She breaks down how she balanced Rosa and Sasha all season—where each mare fit best, what surprised her and why she finally chose not to enter everything over Labor Day, even with the standings on the line.
A big chunk of the episode is devoted to how she rides these very different, very turny mares without over-managing them:
- Learning which setups and holding pens spike Rosa’s anxiety.
- Fighting the urge to “ride defensively” when she feels a tight horse coming down the alley.
- Keeping Sasha from planting that front end and getting too flat through a turn.
Lockhart is blunt about the grind of Las Vegas: early morning practices, late-night stalls, sponsor signings stacked back-to-back and why she and her husband still insist on doing the horse care themselves. She also talks sponsorship in practical terms—only backing products she actually uses and being clear on expectations before she signs on.
Looking back over nearly two decades at the NFR, she hits on two big themes: the rapid growth in money and opportunity across rodeo, and the ongoing battle for consistent ground and fair shots in every event. She also circles back to the horses that carried her there—Sterling, Chisum, Louie and now Rosa—and what it really takes to keep one sound, sane and competitive into their mid-to-late teens.
Hailey Kinsel: Fine-Tuning a Veteran Horse and Building What’s Next
Kinsel comes in from a different phase of the same career arc—headed to her ninth straight NFR with Sister at 14 and still winning. She talks through how her NFR prep has evolved: dialing in conditioning instead of chasing “tune-up runs,” planning around morning practices in the Thomas & Mack and keeping Sister sharp enough to fire in Round 1 and still be strong by Round 10.
She gets specific about the blind first barrel, the alley setup, and the small, odd things that can change a run—like a judge in her line of sight or a stray water bottle in the alley. Her focus, she explains, is less on scripting the perfect run and more on being ready to react to whatever Sister gives her that night.
Kinsel also breaks down this year’s schedule with Sister: targeting high-value one-headers, limiting mileage, and accepting the “high risk, high reward” approach of entering fewer rodeos with more on the line each time. She compares that to seasoning her younger horses—Spider, Libby and Reese—and what they’ve taught her about being a manager, not just a jockey, as she figures out which pens truly suit each one.
Away from the jackpot pens, she talks about launching her youth race in South Texas, why she wanted something affordable and genuinely fun for kids who don’t live in jackpot-dense areas, and what she’s learning on the producer side of the industry.
Kinsel closes with simple advice for riders chasing this level: everyone works hard; the difference is remembering that rodeo is a small part of a bigger life. Enjoy the runs, eat the good meals, laugh off the bad nights and let the rest fall where it’s going to fall.
This week’s episode is presented by Martin Saddlery.
