Circle KI Ranch

04/25/2024

If you are looking for riding lessons, please read the following information in the photo.
Thank you.

09/17/2023

Arena hasn’t looked this good in a year! 🥰
Thank God we had some heavy rain!

07/16/2023

If you’re wanting to buy a performance horse, expect to get maintenance done!
They are athletes and give you 110% every time. You’re not going to get away with the bare minimum if you want them to continue giving 110%!

Truer words have never been spoken! Read my European friends.

07/15/2023

Throwback to the Bloomers barrel race in Fairfield, Texas in 2014! Shorty and I were winning the Open 4D all the way up until the very last runner, Jolene Montgomery, came in and smoked the lead time!

That day was wild for sure! When we got there, it was 100 degrees when a huge storm and what seemed to be a tornado blew through there, dropping the temperature to 30 degrees that night! We toughed it out and sat through the entire race until 3am on the bleachers seeing if my win would hold. I may have been slightly bummed at the time, mostly because I was freezing, but this is one of the best core memories I have of racing!

07/12/2023

I want to talk about something a little different today that is just as monumentally important than being the best rider you can be:
Find a good coach and one that speaks your language in all areas.

Literally ANYONE can slap a logo together, open up their barn and call themselves a coach. That does not mean that they SHOULD be teaching other people.
Get recommendations and do your research on their experience with riding. If you want to become the best rider you can possibly be, you want someone who has been in the game for a long, long time and who has an overabundance of expertise to pass on to you.

But not only this, you want someone who can speak on your level. I've learned a lot in my lesson days, but my biggest lesson was learning that I can sit there and yell at someone to do something all day long, but you are literally speaking in a foreign language to them. They can have zero idea what you are telling them to do, and even when they get it, they are still guessing at what they are doing right.

Get up on your horse, explain, and demonstrate. Progress happens so much faster that way! Be a better coach so your kids can become better riders. I've always told my kids: My goal is for you to eventually surpass me and kick my butt at races - not just on the clock, but on form, on cleanliness, on any technicality you can think of. If that doesn't happen, I haven't done my job.

If I was training to only get them to a certain level before saying that's enough, shame on me.

It goes both ways!
Riders - Research your coach and make sure they are the type of trainer you need.
Coaches - Be the best you can possibly be at your job! Give examples. Demonstrate. Break things down. Don't stand around in the arena yelling at your kids to do something when they have no idea what you're trying to tell them!

07/11/2023

Throwback day 2!
This was just a small portion of Jeanine's girls. I'm 4th from the left with the pink hair. 😂
This was at the Willis arena at one of our many barrel races we attended. Just like my former students, I walked in your shoes, with the same gooseneck trailer! Horses pictured from left to right are Flip, Shy, and Zip.
I miss these days so much!

07/10/2023

Lets have a throwback. :)
Shortman at the 2013 ANHA ShootOut! To put it into perspective for my former students, I was around your age at this time. ;)

This was the year I really started to blossom and progress in barrel racing, as I had only done it for two years at this point!
My muscles were still figuring out how to relearn riding from a different discipline (jumping), and they were finally changing.

(I know it has a Do Not Copy stamp on it, I promise I purchased this photo but this was before digital download was popular and I only have a print of it. 🤣)

06/19/2023

Hi all, this is Kayla Irwin.
I realize my last post was in January and I have gotten many messages asking for lessons.
I wanted to officially post that I no longer run a lesson business and am not publicly offering these services anymore due to personal circumstances.
This page will still remain live for all the memories posted on here. There are so many.

12/30/2022

With the amount of rain we got last night and the projected rain on Monday, we’re likely cancelled for lessons on the 4th. ☹️