Rita Shaw's Where Champions Are Made

and simple bits. We grew up on a full operating dairy and pecan and tongue nut orchard. (Tongue nuts were grown for their oil and used to make turpentine and other products) When we weren’t doing chores, we were riding. We had to make our horses. No one trained them for us. If we wanted to do something we would figure it out.”
Life on the farm growing up taught Rita how to be a problem solver and how to stay busy. She recalls, “When hurricane Camille came through we lost the tongue nut orchards, there was no electricity for weeks so we had to milk all 65 cows by hand, every morning and every evening!” They did not have the electronic toys of this generation. “We made our own fun. We built forts in the woods, rode until dark, but came home and ate supper together every night. Bored was not a word in our vocabulary. We did not need to be entertained every minute. There was always much to do. But we always found time to ride.”
Rita’s start into the world of barrel racing came when she was taken under the wing of her uncle Curtis Howard. He mentored her and let her ride his older horse in 4H. He would take her along to events and helped her get started. “My uncle Curtis was my biggest influence in my career of barrel racing.”
They would go to shows, and clinics. She rode in a Wanda Harper Bush clinic and read lots of books picking up tips along the way. In the early 1990’s she started training for Dr. Mike Lee, riding the horses Classiest Jet Yet and Automatic Cash. Among this connection with Lee, Shaw won the AQHA World Jr. Horse Barrel Racing Reserve champion in 1994 and Sr. Horse Reserve Barrel Racing Champion in 1996 on Automatic Cash. In 1997 she won the AQHA Jr. Horse Barrel Racing World Championship aboard Flaminanflyin. Rita is also card holder for both the PCA and WPRA rodeo associations. Shaw has been multiple time finalists in the PCA and also the Barrel Racing Average Champion. She had the chance to chase the full rodeo dream, and her husband Randal encouraged her, but the love of family was more important to her. Her roots run deep. She was not willing to leave her family to do that. The amount of time it requires to travel around the country to win a title such as the NFR was not where she wanted to spend her life. “Family and home mean more to me than anything, any title, or any prize money out there.” “I have been blessed.”
She has enjoyed taking young horses to the futurities in Oklahoma City, and training on the ranch at home. “We use our horses for everything. They don’t just run barrels and stand in a stall. We work cows, rope off of them heading and heeling, they have to know how to be a ranch horse first and a barrel horse second.”
“If a horse has a solid foundation, running the pattern is a piece of cake. When they don’t have the basics and have them good, then sooner or later everything falls apart.”
Rita is a testament to the fact that if you “take care of your horsemanship, it will take care of you.”
In fact HORSEMANSHIP is the word Rita used to sum up all of her success as a competitor and as a trainer… “Horsemanship is the KEY to riding.” Rita makes sure all her horses have a solid foundation in training before taking them to the barrel pen. “Having a horse broke – and having the horsemanship it takes can’t be emphasized enough.”
“Every horse is an individual. They are all built differently. They have different styles, talents and weaknesses. I want to engage and bend my horse appropriately, but I let me horse show me his style of doing things. I want my horse to be happy and comfortable. You need to listen to your horse, and build on what they offer. Then he will win.”
Rita goes on to explain that she would only cull a horse for a defiant attitude or poor work ethic. “They have to be willing, willingness and a good work ethic is more important than anything on the papers. I don’t ride the papers…I ride the horse.”
One of her best horses was Jimmerman’s Moon she bought the grey mare from Swegman’s Supermarket when they had their horse sale. She won the Tri-State Rodeo Association All Around title on her in 1992. Jimmerman’s Moon is 31 years young today and still enjoys a gallop. “She’s a good babysitter but be careful getting her out of a slow trot! She still wants to get it!”
Rita and Randal have a grown daughter Lindsey Pender who is riding right along in her mom’s footsteps. Rita says “She could not be any more proud that in 2008, 16 years later Lindsey captured the Tri-State Rodeo Association All Around title as well”. Lindsey was the Reserve Champion in the Sr. Horse barrels at the AQHA Dixie Nationals this year aboard Flamewater Flit one of the family’s stallions, qualifying for the AQHA World Show. With excitement Rita states “How awesome would it be for Lindsey to win the World Championship and share that title with me!”
Rita says she hopes and prays that she is able to continue doing what she does for at least the next 20 years. “I want to live my life for the Lord, and I am grateful for the wisdom he has given me.” Rita always wants to improve her own horsemanship and is always willing to pass on her knowledge of horses and horsemanship to the next generation of cowgirls and cowboys. Rita has helped and coached many of the south’s young talented barrel racers to the winners circle on the state and national levels. “I always want to get better, to be a better horseman. I hope to have many more years to come; I hope to turn out some nice colts. I have been blessed and want to help others reach their goals.” Rita is a good one to watch in reaching your goals. She says when she sets a goal for herself she usually achieves it. That does not come as a shock to me at all, as I watch this kind, sage cowgirl walk around her ranch. She is proud of her horses, proud of what the Lord has blessed her with, and humbly works to carry on the highest tradition of horsemanship in everything she does. Ride on Rita!