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WALNUT —
WALNUT — Megan Kichler, Walnut, almost didn’t attend in the National Barrel Horse Association Kansas state championships, held May 17-20 in Topeka.
“I was debating about going to the state championships because my grandma was in a rest home and had liver cancer,” Kichler said. “I went to see her and she told me to go, so I did. I’d only been there a few hours when I got the call that she had passed away.”
The grieving young woman went ahead and competed, and scored her second NBHA state championship.
“I think Grandma helped me with the state championship,” Kichler said.
Her mother, Marla Kichler, thinks it’s very likely that grandmother Marilyn Colegrove provided a little heavenly assistance.
“She always supported the kids in all their activities,” Mrs. Kichler said. “And I know she’s very happy about this.”
She and husband Jesse Kichler also have three sons.
Kichler uses several horses for barrel racing, and her main one is Miami.
“This championship was Miami’s first state win,” she said.
Her mother said that the horse and rider are a time, and both have to be on the same page.
“Megan and Miami hated each other,” she said. “It took two or three years before they liked each other.”
Though Kichler said that Miami once bucked her off every chance she got, the two are now close.
“I’ve seen Miami wrap her neck around Megan and give her a hug when she’s been upset,” Mrs. Kichler said.
Another horse who rides barrels with Kichler is Ruby, a friendly and laid-back horse who enjoys pizza and coke.
“My horses have a lot of character,” Kichler said. “If I have any friends who come over and want to ride, I put them on Ruby. She’s a babysitter.”
“She’ll be a grandbaby horse some day,” Mrs. Kichler said. “When we have grandbabies, we’ll put them on Ruby.”
She believes in getting children on horses early in life.
“My mom and grandpa used to own a lot of horses and since I was a baby, Mom put me on horses left and right,” Kichler said. “The first time I was barrel racing was at 3 or 4, and I’ve been running barrels ever since then.”
She said that she won her first saddle in 2003 and has won six in all. Her first state championship was in 2007.
WALNUT — Megan Kichler, Walnut, almost didn’t attend in the National Barrel Horse Association Kansas state championships, held May 17-20 in Topeka.
“I was debating about going to the state championships because my grandma was in a rest home and had liver cancer,” Kichler said. “I went to see her and she told me to go, so I did. I’d only been there a few hours when I got the call that she had passed away.”
The grieving young woman went ahead and competed, and scored her second NBHA state championship.
“I think Grandma helped me with the state championship,” Kichler said.
Her mother, Marla Kichler, thinks it’s very likely that grandmother Marilyn Colegrove provided a little heavenly assistance.
“She always supported the kids in all their activities,” Mrs. Kichler said. “And I know she’s very happy about this.”
She and husband Jesse Kichler also have three sons.
Kichler uses several horses for barrel racing, and her main one is Miami.
“This championship was Miami’s first state win,” she said.
Her mother said that the horse and rider are a time, and both have to be on the same page.
“Megan and Miami hated each other,” she said. “It took two or three years before they liked each other.”
Though Kichler said that Miami once bucked her off every chance she got, the two are now close.
“I’ve seen Miami wrap her neck around Megan and give her a hug when she’s been upset,” Mrs. Kichler said.
Another horse who rides barrels with Kichler is Ruby, a friendly and laid-back horse who enjoys pizza and coke.
“My horses have a lot of character,” Kichler said. “If I have any friends who come over and want to ride, I put them on Ruby. She’s a babysitter.”
“She’ll be a grandbaby horse some day,” Mrs. Kichler said. “When we have grandbabies, we’ll put them on Ruby.”
She believes in getting children on horses early in life.
“My mom and grandpa used to own a lot of horses and since I was a baby, Mom put me on horses left and right,” Kichler said. “The first time I was barrel racing was at 3 or 4, and I’ve been running barrels ever since then.”
She said that she won her first saddle in 2003 and has won six in all. Her first state championship was in 2007.
“Megan has qualified for youth and open world championships, the first time in 2003,” her mother said. “This will be her 10th year to qualify. We’ve actually got to make that trip three times because it’s kind of costly.”
The world championships are usually held in Jackson, Miss.
A Girard High School graduate, Kichler was on the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M rodeo team for a year.
Now she’s working at training horses.
“I’ve trained two of my horses, including Ruby,” Kichler said. “I’ve been training horses since I was 13 or 14. I’ve got a 3-year-old I’ve started in barrel work now, and we also own her sister and brother.”
She’s also training a horse for a friend, and is coaching her mother, already an experienced rider, in barrel work.
“I yell at her while she’s running, and then when she gets back, she says, ‘Did you say something to me?’.” Kichler said.
Her mother said that she hopes to compete at the state event next year.
“First I’ve got to get my horse and me in sync,” Mrs. Kichler said. “I’ve also got to get a barrel racing saddle. My old barrel racing saddle is from when I was nine years old. Right now I’m using one of those saddles Megan won. ”
