Megan Sparks isn’t your average teenager.
After several years of barrel racing and riding, she has started and successfully run her own business: Megan Sparks Performance Horses.
What has turned into a lifetime opportunity, started with a little red pony named Red Rings The Bell.
“My late gelding, Red Rings The Bell, was injured when we purchased him as a four year old and needed two years of rehabilitation to be ridden. When we started him back as a six year old, after two years of stall rest, he practically wasn’t broke any longer,” Sparks said. “I restarted him on the barrels once he was
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broke to ride again, and it took me three years to figure out how to tune on and run him the ‘correct’ way. I’ve used everything I’ve learned from that experience, and put it towards new horses.”
Sparks has a number of horses in her barn at any given time, ranging from seasoned to beginner. But her favorites are her personal horses, Atari and Static.
Atari was saved from a kill-pen as a two-year-old, and Sparks trained her for the barrel pattern.
“She’s clocked in the 1D a couple times and has won the Open 2D with me once out of the few times I’ve ever entered her,” Sparks said. “This year, her five year old season, I hope to haul her more consistently and season her in the rodeo pens.”
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Static, a two-year-old filly, is especially special to Sparks and her family. Named after her late gelding, Sparky, Static was brought home the day after he was put down.
“In memory of Sparky and all the great things he did for me while alive, and to reflect my hopes for her, I named her Sheilwin Like Spark,” Sparks said. “We commonly called Sparky, Spark for short, and I loved how it fit.”
Sparks often posts videos of Static throughout the training process that include; playing around, eating cookies, and being a happy horse. Her most recent venture was introducing the tarp.
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“I’ve already started her with ground work and other things she needs to know. I plan to start breaking her to ride at the end of summer, and starting her on barrels in the spring of her three year old year,” Sparks said, “I don’t plan to futurity her since I truly want to make a rodeo horse out of her.”
Confident in her future, Sparks already has the next five years nailed out.
“In five years I’m hoping to be pursuing my MBA with Miami University,” Sparks said. “I also hope to have Atari and Static hauling together as my pro-rodeo mounts.”
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