REINING ROYALTY: HOW KACI O'ROURKE AND THE FIREMEN MADE HISTORY AT 2024 NRHA FUTURITY
DECEMBER 12, 2024 - DEVIN CONLEY
Kaci O’Rourke never thought she’d make history. But dreams turned to reality, as O’Rourke and The Firemen joined the ranks of history makers, the night of Dec. 7, 2024, when O’Rourke became the first woman to win the NRHA Futurity Level 4 Open and the last NRHA Futurity champion crowned in the Jim Norick Coliseum. For this remarkable horse and rider team, their journey began with intuition, grit, and passion—not a plan to etch their names into the record books.
They Knew From The Start
Handpicked from the pastures of Tamarack Ranch in the fall of his yearling year, The Firemen, (Inferno Sixty Six x Redhot Walla x Walla Walla Whiz), affectionately known as Thiago, caught the eye of O’Rourke and her husband, Jack, right away.
“He was a late baby, so he was small and had just come from Oregon, so he was a little hairy, but we just watched him lope and he loped amazing. That just drew us to him,” said O’Rourke upon seeing Thiago for the first time. “Some horses just have kind of a special appearance and a special look. I told Jack that when he sheds out and grows, he’s going to be super fancy.”
O’Rourke also knew from an early age that reining was in her blood. Raised on her family’s Pond Hill Ranch, she began her career in the sport at only 13, racking up a number of wins and accomplishments early on. By 18, she began her NRHA Professional career, under the guidance of such legendary riders as 3X NRHA Futurity Champion Casey Deary, and NRHA $4 Million Rider Craig Schmersal. O’Rourke met her husband, Jack Daniels—a successful and talented horse trainer and colt starter—while working under Schmersal, and the two started their joint training venture, Pond Hill Performance Horses.
A Really Special Horse
It was the summer of the horse's 2-year-old year when Daniels came to O'Rourke and said, "this horse is really, really special."
Daniels started Thiago as a 2-year-old, and the colt took to his training quickly.
“He was an extreme athlete from the very beginning. He’s super intense and took everything very seriously. He’s such a cool horse, right off the bat he was super feely and very active”, says O’Rourke of Thiago’s early training. “Jack did an amazing job of starting him and building confidence”, she says, noting that Daniels took the young horse out for trail rides, spent time just causally riding, and bonding with him.
It was the summer of the horse’s 2-year-old year when Daniels came to O’Rourke and said, “this horse is really, really special.”
Now knowing that without a doubt, The Firemen was a special horse, O’Rourke and Daniels reached out to longtime friends and clients, Peter and Courtney Morgan, and the Morgans purchased the young horse. Although the Morgans typically own mares, Thiago was that special stud that everyone knew had a bright future. The horse stayed at Pond Hill Performance Horses, and his reining career began.
The Road to the Futurity
Any horse owner can tell you that the horse is the great equalizer. No matter how expensive, special, well-broke, or well-trained a horse is, sometimes things just happen. O’Rourke took Thiago and hit the road, and the team entered up in their first Invitational together. The exclusive 3-year-old only event designed to promote junior stallions, is an elite affair with big payouts. O’Rourke and The Firemen went in with high hopes, but unfortunately had a couple bobbles.
“I didn’t have him totally figured out yet, and I didn’t do all the right things I needed to do”, says O’Rourke.
The horse had already garnered quite a bit of attention at this point, and O’Rourke notes that it would have been easy for the Morgans to sell him. But the Morgans trusted the process, and they trusted Daniels and O’Rourke.
Peter Morgan told O’Rourke, “Thank God it happened here, now we know. You’ll get him figured out.” And O’Rourke set her mind to figuring him out.
After taking Thiago and a couple other horses to a small futurity in Waco and winning, O’Rourke felt confident in the changes she’d made to their plan. Next stop was Congress. In the first go the team made the Level 4 finals, and things were looking bright. Then they took a turn for the worse.
“We had horrible luck at that show,” O’Rourke recalls. “Our best derby horse coliced and died at the first show. We had four horses in the Level 4 finals who were all performing great, but each one had something bad happen in their run.”
After a good run of bad luck at Congress, Pond Hill Performance Horses returned home to recalibrate, regroup, and prep for the Futurity. They weren’t finished yet.
“When you have a horse with great expectations, and it doesn’t pan out immediately…it’s easy to get discouraged. But we just knew. We just believed in him.”
"He's like nothing I've ridden before. He's electric. Not just the way he can do things, but the ease."
Kaci O'Rourke on Thiago's intense athleticism
Like a Fine-Tuned Machine
The 2021 stallion goes out every run and leaves his entire heart in the arena. Feely, intense, and powerful, Thiago loves his job and, according to O’Rourke, “is like that A+ student who can’t stand to get a B.” The horse is an extreme athlete and O’Rourke notes his natural ability to perform.
“He’s like nothing I’ve ridden before. He’s electric. Not just the way he can do things, but the ease.”
Going into the Futurity, O’Rourke, Daniels, and the Morgans still had an unwavering belief in this horse’s capabilities. It was down to just figuring out this fine-tuned machine. But O’Rourke isn’t one to back down after a couple of mishaps. She knew what to do. “I just sat down and thought about a plan to get him ready and to stick with it. And that’s what we did. We came up with a plan leading up to the futurity, and I didn’t veer from it.”
Stick to the Plan
As the team solidified their plan, Daniels suggested a few changes in tack and gear.
“Jack said, put your dull cloverleaf spurs on and so I did. And Thiago felt great, he took a breath and was relaxed.”
The reactive and highly motivated horse doesn’t need much in the way of encouragement, so O’Rourke decided to just take the pressure off.
“I had a plan of what I was going to do every day on that horse. I rode him several times around without spurs and in a hackamore. My goal was to just take all the pressure off and hangout.
“The first day we got there I rode him around without my spurs and definitely got some looks”, laughs O’Rourke as she recaps her Futurity strategy.
O’Rourke says that while she worked to keep the pressure off Thiago, her husband did the same for her.
“The night before the first go I felt the pressure a little bit, and Jack calmed me down. He said just go in and be smooth and soft. And everything went just like it should.”
Ask For Half
Before the first go, O’Rourke was chatting with another legendary rider, Trevor Dare. She was recounting to Dare that The Firemen is a reactive horse, and very intense. Dare empathized saying he had a horse with a similar personality, and that he learned asking for 100% was like asking for 150%. Dare’s advice? Ask for half. So that’s what O’Rourke did.
After their first go, and Thiago showcasing his incredible stop, O’Rourke rode out thinking, “wow, this horse is what I thought he was.” The Pond Hill team, and the Morgan’s were ecstatic with The Firemen’s performance, and O’Rourke says she was approached by multiple people, telling her she was going to win the entire thing.
“You know, you don’t want to get your hopes up. I know how hard the Futurity is to win and how lucky you have to be to win it, so I would tell them, ‘That’s great, but we’re just out here trying our best’”.
And their best was more than good enough to make history. Going into the semi-finals in a good spot to make the finals, O’Rourke said she rode in the arena telling herself, “Just don’t mess up.” Trying not to over-ask her wickedly athletic horse for too much, she was a stride late changing leads.
“I think everyone about fainted because it was a 1-point penalty. But then he stopped big three times, we marked an 18, and we were in the finals.”
Draw 24
Thiago enjoyed a day off, and O’Rourke and Daniels attended the draw party with hopes for a late draw. As the numbers were rattled off, it seemed only early numbers remained as O’Rourke walked to the front to get hers.
“I just knew that I was going to pick draw #1. But I walked up and it was #24 and after that I was so relieved and relaxed. I just felt like my horse was working like clockwork each ride, and everything was going the way it was supposed to go.”
The day of the final round, O’Rourke stuck to her plan. She took the pressure off.
“I tried to make sure everything I did was right. I got him out Saturday morning and loped him around without spurs in Barn 6. It was really quiet, and I just felt super calm. Then I sat with Jack, Peter, and Courtney until the finals started, watched the first few runs, then I went and pulled him out.”
The historic run was nothing short of spectacular. The arena was abuzz with excitement as O’Rourke, the only woman in the Level 4 field, and Thiago rode into the arena.
“I just remember thinking how loud it was and how I was waiting for him to get nervous because most horses would. And he didn’t. He kept checking back in with me and saying, ‘I’m here and it’s all good.’”
When the run was over and the glass ceiling shattered, O’Rourke and The Firemen marked a 229, and were crowned the NRHA Futurity Level 4 Open Champions.
"I looked up and saw people standing and I thought, how is this real? Then, I heard the score, and I was in shock. I was just amazed that this could happen to me." Kaci O'Rourke
Like a Dream
When asked if O’Rourke knew her run was going to win her the Futurity, she said, “Honestly, I had no idea, I knew it was really good, but it was such an out of body experience. I have never had a run like that where I thought it was all a dream.”
But as the pair finished their run, O’Rourke held a victorious fist in the air and stepped off to hug Thiago’s neck, the announcer read her score out loud. Upon hearing her score of 229, O’Rourke was brought to her knees by emotion, gratitude, and the feeling that this had to be a dream.
“I looked up and saw people standing and I thought, how is this real? Then, I heard the score, and I was in shock. I was just amazed that this could happen to me”, O’Rourke says humbly. “The realization that those people were cheering for us, I thought, am I going to wake up in a second or what?
“The weird thing was it was almost exactly what I pictured in my dreams. The moment was exactly like I had envisioned. I just never knew that it would happen.”
Bring on the Roses
As the audience exploded, the Jim Norick coliseum saw its last NRHA Futurity champion crowned as the championship roses were draped around Thiago’s neck.
While cheers echoed through the building, bouncing off the walls of the coliseum, O’Rourke and The Firemen stood together, the horse’s head in her hands.
“He’s always just been very soft. It’s one of the reasons we kept him a stud. After my run, the whole night I was just stroking his forelock because it was comforting to me. Not many studs would let you do that. He’s just so kind.”
You Have To Make It Happen
While O’Rourke’s name is written forever in the records of history, she humbly credits her success to hard work, a supportive team, special horses, and never giving up.
“I’ve always been a believer that the only time you can fail is when you give up. Don’t give up and you can’t fail.
“I’ve also believed that you have to make your own opportunities. I’ve never expected anyone to make opportunities for me”, advises O’Rourke.
And when it comes to shattering glass ceilings, O’Rourke says she always dreamed about it, but the reality is even better than she could have thought.
“I looked up to a lot of women when I was a little girl. I’d see a reiner and think, can I do that? Can I be that good? Obviously, you dream to be that, but you just don’t expect it by any means.”
O’Rourke notes that her husband, her mentors, and the people that believed in her, like Peter and Courtney Morgan, helped her achieve this goal.
“I am so thankful for everyone that paved the way for me to do that. I have had a lot of great mentors, women and men, that took the time to help me, and didn’t treat me differently because I was a girl, although I have experienced that as well. But I just never let those negative experiences register with me.”
Go For It
What advice does O’Rourke have for those who want to follow the trail she’s blazed?
“I would just encourage them to invest in themselves, don’t wait for someone else to give you that opportunity, go get it. Talk to those people you might be afraid to approach. If you want it, go ask for it. Go do it. And don’t be afraid to work hard for something.”
As the lights went down on the NRHA Futurity in the Jim Norick for the last time, O’Rourke took home not just the Championship title and a nice paycheck, but a legacy that would last forever. The journey of this special horse, talented rider, and devoted team proves that sometimes history isn’t just made—it’s redefined for generations to come.
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