Riding horses is something that Morgan Wilson has been doing since before she could walk, and she recently began to compete in rodeos.

“I started competing last year,” Wilson said. “As for riding horses, I’m pretty sure my mom had me riding before I could walk.”

The 10-year-old said that the rodeo was something that she just wanted to try out.

“It was really something  that I wanted to do,” Wilson said about joining the rodeo. “Both of my parents did it and it’s just something that I have been around my entire life.”

This year, Wilson competed in barrel racing, pole bending and goat tying.

“Barrels is easily my favorite event,” Wilson said. “I grew up on barrels. My mom and dad both ran barrels. It’s just you and your horse running full speed around three barrels. It’s just you racing against yourself and the clock.”

In her first year competing in the Alabama Junior High School Rodeo Association, Wilson finished third in for Rookie of the Year and third place in goat tying.

Wilson finished fourth in barrel and All-Around.

“It was a really fun year,” Wilson said. “I made a lot of good friends. This is something that I’m going to keep doing for as long as I can.”

This past weekend, Wilson put on a strong showing at a barrel racing event in Bay Minette.

Wilson competed and won the Youth 2D Barrel racing event.

Earlier in the year, Wilson also qualified to compete in the 2017 NBHA Youth World Show in Georgia at the end of July.

“This is something that you have to qualify for and I actually qualified for two spots in the barrel racing event,” Wilson said. “I’m very excited about getting the chance to compete in the Youth World Show. I will be going up against 614 people from all over the world.”

Wilson said that she doesn’t just ride the horses, but she also trains them.

“I really had better time this year running my younger horses than I did my older horses,” Wilson said. “Raising them from a baby, breaking them and then starting them on barrels. It can be frustrating some times when they forget the pattern. It can be hard to get the younger horses to stay on pattern on barrels.”

Wilson said that she currently has 18 horses, but doesn’t ride them all in rodeos.

“Blitz used to be my goat tying horse, but she got hurt,” Wilson said. “She is an amazing horse to ride. When you sit on her, you can just feel the power. Her and my pig Wilbur are not friends. The other night we were shooting fireworks and she went over to Wilbur’s pen with her ears pinned back because she thought it was him making the noises. I’m afraid she is going to give poor ol’ Wilbur nightmares.”

Her favorite horses to ride are Rebel and Grace, Wilson said.

“Rebel and Grace are my two favorites,” Wilson said. “Grace has been doing so well with me. She ran a 19 the other day just loafing the pattern.”