Payne hopes to gain national rodeo recognition

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

Turn and Burn: Chani Payne aboard her 6-year-old Quarter Horse mare, Little Bit Princess, have achieved numerous wins over the past two years. In 2002, Payne and Princess were high on the Top Futurity Riders list of 100 barrel racers and horses. - Courtesy photo

April 24, 2003 -- A love of the sport, desire to be the best, and the chance to make money are great motivators for athletes - and 17-year-old Chani Payne of Sulphur Springs is motivated.

With a spunky grin, Payne admits she loves barrel racing - a sport that has put the long-haired cowgirl and her blaze-faced Quarter Horse on the winner's list, and prize money list, numerous times.

She wrapped up 2002 in the number 39 spot on the Top Futurity Riders List (of 100 barrel racers in the country), and her horse, Little Bit Princess, was listed 44th.

Last year she was also won champion and reserve champion titles for circling the barrels and weaving through poles in the Tri-County Barrel Racing Association.

This year's wins are already adding up, as well.

In March, the barrel racer won over $6,000 - the highest purse she's ever achieved from one event - at the 2003 Silver Cup Derby Draw in Tulsa, Okla., with times of 17.279 and 17.006. Also that month, she placed second in a UPRA rodeo and second in the Progressive Barrel Classic Spring Futurity event.

But all these fast-paced accomplishments haven't come as an over-night success. About five years of riding to hone her skills have generated the big wins (with 18 buckles to show for it) within the last two years.

At the age of 12, Payne took up riding a mare her dad, Gordon Payne, had brought to the family's ranch located in the Pleasant Grove community. The mare had 30 days of riding (training) and the youngster took to the horse. "I was just riding to have fun at first, but then I went to some play days," she said. Already a proven athlete in softball, she gave up other sports to concentrate on barrel racing.

The early wins were encouraging, but it's the love of the sport, and riding, that keeps Payne involved in the sport. "It's calmer," she said about being in the saddle. "It's just me and my horse and I don't have to worry about anything."

She described the most stressful moments of the competition is the "waiting to ride" but once the race is on to get around the barrels, "17 seconds can easily feel like an hour.

"When I'm out there (running the barrels), I don't think about anything, I guess. I just focus on what I'm doing."

Having a fast, well-trained horse is a definite asset in this sport. Payne has claimed many wins with her 6-year-old mare, Princess.

Two years ago, Princess came to the Payne Ranch with proven speed - straight from the race track. Since the relocation, no one has been on the mare except the young barrel racer.

"Everything was backwards," Payne explained about training the horse to run the cloverleaf pattern around the barrels. "She was used to running straight; and when you pulled back, she'd go faster ...."

The teen taught the horse all she knows about barrel racing. "She was fast; I was hopeful," Payne said.

Payne is also in the processing of training two other horses - a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old. The Paynes have establishing a reputation for fast Quarter Horses. They have 11 brood mares and their 2-year-old stallion is one of the last sired by Victory Farms' famed "On Money Red."

Prize money gained by Payne's wins is being saved for college, she explained. Her plans are to attend Texas A&M University in College Station, or the campus in Tarleton.

Also, some of her winnings was recently applied to the purchase of a new Ford pickup for the cowgirl. "This is my other baby," she said. Payne grinned when her stepmom, Mary Ann, said the 17-year-old is allowed to go to town, for a few evening hours, in the new truck.

Her involvement with rodeoing, and preparation for competition, doesn't leave much time for an "average" teenage lifestyle. As a barrel racer, Payne and her family travel, and with many of today's big events held in covered arenas, competitions can be held year-round. If she has to miss a school day, Payne is "excused," just like other high school athletes or interscholastic scholars.

"We can't make them (rodeos) all," Mr. Payne said. "School is very important," his wife added.

The family plans to head to Oklahoma City at the end of April for a four-day event there.

And then once again, around and around the barrels they'll go - Payne on Princess - with the ultimate goal of competing in the National Finals Rodeo, with opportunity to prove they are the best.