Photos by Taylor Gilkey
A fiery little pistol from the Frontier Rodeo Company, Gunfire is a bareback horse that can get a guy to 90.
In fact, she recently helped Mason Clements earn a championship title in San Antonio, where he scored 91 points on Gunfire in the final round. The year before, Caleb Bennett went 93.5 on her at the Cody Stampede, and she got Kaycee Field 90 points at the Arcadia All-Fla Championship Rodeo in 2018. Seth Lee Hardwick has ridden Gunfire twice for top scores of 89.5 and 90 points.
“If you stump your toe, she will buck you off, but she will take you to the pay window too,” says Heath Stewart, General Manager for Frontier Rodeo.
Stewart regards the young buckskin mare to be one of the company’s most promising up-and-comers — which is why she’s been bumped up to the “A-team,” as the ranch hands jokingly refer to their handful of top performers, spending her time in the company of renowned NFR horses such as Medicine Woman, Maple Leaf, and Full Baggage.
“Gunfire is a lot younger than Medicine Woman and them. The past two years, she really came on,” Stewart says.
But she hasn’t let success go to her head. When she isn’t competing, Gunfire is playful and sweet tempered. “She’ll come up and eat out of your hand,” Stewart says. “She’s got a real good personality. She’s not wild; she’s very gentle.”
Watch Mason Clements’ 91-point ride on Gunfire for the win at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo:
See Gunfire compete again this weekend at AT&T Stadium during RFD-TV’s The American Finals. You can watch all of the action live on TV on The Cowboy Channel and RFD-TV, listen to it on Rural Radio Channel 147 on SiriusXM or stream it on RFD-TV Now.