then she might've went to CBHI the last fraturity of the year.

Chad Hewlett (10:17):

Yeah. Okay. But Rael had gotten him started and raised him or all that sort of stuff?

Taylor Manning (10:22):

Yes. Raised him, trained him, did it

Chad Hewlett (10:24):

All. Okay. And through that with your mom, were you riding with Rayelle some too, or was it just pretty much your mom was doing everything and Rayal was in the background?

Taylor Manning (10:33):

Mom did a lot of the work at home, making sure he was ready for those rodeos, keeping him correct and just ready to run. But we were always a phone call away from Rayelle and I got to go ride with her, send her videos, anything that we could tweak, Rael was there to give her opinion.

Chad Hewlett (10:50):

Yeah, she's always been in your corner, which is good along with your mom. Okay. So let's kind of go. So we get Matlock, we're at the WRA, which is Wild Rodeo. Is that Wild Rose? Rose Road. Association. And then what was the other one we were at?

Taylor Manning (11:08):

The

Chad Hewlett (11:10):

LRA. Which is Lakeland Rodeo Association?

Taylor Manning (11:13):

Yes.

Chad Hewlett (11:13):

Okay. We'll just do that because we might have some folks that, I mean, a lot of them are going to be from Western Canada, from Alberta, but hopefully we'll have some people from outside of our part of the world so they'll know what those two are. Those are two really nice amateur rodeo associations that still are around and people still compete in. And it's nice for the grassroots when you're in that stage, you need some proving grounds to go in and go to rodeos. And so I think those were nice to have for you.

Taylor Manning (11:38):

Hannah taught us how to, I guess, get ready for the rodeos. That was our foundation.

Chad Hewlett (11:43):

Yeah. And I think in our sport, we want to make sure we acknowledge that because we have so much of the young people that are out there doing that between high school rodeo and those amateur rodeo associations, it sure sets us up nicely for CPRA and PRCA down the line. So we have Matlock, we're going to those, we make the finals, we win the finals. Is that correct? Or went to the finals? To

Taylor Manning (12:04):

The finals.

Chad Hewlett (12:05):

Went to the finals.

Taylor Manning (12:06):

I didn't win it until 2020 or 2022 on Bling.

Chad Hewlett (12:11):

So Matlock takes us to the Canadian finals in 2017, right? And at that point you're 13 years old, right? Is that correct? Yeah. Okay. And it's kind of interesting because I remember watching you at those finals. We were talking about this before we started the podcast because we were still at Edmonton then and we were at the old arena and it was super fun and the dirt, the way it was set up and how as the veterinarian that was looking after the rodeo and then had all my clients there, I was always down at the entrance where the barrel oysters came through and I would talk with Mark Nugent quite a bit. He would usually be there hanging out because he was part of the, I think he was on the calf roping directory or something, and then ran to his wife was working for CPRA and then your mom just came up and started talking.

(12:58):

And I had seen Matlock and talked to her, but I hadn't really got to watch him go. The first time I saw Matlock go was at the CFO

Taylor Manning (13:05):

Really?

Chad Hewlett (13:06):

Yeah, in the first perf. And it's just interesting how those things all come together. I mean, as a veterinarian, you don't get to see horses go a lot. I mean, you watch them when they're on TV or if it happens to be your hometown rodeo. But I just remember thinking how exciting it was because I remember saying that to Shelly, I was like, I think Taylor's only 12 or 13 years old and she's like 13. Yeah. So what did that feel like being that age, because I mean, everybody else there was well into their 20s and 40s.

Taylor Manning (13:35):

I actually often think back to it because it's such a big deal, but my mom made it so that there was no pressure when I went there. Kind of whatever happened will happen. It's funny how a lot of the stuff she wouldn't hide but wouldn't tell me so that I would never be nervous or

Chad Hewlett (13:56):

Have- How much pressure. Yeah. That's smart. That's really smart. And then we haven't talked a lot about that, but inside this first chapter that we're kind of on, how did you ... In the pony, you were talking about silver and then we go to Tivio and now we're on Matlock and these are three horses. I mean, there's other horses in there I'm sure that you kind of rode or did things with, but these three horses, how did that feel as far as understanding different horses and how to ride them and how to ... Because that's an accomplishment for a young rider to be honest with you, especially at speed.

Taylor Manning (14:32):

Yeah. I think it was pretty easy for the transition from TVO to Matlock just because Matlock was pretty easy and he was so solid and I was riding quite a few horses for how young I was then and I got to ride quite a few under after Rail had them. So it was kind of cool growing up because mom was trying to get me to have that foundation to be able to train like that because it's so correct and perfect that she got it so that I could ride our horses to learn to train like that when I'm older.

Chad Hewlett (15:03):

Okay, good. That's kind of what was coming out. I was like, "I feel like someone's been training you to be a horse trainer your whole life."

Taylor Manning (15:08):

Yeah.

Chad Hewlett (15:09):

Right? Yeah. Her name is Shelly.

Taylor Manning (15:11):

Yes.

Chad Hewlett (15:11):

Yes. Okay, good. Because that's been the feeling all along, right? It's like you were riding many different horses in order to do that.

Taylor Manning (15:20):

I've got to ride a lot of, or I've got to puturity and Derby quite a few after Rail had them, which was really cool because they were really nice and I think I kind of got a feel of how they should kind of ride around and be trained.

Chad Hewlett (15:32):

Yeah. And so would you say that your style is sort of a cross between your mom and Rail? Is that sort of how you've set yourself up?

Taylor Manning (15:42):

Yes. Yeah. We try and ride with Rail as much as we can because we just always want to learn and be better and try and get our horses as broke as we can. Mom's been a big part in rodeo whatever, like if I have a few mistakes somewhere, we'll go home and fix and she's been great with getting on. She has really good eye and really good feel. So she's kind of helped put my horses together so that I can go make those runs.

Chad Hewlett (16:07):

So if there's anybody out there that has a five-year-old daughter or whatever, it's kind of cool. And this whole podcast is based around what do people do to become excellent? And one of the things that I know, and we're just going to touch on a litle bit now for sure, is whenever good horse trainers come to me or great horse trainers, they talk about your work ethic. Your mom says it all the time. Kirsty. Kirsty White. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry, Kirsty, because you're going to see this or somebody's going to say it and I'm going to get roasted. I'm really sorry, but I can remember talking to Kirsty because I've known Kirsty for a long time because she was in that same group with rail and all those great barrel racers were together. And I can remember one time I was talking to Kirsty she's like, "Nobody works harder than Taylor." And you were only like 13, 14 years old.

(16:59):

And that's quite a compliment to get from somebody is because Kirsty's a very accomplished barrel racer in her own right as far as things that she's done.

Taylor Manning (17:10):

Well, it's kind of cool to hear that from her because she's probably one of the hardest workers, but I

Chad Hewlett (17:13):

Know. Yeah. She's never been lazy.

(17:17):

So I just think that's kind of cool that we can just put those stories together and remember them as we're going along and these things have happened over the last 15, 20 years. And today when we were kind of coming together, I was trying to think back on them and just sort of put those together how these little things, like as you said, everything happens for a reason. And so for me, I'm like, what are some of these things that I saw? Let's kind of transition in from, so we got Matlock, we've been to the finals in 2017 and I think if I remember right, did you win one or two rounds?

Taylor Manning (17:53):

Matlock had won two rounds.

Chad Hewlett (17:54):

Two rounds, yeah. Because I remember the first round, your mom and I were pretty stoked and then you won another round. So you ended up with two buckles, two go rounds that year, right? Got up on the little Dodge stage there with my friend Mike Orman from down in Iowa. I don't know if you remember, but anyway, he used to come and do all the buckle presentations for Dodge. He's worked for a Dodge Rodeo for a long time. And so I can just remember seeing you up there and your mom taking pictures of you and stuff like that on that stage, that elevated stage they had behind the buck and chutes there. So then let's go into, we go back because you've been to the CFR every single year since then and there's some years that stand out more than others. And ahead of time we talked about chapter two kind of being 2022 as a year we wanted to talk about and kind of go through.

(18:45):

It's during COVID as well, like COVID's still on and rodeos are still happening and we're in Red Deer then. Yes. Yeah. And I can remember seeing you see, we used to look at horses and stuff because you guys would be going to Arizona, right? Yes. And pretty much every winter, right? We would try to get things lined up at CFR. There'd be some horses and Jen Newdorf was hanging out with you then too. And so the two of you guys were together, but let's go through 2022 and kind of start us off at the beginning because you would've been coming back from Arizona that winter I believe.

Taylor Manning (19:23):

Yes. Yeah, I think I would've been coming back. That might've been one of the first years I'd actually met Jen. We had gone to Arizona together and it was really fun. She's a pretty good friend.

Chad Hewlett (19:33):

Yeah, she was a good girl.

Taylor Manning (19:34):

And then we came back and I was still kind of seasoning this one horse. He had rodeoed the year before, but he was still kind of getting seasoned in a way and he was doing good. He was a little bit inconsistent, which is hard rodeoing with ups and downs.That was her fortrude year. So I had decided to season her a litle bit at the rodeos and she was only fat, so you can't really expect much. And it was just amazing how much she loved it and she thrived in it.

Chad Hewlett (20:07):

If we go back just a little bit, because we had Matlock and we were riding Matlock, is that right?

Taylor Manning (20:13):

So I had sold Matlock either in 2020 or 2021. I think in 2020 I had sold them during COVID.

Chad Hewlett (20:20):

And let's just talk a litle bit about Matlock because he was a great horse. We don't want to take anything away from him because we're going to talk a lot about blame today. But with Matlock, he was sort of a horse that really did well for us and then we wanted to use ... Once you get to certain level, they're worth a certain amount of value. And so at that point we're trying to figure out ways to leverage ourselves up and have more horses, I guess. And as we talked about before, I think your lifetime has been about training horses and selling horses and riding and the whole thing, right? Is that fair to say?

Taylor Manning (20:59):

Yes. So when we had sold him, it was really hard because he was so special to us, but the whole point in I guess selling him was to make another one. We wanted to be able to keep making the next champion or the next horse to be able to rodeo on and go.

Chad Hewlett (21:17):

I mean, we can look at in many different disciplines, but for sure in the barrel racing, I mean, if you look at those folks that have done well, like let's say Brittany Posey or whatever, she rode Duke, but she's rode so many horses since then. You got to train some new ones. You're not going to be lucky enough to ride the same horse forever. I mean, some of them will last for a while, but usually we're going to be on several different animals and you need to be able to build them, right? Yeah. So I think that's what your mom was. Is that kind of what you're preparing for?

Taylor Manning (21:50):

Yes. And I think that's what we were trying to take from Rail as well. She's always made such amazing good horses and has always sold them and she just keeps training new ones and better ones.

Chad Hewlett (22:01):

Yeah, good. Okay. Yeah, that's kind of where I was like, I feel like ... And we didn't want anybody to think that, oh, we were just done with Matlock and he's no good to us anymore. No, that's not it at all. It's like when they're valuable and they're running well, it's sometimes a good time to sell those horses so that someone else can do well on them and the golden goose can build another one.

Taylor Manning (22:20):

Yeah. We can keep learning to train hopefully better ones or even just good ones to go rodeo on and make for more people.

Chad Hewlett (22:28):

Yeah, totally and be a part of that industry. So then if we come off, so Matlock's been sold now we've ... Because I remember we bought Bling. She was pretty little, wasn't she?

Taylor Manning (22:39):

She was a coming three-year-old.

Chad Hewlett (22:41):

Yeah. And do you remember, because there's a story behind that too, because one of your friends boundling for you, right? Isn't that how it works? You want to talk about that a litle bit?

Taylor Manning (22:49):

So we had seen Bling on Facebook and Mariah Manoring was staying at that girl's place while bling was for sale. So we got her to take a few pictures and she kind of helped us find her, I guess, in a way and got it all set up.

Chad Hewlett (23:03):

Yeah. And hopefully I get my stories right, but didn't Mariah have a horse from the same breeding program? I don't know if it was exact, but didn't have the same brand?

Taylor Manning (23:14):

Yes.

Chad Hewlett (23:14):

Yeah. From

Taylor Manning (23:14):

Twisted Jay Ranch.

Chad Hewlett (23:16):

Yeah. And she actually ran that horse at the CFR, didn't she?

Taylor Manning (23:19):

Yes, she did.

Chad Hewlett (23:20):

Yeah. Okay. Can you talk a little bit to tie those two together? Because this is a crazy part of how this all works is these guys are all competing against each other and they go in the arena and they want to beat each other. It's like a bloodbath. But then when they come outside, they're all friends. It's kind of interesting how, why would Mariah find you a horse, right? But she did, right? I love Mariah.

Taylor Manning (23:42):

She's a pretty good friend.

Chad Hewlett (23:43):

Yeah, she's a great friend.

Taylor Manning (23:44):

Yeah. This is kind of skipping past a little bit, but this winter we would wake up at six and go to Hot Works every morning. So it was kind of fun because she gave me that little bit of motivation to keep pushing harder to be better.

Chad Hewlett (23:56):

Yeah. And did she hang out with her friend while she was down there this winter then too? Because she's pretty close with, what's our Texas Barrel racer's been?

Taylor Manning (24:05):

Cassie.

Chad Hewlett (24:05):

Cassie Mawry, right? Cassie's not very famous. I don't know why we couldn't remember her name. So does she still hang out with Cassie a litle bit too then?

Taylor Manning (24:13):

Yes, I think she lives there during the winter and helps her out a little bit.

Chad Hewlett (24:20):

And Mariah lives kind of north now, is that right?

Taylor Manning (24:23):

In Barhead.

Chad Hewlett (24:23):

Barhead, yeah. Okay. But anyway, let's come back to Mariah's riding a horse from this place. I don't know if it's the same Bloodlines, but it's similar, isn't it?

Taylor Manning (24:34):

Different Bloodlines, but I think it came from the same-

Chad Hewlett (24:37):

Same trainer, Breen.

Taylor Manning (24:38):

Yes. Whitney, I always mess up her last name. Yeah. I think she might've trained Mariah's horse and then she had had a couple months on Bling as well.

Chad Hewlett (24:48):

Yeah. Okay. All right. So at least I do have that part and I remembered it right because I was like, I feel like there's not related, but there's something in there. Okay. So we get Bling as a three-year-old and I can remember seeing her, I don't know if it was at CFR when you were getting ready to go south or ... Anyway, I remember just seeing her when she was really young and not doing vet work on her, but just kind of seeing her and she was in there and your mom was talking about how you guys had picked her out with Mariah and that was sort of one of the potential up and coming horses.

Taylor Manning (25:19):

I still remember the first day I got her into the barn once we picked her up and put her in the stall, I probably sent a hundred pictures to my mom just because I loved her so much. There was some kind of feeling there that I thought she was special.

Chad Hewlett (25:33):

Yeah. No, good. Really good because she is very special. So we jumped into, we have Bling, 2022's coming up. We've sold Matlock. We're seasoning and we're on Jagger and we've got Bling and Bling's a fraturity horse, but Bling's starting to come along I think and starting to just be the horse we think she's going to be even though she's spot.

Taylor Manning (25:57):

Yes. I had ran out a couple for Trudies and she had done really good in the spring and then I just was slowly going to start seasoning her at the rodeos just to see if she liked it or not and she just came on really good. She loves rodeo.

Chad Hewlett (26:11):

Yeah, she's quite an athlete. So then let's go through, we had a little bit of struggles with that year in the summer and did it look like everything through the season, did we have a pretty good season as far as rodeos and stuff like that? You'd won some money and ...

Taylor Manning (26:28):

It was a pretty good season, but by that fall when I was just staying more consistently on Bling, she made it feel like anything was possible. She was so strong, good, and consistent. Just she was amazing to run as a bi girl.

Chad Hewlett (26:42):

And we made it into the Canadian Finals Rodeo that fall. And do you remember what position you came in?

Taylor Manning (26:47):

I was second. I was about 20 grand behind Bailey Shout.

Chad Hewlett (26:51):

Yeah. Okay.

Taylor Manning (26:52):

I'd be pretty far behind.

Chad Hewlett (26:53):

Yeah. And in our world, 20 grand is a fair bit, right? I mean, it's not the NFR. I mean, FR's a great rodeo and it's a great championship, pays well, but it's not the NFR. There's hundreds of thousands of dollars up. So then going into that finals, we're setting in second, but we ended up having a good finals, I think.

Taylor Manning (27:14):

Yeah. She had won the first round. So I think that's what made it go so good because we started out so strong that she just worked really good there. For a five-year-old to handle that kind of crowd and that kind of six runs in a row is amazing.

Chad Hewlett (27:32):

So she won the first purve and then we just kind of did well through the rest of the rodeo?

Taylor Manning (27:37):

Yes. I had stayed...That was actually one of the first CFRs. I had kept all the barrels up. I think she had won the average as well and she was just very consistent and just worked really good there.

Chad Hewlett (27:49):

Yeah. Yeah. It's nice to see that consistency is such a big part of life too and how that all comes together. And then we'll go into Bling. We'll stay with Bling a litle bit through because we still have that. That's still our number one horse. Actually, her mom just texted me a picture of a big old cardboard check that Bling just won this past weekend of $30,000 because we're fast forward to 2026, so that's four years later. Bling's now, what is she? Eight or nine?

Taylor Manning (28:19):

She's nine.

Chad Hewlett (28:20):

Yeah, she's nine and we're still riding her and she's arguably the best horse that we've ever trained. I say we, you. I'm just along for whatever happens, but you do the training and it all seems to come together the way it should. So then let's talk a little bit about the third chapter. In 2022, started doing some different things as far as where we went. So we started going to Texas. Is that right?

Taylor Manning (28:48):

Yes.

Chad Hewlett (28:48):

Kind of at that point. And for those folks that maybe don't follow rodeo as much as Taylor and I do, Texas and Arizona are kind of the two places to go in the wintertime for rodeo people. I mean, you can go to California and there's other things to do as well, but in general, it's either Texas or Arizona are kind of the two spots that a lot of horses go. I always say that we lose close to, I don't know, I think we lose 300 head of horses every winter that go to Arizona or Texas from our practice. And in the early day, in the first little bit, you were going to Arizona. It's a good spot to go. It's more of a team roping part of the world. And then we started going to Texas and we thought we'd call this part of this chapter, we would actually call it Cowboy Capital or Cowgirl Capital, however you want to say that, because you started going to Stephenville and then by the time we get to the end, you moved from Edson, which is Edson's nice town, but you moved to the Cowboy or Cowgirl Capital of Canada, which is Pinocch.

(29:50):

So let's talk a little bit about Stephenville. And again, we're talking some relationships because Rael lives down, not in Stevenville, but she lives in Texas. Is that correct? I think they moved down there a while ago now.

Taylor Manning (30:01):

Yes. She lived about an hour away from where we stayed at Dawn Lakes.

Chad Hewlett (30:05):

Yeah. And so that was the deal is do you guys decide to go to Texas for that winter and stay at Dawn's? And for those old folks like me as Don Rude back in the day, that's been Don Link for a while. They moved to Texas 10 or 12 years ago and have a really nice spot there in Stevenville. I think her husband's in the oil patch. I think it was something to do with the oil patch in Texas and was in Alberta as well. So it's kind of nice to see that. Is there anything you can tell us about the difference between Arizona and Texas as far as competitor wise or bearway singer?

Taylor Manning (30:43):

I chose Texas. I like it a little bit more than Arizona. The group of people that you can kind of surround yourself there is amazing. There's the best trainers, the world champions. Everybody's kind of in Texas for the rodeoing and everything and it was just kind of cool to be in that atmosphere to try and be better.

Chad Hewlett (31:03):

Yeah. And then this'll be another podcast. You ended up meeting a really great friend of mine and great colleague that I've met through Texas Barrel Racers coming up. And he works for Calf Ropers and stuff too, but it's Marty Tanner, Dr. Tanner. You got to meet him through Don because he's Don's vet down there. And for those folks that know Marty, he's considered the NFR veterinarian as far as how things go. So that's been kind of a cool thing too to do that as far as going and seeing him.

Taylor Manning (31:40):

He probably is one of the best vets out there. He has helped me so much with my horses. It's amazing the eye he has and what he can see with the horse.

Chad Hewlett (31:49):

Yeah. He's a very sharp veterinarian and very keen to help customers, clients get where they want to go. The first time I met him was through Duke with Brittany, I don't know, 20 some years, long time ago. And yeah, he's just always been consistent and just really fun. And I've learned so much from him over the years. So it was just kind of cool when he gave me a call and I knew you were going to Texas, but I didn't realize that Don lived right next to Marty. And so anyway, it was just kind of cool to get to talk to him about your horses and stuff like that and see how things were going. Yeah, it's just nice to see. Do you feel like down there too, when I talked to your mom a litle bit when you guys were gone, you get to be in this realm of these famous sort of folks.

(32:35):

She was talking about the bull rider. JB

Taylor Manning (32:38):

Mooney.

Chad Hewlett (32:38):

Yeah, JB Mooney and stuff like that. And when you go to Marty's, I mean, Brittany goes there, Posey goes there. And you said that you're close to Cassie Mowry and stuff like that. So it's kind of neat to not worship these people, but breathe their air and kind of be around them and experience that. Do you think that adds value in your life?

Taylor Manning (33:02):

I really do. This winter I got to ride with Jordan Briggs once and then Ashley Shaffer too. And it was just really cool to try and pick up little things to be a better trainer or a better rider. My whole goal is to learn and be the best that I can for the horses and to just try and be the best I can be.

Chad Hewlett (33:21):

That's a good thing for our audience to understand too, because this podcast is about excellence and what it takes. In the one time we talked a lot about how Kirsty White, who's one of the hardest working people that we know, thinks that you're works as hard as she do or whatever. So there's just no shortcuts, I don't think. And I think you just want to try and put yourself in those positions to be around those people that are doing those things so that you can always just gather up a little bit more information. Even when you've had quite a bit of success already, you're still looking to learn from people that might have had more success or been in different spots. Yes.

Taylor Manning (33:58):

Yeah. Yeah, it was really cool. I was always told you want to hang around people who are better than you or who you look up to, so

Chad Hewlett (34:06):

Then- So true.

Taylor Manning (34:07):

Kind of awesome.

Chad Hewlett (34:08):

Yeah, so true. Yeah. You don't get better by being around people that are not as good as you. And that's no negativity met there, but yeah, I agree. You need to be stretching all the time, don't you?

Taylor Manning (34:18):

Or even just that little bit of motivation just to strive to be a little bit better.

Chad Hewlett (34:22):

Yeah, that being uncomfortable. It's never a funny feeling. In this third chapter, let's talk a little bit about some of that uncomfortableness too, because we were beating this around before. Tell us a story about the $19 and then kind of how that all comes back. This is a great story.

Taylor Manning (34:42):

Yeah. So I was going to Claire's home for the Yellow Rose and the Rural Crown for Trudy and Derbys and I was pretty sure on funds. I only had $19 there. So it was kind of like a do or die situation. I had to ride good and perform as well as I could. I had to win that weekend. I didn't really. I actually have a really good support system, but in my mind I kind of made it like that so that it would kind of light a fire in me so that I had to be better. I had to perform at the highest that I could so that it would kind of work out in a way.

Chad Hewlett (35:17):

Put pressure on yourself.

Taylor Manning (35:18):

Yeah. Yes. I think I actually do better sometimes with pressure. It just makes me a little bit more aware and on my toes, I guess.

Chad Hewlett (35:27):

Again, I want to make sure we bring that out for our listeners too, because it's just such a big part of it. I just find that in my life, and I feel like Taylor's just reiterating this, that the times when things got better, it's oftentimes when things aren't very good, you know what I mean?You're in a spot where you're just like, I need to do this or I want to do this, or I need to move through this difficult period in my life. And when I do, I'll be a better person and my horses will be better, all that sort of stuff.

Taylor Manning (36:00):

I think those tough times would build you to be better and stronger. Last week or two weekends ago, my billet broke on my first horse that I ran at this jackpot and went to the side and I fell off and it was a little bit embarrassing. And then I knocked on all my horses after that. It was just a bad day in barrel racing. Then last weekend was the shakedown

Chad Hewlett (36:25):

And

Taylor Manning (36:26):

The stakes are high. It pays really good. I qualified on three of my horses back to the short go, so I had three chances to try and figure it out.

Chad Hewlett (36:34):

Figure it out. Yeah.

Taylor Manning (36:35):

And my first horse just kind of worked average. My second horse, I pulled on her a little too hard and hit the first barrel. And then between the second horse and bling, I had a rake and one girl. So I had to take my reins off switch, get on bling, kind of had to get a little bit mad because I didn't do very good. So I'm like, I need to get mad

Chad Hewlett (36:55):

And pull

Taylor Manning (36:55):

Myself together.

Chad Hewlett (36:56):

Get your shit together.

Taylor Manning (36:57):

Yeah. So I think that kind of prepared me to make that run on bling and just be a little bit more fierce and just try a little harder, I guess.

Chad Hewlett (37:08):

Yeah, good. Really good. Well, we're kind of in that third chapter. We've talked about quite a few things. Is there anything that still strikes your mind or that we didn't cover or anything like that that fits into this third chapter as far as this kind of neat to hear the $19 story. And then in just this past weekend again, I think when you were out there and we were looking at horses today, you said the nice thing about it is we pay for some horse shelters or some hay or something. Is that what you said once with the check?

Taylor Manning (37:39):

Yeah. Yeah. Most of the money's probably spent now, but it always goes back to the horses. I call it investing is what mom calls

Chad Hewlett (37:45):

It. Yeah, no. And I think I do remember your mom talking to me about that if we kind of go back into time a little bit that bling was an investment too.You had taken some of your winnings and some of the stuff you took from Matlockwood. So I think that's another thing that is good to bring out and to talk about in our side of our podcast is that you do better or life becomes better if you keep investing back into yourself, I think. It's one of those things. Yeah, there's a risk involved, but it's paid off though, right? You keep coming back and investing in yourself and it's working.

Taylor Manning (38:21):

Yeah. Mom did an amazing job. That way she made it though so that after a CFR or something, I would buy a horse or invest into some kind of the trailer or something just so that my money was always going into something I could use. And now I guess we have a place and some good horses.

Chad Hewlett (38:41):

Yeah. Why don't we finish off with that just a little bit too, because we talked about Stevenville and I think let's just finish up talking a little bit about you guys just moved because you lived in Etsy your entire life, right? Because you're like, what are you, 21 now? At 22. 22. So for 20 of your 20 years on this earth, you lived in Edson, is that correct? Or 21? Because you guys haven't been there for more than a year, have you?

Taylor Manning (39:07):

So we bought our place. So last year we lived in it during the summer and then the year before I lived at Jesse Bennbrooks and got to stay there.

Chad Hewlett (39:15):

Yeah. So you guys have been in Pinoca for two years. We talked about Stevenville being the cowboy capital of America. Pinoca is definitely the cowboy capital of Canada, I would say five miles. When you think about all the great people that live there as far as your neighbors and stuff like that. I mean, Billy and Marcy Layer just east of you a little bit. I think Brett and Shannon ride with you a little bit. I can't remember. Brett's been to the CFR.

Taylor Manning (39:42):

He's been quite a few times. 10,

Chad Hewlett (39:43):

12, 13. I don't know. He seems like forever. He's just ever ready. They're sitting good. They've already won almost $9,000. Him and ... Is it Joey Roma?

Taylor Manning (39:54):

Yes.

Chad Hewlett (39:56):

Yeah. I don't know. And the Cowboy Hall of Fame is there. You got the Cal Nash Center right in your backyard, all that sort of stuff.

Taylor Manning (40:06):

We live about two minutes from the Cal Nash, so it's nice to go ride there and get the young ones out.

Chad Hewlett (40:11):

Yeah. I mean, we pulled in there last fall on the way to CFR and stopped and your mom showed me around and looked at Harley. I remember I looked at a horse anyway and before we went up to CFR and it's just a really nice location. It's nice to be in that spot. I think it's going to ... I mean, it's not that Edson was the end of the earth, but it just puts you in a spot where you're really close to a lot of the action as far as how things happen.

Taylor Manning (40:35):

It's been amazing. We get to Jackbot during the week. A lot of the rodeos I can take the stock trailer to because it's so central. So I can go to the rodeo, come home at night and then just kind of drive back and forth that way. And I mean, it's helped so much with coming to the vet or shoeing. It's just made barrel racing and training a lot easier.

Chad Hewlett (40:54):

Yeah. I know. I'm sure glad that you guys lived there. I mean, two things happened. One is my old friend Charles Briggs retired so I finally got my chance to be here veterinarian all the time and then you guys are so much closer so it's nice to see. Thanks again for joining us in this episode of Unbridled and Legendary. If you can do us big favor, we sure like it if you would like and subscribe to our channel so we can keep talking to people from the industry, going over some of the difficulties in life and how we overcome them with our horses and how this industry just continues to build very well galvanized individuals. Thanks again.