Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi has remained competitive at the highest level of barrel racing for more than two decades, doing so on multiple horses and across different eras of the sport.

A three-time WPRA World Champion and an 18-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier, Pozzi Tonozzi first made the NFR in 2003 and has continued qualifying across more than two decades. Her career spans multiple eras of the sport, from a time when winning runs were slower and the road game looked different, to today’s incentive-driven, breeding-powered landscape. Through every shift, she has remained competitive.

Watch: Brittany Tonozzi discusses breeding program and more on the EQN SportsDesk.

A Self-Built Start

Pozzi Tonozzi did not grow up in a horse or rodeo family. Her path into barrel racing started the hard way, through persistence rather than proximity. As a kid, she circled classified ads and asked her parents repeatedly for a horse, eventually convincing them to take a chance.

Her first experiences were grassroots in every sense. She hauled to local playdays, learned alongside her dad, and figured things out through trial and error. Those early lessons stayed with her.

“My first (time training a horse) was awful,” she has said. “You have to mess one up so you know what not to do the next time.”

That mindset became foundational. Instead of shortcuts, Pozzi learned by doing, a trait that would later define how she trained, bred, and managed horses at the highest level.

She made her first National Finals Rodeo in 2003, launching a professional career built on staying power rather than short peaks.

Evolving With the Sport

As barrel racing grew faster and deeper, Pozzi Tonozzi evolved with it. She competed through an era when a solid run aboard a fast horse and staying upright could win a rodeo, and into a period where the same time might not earn a check.

Rather than relying on buying finished horses, she transitioned early into training and developing her own. That shift was born out of necessity, but it became an advantage. Over time, it laid the groundwork for a program built around familiarity, repeatability, and long-term planning.

“I think the game has gotten tougher because of the breeding,” she has said. “There are just so many good horses now.”

The Horses That Defined the Career

Pozzi Tonozzi’s career is closely tied to the horses that carried her through different stages, each one marking a distinct chapter.

One of the most influential was Yeah He’s Firen, known throughout the industry as Duke. The gelding became a cornerstone of her rodeo career, earning AQHA and WPRA Horse of the Year honors and establishing himself as a horse she could count on night after night. Duke’s consistency and heart anchored her through a critical stretch on the road.

When Duke was retired, it was a deliberate decision, reflective of how Pozzi Tonozzi manages her horses.

As her focus shifted toward building her own pipeline, the mares became the stars of it all. Read more below.

• Brittany’s “Babes”: The Streakin Six Babe Story
• No, Seriously. It’s Brittany’s Buckle: Tonozzis Have $865,000 Week in Guthrie at Pink Buckle 2023
• The Barrel Horse Bloodlines We’re Watching in the Teton Ridge Absolute Dispersal Sale

Pozzi Tonozzi has spoken about the advantage of knowing a horse from birth, understanding tendencies, strengths, and limits long before they show up under pressure.

Building One of the Sport’s Top Breeding Programs

Over the past five-plus years, Pozzi Tonozzi has established herself as one of the top breeders in the country. Nearly every horse she competes on today at aged events has been bred, raised, and trained within her program. Others that she campaigns on the ProRodeo trail are developed and campaigned for owners who trust her system.

She and husband Garrett Tonozzi manage a herd of more than 50 head, starting young horses with an emphasis on foot placement, clarity, and confidence rather than heavy drilling. As horses mature, training is adjusted to fit each individual.

Pozzi Tonozzi credits familiarity with mares and bloodlines as one of her greatest advantages. That knowledge allows her to produce horses that consistently show up across futurities, derbies, incentives, and rodeo arenas, often within the same season.

Results That Span Eras

The numbers reflect the scope of her career. Pozzi Tonozzi is a three-time world champion, an 18-time NFR qualifier, and a two-time NFR Average Champion. She ranks second on the WPRA’s all-time career earnings list, with more than $3.6 million earned, and holds the single-season earnings record after a $496,499 campaign in 2023.

That season, she won the world title by a significant margin and set a new regular-season earnings benchmark, reinforcing her ability to compete at the very top while managing a growing breeding operation.

Still Moving Forward

As her daughter, Tinlee begins showing promise at youth events herself as a barrel racer, Tonozzi continues to balance big career goals and motherhood. In the arena, preparation, accountability, and horse care continue to guide her decisions, whether she is managing seasoned rodeo horses or bringing along the next generation.

A Career Defined by Consistency

• Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi Sweeps Mountain States Circuit Barrel Racing Honors 2024
• Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi Clinches 2023 WPRA World Championship with 2 NFR Rounds Remaining
• SR Industry Titan is Commanding Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi’s ProRodeo Troops in 2024
• No, Seriously. It’s Brittany’s Buckle: Tonozzis Have $865,000 Week in Guthrie at Pink Buckle 2023

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi’s story is not defined by one season or one horse. It is defined by consistency, by staying competitive as the sport changed, and by building a program capable of producing horses and results year after year.