Melody DeLappe had only ridden Dusty, a Morgan reining horse, seven times when she entered the ring to compete at a national competition. She rode into the ring excited and nervous. She left as a national champion.
DeLappe, who lives in Marysville, is the green rider reining national champion. In non-horse riding jargon, that means she was the best new rider at the Grand National &World Championship Morgan Horse Show in Oklahoma City. The show draws riders and horses from all over the U.S. and Canada.
Reining is a specific style of riding based on a history of working cattle. Reining horses are expected to stop quickly, turn quickly and move into a gallop quickly — all skills important for herding cattle.
Morgan horses are known for being versatile. DeLappe has been riding for more than four decades, since she was 10 years old. She’s always loved horses and Morgans are her favorites. She says they are extremely versatile horses. They can jump, they can ride trails, they can pull carriages. They tend to be intelligent horses that really love people.
DeLappe never planned to go to nationals to compete. She doesn’t currently own a horse of her own, although she rides other people’s horses and takes lessons when she can. She writes for Morgan Horse magazine, which is what got her started on the path to nationals.
In July of 2013, DeLappe was assigned to write about Amie and Darren Taber of LittleWood Morgans in Shoshone, Idaho. Their family uses Morgans on their working farm. While she was there, she rode their horse Dusty. She enjoyed him, and while he was still young and learning, he was willing and fun to ride.
Then, in June this year she was at the regional championship show, covering it for the magazine. Amie Taber was there with her horse Dusty. Taber had recently been ill. When she saw DeLappe, she asked if she’d be willing to ride Dusty so he could qualify for the national competition.
DeLappe was more than willing. She loves riding and had competed in the past, although never in reining before. She ended up winning the class. She was excited to win, but didn’t give it much thought after that.
About five weeks later, though, she got a call from Taber, saying that Dusty had qualified for nationals and would DeLappe like to ride him there? DeLappe was already going to be there, as she would be covering it for the magazine. She was apprehensive. Going to nationals is costly and she’d be facing tough competitors.
Ultimately, she decide to give it a try. She took reining lessons from a local trainer to prepare. All was going well and then, on her final lesson before heading to the national show, she fell off of a horse, hard. Her back was extremely sore, she could barely walk. She found a chiropractor though who was able to help her. By the time she made it to the show, she was ready to ride again. She rode Dusty in the days leading up to her competition.
Finally, it was time to really compete. She was a bit nervous, although the friendliness of the fellow reining riders had helped put her at ease.
“I wanted to have fun, I wanted to stay on my pattern and I didn’t want to fall off.”
She did all of those things, and more. She and Dusty won.
“It really felt surreal,” she said and her victory gallop was “absolutely thrilling.”
DeLappe’s not sure what’s next for her. She plans to continue on with her reining lessons. She may work her way up with a young horse. She’s still looking for the right time and the right horse. She does know for certain she will stay with Morgans. They won her heart long ago.
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