Kindyl Scruggs and Melrose Chrome ran the fastest time of the Progressive Rounds at the 2024 Stampede at The E with a 15.217 Jan. 6, winning Progressive Round 2 and punching their tickets to the Triple Crown of Rodeo Round.
Scruggs, a Southaven, Mississippi, native, saw improvement from her 15.457 the night prior, adding to her excitement.
“It was really good,” Scruggs said. “My horse was a lot freer tonight than he has been, so I’m just really happy with it. It was honest and it was smooth.”
The Underdog
The 9-year-old gelding she calls “Chrome” is proving his worth, but it wasn’t always planned for him to stay in Scruggs’ herd.
“He does like the Lazy E,” Scruggs said. “Last year we struggled a little bit. My good horse got hurt; he has had knee troubles his whole life—he’s pigeon toed. I got this horse because a friend of mine told me whenever he got posted on Facebook for sale that she thought I could get by him if I took my time. He was not an intentional keep—I got him to fix and sell, and I’m glad I kept him now.”
The team has come a long ways from where they started, given Chrome had a tendency to duck the second barrel with his previous owner.
“I actually traded some colts for him, so I guess you could kind of call him an underdog,” Scruggs explained. “I got him because he was ducking the second barrel with the kid who rode him. I’ve had him for about probably two and a half years now, so it took us a long time to get everything together, but it’s finally coming together.”
Pays to buy back
The 2016 IPRA World Champion didn’t get off on the right foot at the Lazy E, hitting the second barrel in the Qualifying Round Jan. 3. Despite her original plan, Scruggs decided to buy back for a second chance and the Progressive Rounds.
“I told myself if I didn’t make it back in the long round, I wasn’t buying back,” Scruggs admitted. “And I hit the second barrel, and I had to go around it. I would’ve been third in the long round and I was like, Now I have to buy back.”
The decision paid off as they were a 15.199—the fastest time of the entire week—to win the Buy-Back Round and claim her spot in the Progressive Rounds.
With their win in the second Progressive Round, Scruggs will join Stephanie Fryar, Julie Plourde, Ryann Pedone, Cari Titsworth, Skyla Peters, Jordan Driver and Tara Seaton in the Triple Crown of Rodeo Round.
Scruggs works full time as a secretary at a plumbing company, so the nature of the WCRA aligns with her priorities nicely.
“I have a full-time job, so [the WCRA] gives me an opportunity to run for more money with less runs,” Scruggs said. “I also go to the IPRA Rodeos, and I can nominate my weekend rodeos so I don’t have to be gone during the week. It counts for kind of two different things, so it makes it easier to go. I can take off a couple of weeks outta the year.”
Results
Progressive Round 2: 1. Kindyl Scruggs, 15.217, $1,500.00; 2. Stephanie Fryar, 15.39, $1,000.00; 3. Skyla Peters, 15.421, $750.00; 4. Cari Titsworth, 15.422, $350.00.
