Kylie McLean and her 5-year-old gelding, DMC Rey N Playboy by Reynshine, topped the inaugural Cowgirl Steer Stopping at the 2024 Riata winning $10,326.

The Canadian-cowgirl-turned-Arizona-resident was 10th callback aboard DMC Rey N Playboy and fourth callback on DT Doc Holly Day. McLean missed her fourth callback short round steer but cashed in on her 10th callback run to be 17.17 on three.

McLean practiced stopping on DMC Rey N Playboy at home, but this was the first place they entered since she purchased him two months ago (and since this was the first place holding a timed, three-head steer stopping in recent memory on a major stage).

“He’s a 5-year-old Reynshine that I bought two months ago,” McLean said. “I found him on Facebook, and he’s really good to head on.”

The Arizona cowgirl says she isn’t a fast roper, but the 4.84-second run she clocked in the short round says otherwise.

“I’m a catcher,” McLean said. “I thought, well, if the opportunity’s there, I’m going to take it and see how it works out. And it just worked out.”

McLean has been roping on the 5-year-old gelding at the Riata all week, but so far, has only found luck in the Cowgirl Steer Stopping.  

“On the first steer he stopped, but he didn’t stop very good,” McLean said. The second one, he was kind of like, okay, I kind of know what I’m doing. And the third one, he worked really good. He scores good and runs hard, he’s a kind boy. He lets me do whatever.”

The Perfect Storm

McLean trains rope horses for a living so when she rode DMC Rey N Playboy for the first time, she knew she needed to buy him without even roping a steer.

“I saw him on Facebook right before we left for the Spicer Gripp,” McLean said. “I called the kid who had him, Raider Mendenhall, who has a place up in Big Forks, Montana. I called him and asked if he still had him and he said yes.”

The Arizona cowgirl told Mendenhall if he still had the horse in two weeks when she got back from the Spicer Gripp, she would fly to Big Forks and try him.

“On the Friday before we headed home, I called him and told him I was still interested and he told me he still had him,” McLean said. “So, I booked my flight for the next Wednesday and told him not to sell him before I got up there.”

The gelding being in Big Forks played into McLean’s favor. Her mom, only lives four hours from Big Forks in Alberta, Canada. McLean’s mom met her in Big Forks to hang out and try the horse.  

“My mom drove down,” McLean said. “My hairdresser, that I absolutely love moved to Big Forks two years ago. So when I went up there, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I get to see my mom, get my hair done and maybe buy a horse, this is great!”

When McLean showed up to try the horse, they didn’t have any steers to run.

“When I showed up to try him, they told me they didn’t have steers,” McLean said. “So I loped some circles and he was nice and quiet. He was so nice I didn’t even need to rope on him. If I like their stride, then I’m going to do what I want to do on them.”

As fate would have it, McLean ended up buying DMC Rey N Playboy.

“It worked out so perfect,” McLean said. “The kids (Raider Mendenhall and family) go to school in Provo, so they drove him from Big Forks down to Provo. They were going to the first University of Albuquerque game and told me they could meet me in Cortez. So, I met him in Cortez, which is only 50 minutes from my house and got the horse. It was all a meant to be deal.”

Family Ties

McLean grew up riding horses on her families ranch in Nanton, Alberta.

“My mom halter broke a bunch of colts when she was pregnant with me,” McLean said. “She always said she just wanted me to be a little cowgirl. She had me on a horse before I could even walk. At three I had an old horse that I could put a bareback pad on and go ride. My mom always said she didn’t know what I was doing, but I was gone, on the back of a horse, all day.”

McLean has been dreaming of making a career out of riding and training horses her entire life.

“My mom brought me to Arizona in 2003,” McLean said. “After we spent that week in January roping outside, I went home and wrote down a goal that I wanted to live in the United States and train horses for a living.”

It may have taken McLean 10 years to achieve her goal that she wrote down that day, but she achieved it.

“I found a partner down there, Roger Sorenson,” McLean said. “He sent me a horse to ride. Then, I had a horse come up for sale. I asked him if he wanted to go in as partners, buying and selling horses. He asked if that’s what I wanted to do and I told him that was the biggest dream of my life.”

With the help of Sorenson, McLean got started in Bar Diamond.

“I was going back and forth (to Canada) too much and having to pay GST on all those horses,” McLean said. “Roger asked if I wanted to live with him in the United States and I told him that was my biggest dream in the world. So, he stepped in and sponsored me and I moved to Arizona. That’s when my biggest dream came true.”