For a national audience, Kindyl Scruggs might be a new name, but ask any barrel racer in the Eastern United States and Canada about the pint-sized athlete who raises pint-sized horses, and they’ll quickly let you know that she’s a fixture at the top of major races and rodeos across the land.
The Southhaven, Mississippi, native struck big earlier this year at the Women’s Rodeo World Championship event in Arlington, Texas, winning $61,000. In addition to her WCRA success, Scruggs has made 10 trips to the International Finals Rodeo, winning the International Professional Rodeo Association Title in 2016 and picking up countless accolades throughout her years with the association.
Until her big win in Arlington in May, Scruggs was a logistics coordinator for a plumbing company by day.
“The $60,000 helped me be financially stable enough to quit my job and start riding horses for a living.”
Kindyl Scruggs
Getting started in barrel racing
Kindyl Scruggs didn’t grow up in a rodeo family, or with horses, for that matter.
“When I was 2, I asked my parents for a pony, and they bought me one,” Scruggs said, laughing. “No one in my family had ever ridden horses. My mom met (barrel racer and horse trainer) Darlene Scott and convinced her to give me lessons when I was 8, and I kind of just went crazy after that.”
Pint-Sized horses for a pint-sized cowgirl
Scruggs never truly grew out of ponies. She raised her pony stud, Jack, from a weanling and has won IPRA money on him.
“I ran him at a couple of rodeos this year and won the Sauget, Illinois, IPRA rodeo on him,” Scruggs said. “I have a whole herd of pony broodmares that I breed. I haven’t got to keep any of his offspring yet. If somebody offers to buy them, I just let them go as weanlings. I raised a half-brother to him, so I’ll have another pony stud by a different father than Jack. I also own his mother, so I have a whole pony herd down here. I never intended it to become what it has, but it’s really cool.”
Aside from the ponies, Scruggs made a name for herself on a handful of… full-size horses.
“In 2016, I won the world on Money Red Down Home, Bull,” Scruggs said. “I ran him at the WCRA event in Corpus Christi in 2022. He’s had knee trouble his whole life but fractured his knee in 2021 or 2022, so he’s turned out in the pasture now. For the past couple of years, I’ve ridden Melrose Chrome. I won second at the Guthrie event on him in January and the women’s finals in May.”
WCRA meets IPRA
Scruggs has been among the many athletes who have benefited from the IPRA and WCRA joining forces. All the money she won at the WCRA Stampede at the E counted towards the IPRA world standings, starting her 2024 IPRA season with $10,750, just in WCRA earnings.
“For me, the partnership cuts out having to go to a lot of the smaller rodeos,” Scruggs said. “When I won that $10,000 that counts for the standings, it made it where I didn’t have to go to so many rodeos all year. I rodeoed less this year than I probably ever have since I made my first IFR. I personally don’t see any reason not to nominate WCRA. It’s great money, and you don’t have to invest a lot to win at those segment rodeos potentially.”
For those who only rodeo part-time, WCRA provides excellent opportunities to win big money without considerable time or financial investment.
“I think WCRA is great for people with full-time jobs because you can take off for one of the segment rodeos,” Scruggs said. “You can take your vacation, and you only have to miss a few workdays to win $20,000 in one week potentially. I think that’s a big deal for someone with a full-time job. You only have to take off once a year to win a lot of money, and you don’t have to enter extra rodeos to try to make the finals when you can count that money towards the IPRÅ. Between January and August, quitting my job made it a lot easier for me since I didn’t have to rodeo as hard during the week.”
IPRA members can nominate the rodeos they are already planning to attend towards WCRA events. All athletes earning money at WCRA events can count up to $10,000 of those earnings towards the IPRA World Standings. To learn more about the WCRA/IPRA co-sanction, click here.
