Katsy Leeman – Reaching the Top in Divergent Disciplines
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By Erica Greathouse
Becoming a champion requires hours of practice, late nights, early mornings, and unwavering dedication.
Striving to become a champion in any discipline is a challenge, but one that’s not too daunting for 22 year-old Katsy Leeman, of Massillon, Ohio, who often takes on many events at a time. Leeman competes in Reining at top NRHA events and Western Pleasure at the top AQHA and NSBA events and is determined to be the best at both. Her commitment to compete at the highest level in both events requires a level of dedication that consumes every waking hour. Her hard work has been paying off this year as she gathers top honors in some of the most prestigious events across the country, in both Reining and Western Pleasure, sometimes in the same weekend!
Leeman doesn’t remember a life without horses. Her love for horses and competition started even earlier than she can remember. “I was so young when I started riding that I don’t even remember my first time. I would ride along with my mother on a big horse out in the field. To me, it felt like sitting on a big rocking chair, and I just couldn’t get enough,” she explains. As soon as Leeman was big enough to ride on her own, she would ride whenever she was given the chance. In fact, she was so horse crazy that her parents had to put a limit on the number of times she could ride per day. “I would ride my pony as many times as I could. My dad finally told me that he would only saddle my pony one time a day, so I had to learn how to climb up on the fence and get on my pony bareback. I would spend an hour or two catching this pony and then I would ride for as long as I was allowed,” she recalls.
Katsy has been a part of the evolution of Leeman Farm and has helped the program grow into the successful operation it is today. “My Grandpa Fritz and Grandma Carole have had the farm for forty years now. However, they haven’t always had a fancy, world-class facility. When they first started, they had a five-acre lot with a few ponies, a little field, and no arena. Eventually, they bought a plot of land that used to be a cow farm and developed that into their first breeding farm. They started from a backyard recreational horse facility and have continued to get bigger and bigger as we have become more and more involved in the industry,” she says. The Leemans once small backyard enterprise has now developed into one of the most reputable breeding farms in the industry. The Leeman’s two World Champion producing stallions, Willy Be Invited and How Bout This Cowboy, have recently been joined at Leeman Farm by the legendary stallions, Invitation Only and Lazy Loper.
After many ponies that put Leeman through her paces, her grandpa and grandma invested in their first Quarter Horses and it was not long before the show bug took hold. Leeman fondly remembers practicing with her horses in the field at her home. “There were always shows right near our house on Sundays, and I could hear the announcer making the gait calls. I would practice walking, trotting, and loping when the announcer asked for each gait.” After attending a few local open shows, Leeman entered her first Quarter Horse show, the All American Quarter Horse Congress, with her homebred mare, To Snazzy with Love, whom she affectionately called “Katie.” The big show atmosphere and pressure of the Congress might have been too much for some to handle, especially at such a young age, but for Katsy it sparked a fire that has continued to drive her to compete at the top level to this day. “I’ve always been a competitive person. Once I started showing, I was very committed and always up for a challenge. I just wanted to show and become a better exhibitor and show each horse to his/her fullest potential,” she explains. “I was always ready for the next challenge. When I was in walk-trot, I couldn’t wait to lope. I would always lope out of the line-up at the end of the class as my trainer yelled at me from the end of the arena to stop,” she says. She explains that she was always ready to move up into the next division and wanted to compete with the best. “When I was in walk-trot, I couldn’t wait to lope. When I was in novice youth, I couldn’t wait to show in the 13-and-under. When I was in 13-and-under, I couldn’t wait to compete against the older kids,” she laughs.
Leeman enjoys the challenge of mastering different events and has always multi-tasked at the barn. “Even when we were showing heavy on the AQHA circuit, I always had ponies and mustangs on the side. I like to have projects and teach horses new things,” she says. Her love of new events and new challenges is what eventually drew her to the Reining pen after many years of competition in Western Pleasure and all-around events. “I’d always seen the Reining at the Congress and it peaked my interest,” she explains. “My first attempt at Reining was with a pony that had flunked out of a lesson program and was given to me by a friend to try to make something out of him. I would ride him and do Reining patterns at home, even though he didn’t have sliders or a turnaround. I really thought I could teach it to him, and I ran pattern after pattern trying to make him into a reiner,” she says. With Reining at the back of her mind, Katsy went on to the University of Auburn and competed in Horsemanship for their equestrian team. After learning that the team needed more reiners, Katsy told her coach she would go home over the summer, get some formal lessons, and return ready to compete in Reining for the team in the fall. Upon her arrival home, she told her grandpa the plan. “I told him that I just needed a reiner to practice on so I could compete at the collegiate level. I told him I wouldn’t show the reiner, but I think he knew where this was headed,” laughs Katsy. They bought a reiner suitable for a beginner from Shawn Flarida and, true to her grandpa’s expectations, she ended up showing the horse that summer before she went back to school. Flarida saw a lot of promise in Leeman’s reining ability and talked her grandpa into getting her a better horse to show in NRHA competition. After Leeman graduated from the University of Auburn, her passion for Reining stuck with her.
Recently, Leeman won the Level One and Level Two Non-Pro Class at the NRHA Derby with her stallion, Footwork Revolution, also known as “Bernie.” Leeman and Bernie have been a force to be reckoned with since their first competition, but things really came together at the NRHA Derby. “He is a lot of horse, and I never really felt like I had stepped on the gas pedal until the Derby. After the last run at the Derby, we were tied to win and decided to do a run-off to break the tie. He ran even better in the run-off, and it was almost as though he was waiting for me to step up and ask him for more. We ended up winning the run-off and it was our best run yet,” she says. After her Derby success, Leeman jumped right on a plane headed for the Tom Powers Futurity. She arrived Saturday morning and was scheduled to show in the Western Pleasure Super Sires class with her horse, How Bout at Midnight. Also known as “Jack,” he is the reigning AQHA World Champion 2 year-old Western Pleasure horse by their stallion, How Bout This Cowboy and out of her show mare Onlygoodtilmidnight. “I got to the Tom Powers with a couple hours to get ready before we showed, after not riding Jack since the Congress when he was two. Even though we were getting ready to show in a slow class like pleasure, we were preparing at Nascar speed.” Gil Galyean, Katsy’s Western Pleasure trainer, had the gelding prepared and she was able to successfully navigate him to the Reserve Championship.
When asked about the differences between the two events, Leeman is quick to point out that no matter what event she is showing in, the concept is the same. “No matter what, I am showing the horse to the best of his/her ability despite the discipline. Even though the maneuvers of the class may be different, the goal is always the same,” she says. The one thing that is different between the two classes is the way she uses her legs. “With reiners, I keep my legs off when I stop the horse. With pleasure horses, I wrap my legs around them to stop. When the horses are moving, I use my legs similarly with both. It just takes a little getting used to, but after a while, it becomes second nature.”
Consistent with her desire to pursue new challenges, Leeman admits that she is sometimes out of her comfort zone at the high level Reining events. Still, she pushes herself to compete with the best. “Sometimes, I doubt my ability in Reining. I wonder if I can compete with people who have been riding and showing reiners their whole lives. However, I find that just like with Western Pleasure, I am better when I enter the higher level classes and push myself,” she says. Both events offer similar adrenaline rushes even though they are completely different disciplines. “I get the same rush when I am doing a Reining pattern as I do when they are about to call out the placings in a really big Western Pleasure class. Even though I’m pretty laid back, the anticipation seems to build when I’m on a great horse. My legs get shaky and I get excited when things are going my way,” she says.
When asked about the future, Leeman says she will begin working for the family business and balance working with her demanding show career. She also hints that breeding top Reiners might be the next endeavor for Leeman Farm. “Grandpa is always buying up some more land and building more pastures. I would say it won’t be too long before we have a few great Reining sires and mares and hopefully some homebred Reining winners,” she says. One thing that’s for sure is the fact that Leeman will always be looking for new challenges and will continue to strive to be the best in every event. “Showing in many different disciplines means having a crazy and busy life that not many people understand. I am always running from barn to barn, riding horses, and taking care of them, but I love every minute and every challenge and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
