Diamond In The Rough – Double Tapn
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178 – March/April, 2025
By Elizabeth Arnold
It’s the stuff of legends in the horse world—taking an unknown, unproven, and inexpensive horse and transforming them into a champion. Call it a rags to riches tale, call it finding a diamond in the rough, call it a Cinderella story. No matter what you call it, it’s not easy to achieve. But don’t tell that to amateur Katie Fox who has done just that not once, but twice.
Opportunity Knocks
Katie Fox’s first go-round with developing an unlikely champion came several years ago when she bought an attractive buckskin gelding named Seismic Reaction or “Dusky” out of a sale pen and went on to win an AQHA world championship in Ranch Riding in 2018. Katie still owns him. They brought home golden globes in both 2021 and 2022 in Amateur Ranch Trail. In 2024 they earned multiple top ten titles at the AQHA World Show in the ranch events.
Over the past two years, Katie and her father, Dan Fox, have seen their second diamond in the rough achieve phenomenal success in the ranch events. Double Tapn or “LJ” has amassed over $125,000 in lifetime earnings and earned multiple world championships after Katie purchased him as a failed reining prospect.
Katie’s dad credits Katie’s eye and horsemanship abilities for her success in finding and developing raw talent. “Katie has a knack for horses. Double Tapn is her second diamond in the rough. She found her first–Seismic Reaction–at a horse sale. Ten months later he was a world champion ranch riding horse,” says Dan.
When opportunity knocked again in the spring of 2021, a few years after the success with Seismic Reaction, Katie was there to answer. As Katie tells it, “One of my good friends is an equine chiropractor and he works on a lot of cutters and reiners. He called me because he had a Little Joe Cash gelding that was a reject reiner. He told me he was a cool mover, but they were probably going to send him to go rope. I told him to send me a video and I bought LJ off that video.”
Katie says that she was drawn to the horse’s movement and expression. “Dynamic is a good word to describe him,” she says. “He can do a lot of things most horses can’t. He’s really athletic and turns around well. He’s also a beautiful lead changer.”
After buying him, Katie took him to a show in Arizona to ride around and began to realize the young gelding’s potential. She says, “He was talented, just quirky. I knew he could make a big-time horse.” At that point, Katie called in friend and trainer Bud Lyon and asked him to take the horse. “Bud has done amazing with him, and he’s had him since the beginning,” Katie says.
Polishing the Stone
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178 – March/April, 2025
