Reining in a championship
The Fireman, a quarter horse owned by Peter and Courtney Morgan, captured the 2024 National Reining Horse Association’s Level 4 Open Futurity, with rider Kaci O’Rourke the first woman to win the title.
Kaci O’Rourke and The Fireman recently won the 2024 National Reining Horse Association’s Level 4 Open Futurity, with O’Rourke the first woman to win the title. The horse is owned by Peter and Courtney Morgan of Ocala. [Photo courtesy Kaci O’Rourke]
Through a series of spins, lead changes and sliding stops, The Fireman displayed his equine athletic prowess in the 2024 NRHA Futurity, from Dec. 6-7 at the Jim Norick Coliseum in Oklahoma City. When the arena dust had settled, The Fireman, with Kaci O’Rourke in the saddle, had dazzled his way to being the best 3-year-old reining horse.
The NRHA Futurity, founded in 1966, is the premier reining event for 3-year-old horses. Top horses and riders come from around the world to compete for the coveted crown. Reining is a Western riding competition with roots in ranch work. A good working ranch horse is prized for being responsive to his rider with a light rein. Today, horse and rider are judged by how well they perform reining patterns in a show arena.
In NRHA competition, reining horses are judged individually as they complete one of 12 specific patterns. Each pattern includes such maneuvers as flying lead changes, small slow circles, large fast circles, 360-degree spins, rollbacks and sliding stops. The rider and horse are judged from the moment the duo enters the ring until the last maneuver.
Each rider enters the arena with a score of 70, considered an average performance, and then the judges add or subtract points during the performance. Points are given for level of difficulty and finesse, while points are taken away for loss of control or deviation from the pattern.
O’Rourke and The Fireman earned scores of 224 in the preliminaries and 218 in the semifinals for a composite score of 442 to qualify for the Level 4 Open Futurity finals on Dec. 7. In the latter, the duo scored 229 to win the title and the $350,000 prize money.
“We’ve raised reining quarter horses for more than 40 years,” said Peter Morgan, who with wife Courtney owns and operates Ocala-based Morgan Reiners. “We’ve had a lot of success both as riders and owners over the decades. But winning the NRHA Futurity is like winning the Kentucky Derby. It was so exciting for us to be there and watch Kaci and The Fireman win that title.”
Kaci O’Rourke spends a sweet moment with The Fireman, who is owned by Peter and Courtney Morgan of Ocala. [Photo courtesy Kaci O’Rourke]
“I always thought The Fireman was a special horse and he proved us all right,” noted O’Rourke, 30, who owns and operates Pond Hill Performance Horses in Aubrey, Texas, with her husband, Jack Daniels. “We bought him as a yearling colt and he’s always been a sensitive, intense and very athletic horse all through his training. I always dreamed of winning the NRHA Futurity and thanks to The Fireman, that dream came true.”
The Morgans have been clients of Pond Hill Performance Horses since 2020 and that partnership has enjoyed success in the reining competition world. As O’Rourke watched The Fireman blossom in his training, she offered the Morgans the opportunity to buy him.
“Not only have the Morgans been our clients from the beginning, they have become like family to us,” said O’Rourke. “We wanted them to be along for the ride with whatever success we had with The Fireman.”
For the Morgans, buying The Fireman was a new venture.
“We breed reining horses to sell and show. We have a broodmare band of 12. We don’t usually buy colts,” admits Morgan. “But Kaci convinced us that she had a special colt she wanted us to buy. We bought him in late 2023 and Kaci was absolutely right about him.”
When the Morgans bought the colt, he wasn’t named The Fireman. The sorrel quarter horse colt by Inferno Six Sixty out of Redhot Walla previously went by the name Thiago.
“I’ve always been a George Strait fan and one of his biggest hit songs is called ‘The Fireman,’” Morgan explained. “And with his breeding, it was an obvious name change. Kaci still calls him Thiago, but his registered name is The Fireman.”
For the time being, The Fireman will continue to compete under O’Rourke.
“We are so happy for Kaci; she has worked so hard and deserves every bit of this success,” said Morgan. “We’ve had lots of offers to buy The Fireman, but he has given us the experience of a lifetime and we have no plans to sell him.”
Kaci O’Rourke leans down to give a pat to The Fireman. The duo won the 2024 National Reining Horse Association’s Level 4 Open Futurity. [Photo courtesy Kaci O’Rourke]
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