Horse happy - Ravalli County rodeo queen has an equine addiction
By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian
CORVALLIS - She’s been stomped on, tossed to the ground, bitten and kicked so badly emergency-room doctors thought Ciara Zacha might die.
It sounds bad, yet to hear the 16-year-old talk about her experiences with the loves of her life - horses - it’s clear Zacha hasn’t once thought about quitting her equine addiction.
If you’re around horses long enough, you’re bound to get a few bruises, explained Zacha, who talks tough but looks for all the world the quintessential glamorous rodeo queen, which she is.
Ravalli County Rodeo Queen Ciara Zacha rides Jinx during the Big Sky Fox Trotter Association’s Points Show at the Sapphire Event Center in Corvallis in July. Her blue-ribbon performance on the Palomino prompted Suzanne Nebeker of Salmon, Idaho, to ask her to ride Checkmate’s HMS Ark Royal N at this year’s Missouri Fox Trotting Association world championship show. Photo by WILL MOSS/Ravalli Republic
As is her habit, she tucked her long dark hair behind her ears and checked her fingernails for dirt while she pondered why she loves horses so much.
“They are big, and they are exciting because you don’t know what they will do next - and because of that there’s a certain adrenaline rush,” Zacha finally said. “They aren’t like owning a motorcycle, where you keep putting money into it and it takes you up a mountain.
“A horse has a personality,” she said. “They are so majestic and they love you back.”
It’s been three weeks since the Corvallis junior returned from Ava, Mo., where she competed in the Missouri Fox Trotting Breed Association’s 50th annual world championship show aboard the gelding Checkmate’s HMS Ark Royal N - a horse that doesn’t belong to her; in fact, it doesn’t even live in Montana. The horse lives in Salmon, Idaho.
Zacha is still pinching herself and wondering when she will wake from the dream she’s lived over the last three months.
Just over a year ago, it would have seemed impossible. Zacha spent two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula after her mother’s horse kicked her in the ribs.
When the incident happened, Kim Zacha took her daughter to the emergency room just to be sure everything was going to be OK.
The family expected a diagnosis that included bruising and maybe some cracked ribs, but nobody was ready to hear Zacha’s kidneys and spleen were critically compromised.
Kim, a lifelong horsewoman, feared her sixth-generation Bitterroot daughter would never go near a horse again. Not that she would blame her.
But Ciara’s love for horses won out over any fear, and several months later, she was back in the saddle.
Given her natural horse sense - among the many Zacha family stories is the one about Ciara and how she first learned to ride in the womb - lessons from her mom and time spent with the Bitterroot Saddlebusters 4-H Club, finding her seat wasn’t a challenge, and she quickly picked up where she left off.
During a July show in Corvallis, Zacha’s grace on a horse so impressed Suzanne Nebeker of Salmon, owner of Checkmate’s HMS Ark Royal N, that Nebeker asked if the young woman would be interested in riding her horse in the youth division of the breed association’s world champion show.
The event is “the show of all shows” in the world of Missouri Fox Trotting, said Cathy Lansdown, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Fox Trotting Association.
This year, the event was held the first week of September and featured more than 700 horses representing nearly every state, as well as horses from Israel, Germany and Austria.
Zacha had to first check her rodeo schedule and tally up the costs of traveling back and forth to Salmon to train with the horse.
As luck would have it, the stars were aligned.
In and around rodeos - and while earning the title of 2008 Ravalli County rodeo queen - Zacha trained with Nebeker and her talented horse, aka “Roy,” for three full months leading up to the world championships.
The duo competed in 21 classes in the youth division, showing off their skills from jumping to roping, and earned top place in every class, including a slew of first- and second-place ribbons.
They missed being Reserve Versatility World Grand Champion by one point.
Zacha said she can’t believe the whirlwind of her past year.
“I am really grateful to have this opportunity to go to worlds,” she said. “The past year has been the most up and down with horses, and I’m incredibly fortunate that lately it’s been mostly up.”
Although the show season has come to a close, Zacha will stay busy. She’s editor of her high school yearbook in Corvallis and manager of the football team.
And she’ll reign as the Ravalli County rodeo queen for a full year, until a new one is crowned next summer.
Her duties include promoting the world of rodeo at community events and parades.
“So many little girls have asked me for my autograph. It’s the cutest thing,” Zacha said. “I love being a role model to the little girls.”
She also loves the other important rule of rodeo royalty.
“You have to look spectacular,” Zacha said, and then confessed she loves the bling that goes with the job: the tiara, the hat, the sash - and the chaps.
“I love, love them,” she gushed. “They are brown and white with gold fringe.”
