A test of skill

Since he first heard he'd been chosen to participate in the American Quarter Horse Association Youth World Cup in New South Wales, Australia, Brock Murphy has been practicing even more than usual.

He can't bring his own horse to the competition in June and July, so he'll have to ride an animal that might be trained differently or have a less agreeable personality than he's used to dealing with. The competition is held in a different country every two years, so people in the local area donate the use of their horses for the program's duration.

"So we'll be on random horses that we've never seen before. They could be wild," Murphy said. "I don't know what to expect, to be honest."

Only five riders are chosen for each country's team, and this year's event has 13 teams from around the world.

The horse Murphy ends up with at the Tamworth competition also might be younger and lack the kind of training it takes to seat a rider comfortably.

Brock Murphy rides his quarter horse, Ed, on Thursday in the pasture where his longhorn cows and miniature donkeys graze.Laura Simon

"The younger they are, usually the less training they have, so they don't exactly love having a person on their back," he said.

To prepare for the challenge, Murphy visits a trainer in Advance, Missouri, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and rides different horses there, while on Mondays and Wednesdays, he rides the horse on his family's 50-acre spread off State Highway Y in Jackson. Then, on the weekends, the 17-year-old Saxony Lutheran High School junior drives three and a half hours to Birch Tree, Missouri, to ride and train some more.

"I try to ride as many horses as I possibly can wherever I go," said Murphy, who is vice president of the American Quarter Horse Youth Association.

His horse in Birch Tree is much younger than the one in Jackson, and he said he uses it frequently in competitions. It's also a cutting horse, which means Murphy directs it to separate a cow from its herd and keep it separated.

Murphy has been riding since he was 4 years old, but even so, dealing with an unknown animal can be tricky and is just one more way to test a rider's skill.

"Every horse is going to have a unique feel and a unique training method," he said.

But if there's anything Murphy knows best, it's quarter horses, which he described as the largest horse breed within the equine industry and the easiest -- at least for him -- to handle.

"[That's] because it's probably the most versatile kind of horse and it's easier to get along with," he said.

Although he said he'd like to try his luck at the World Cup in the cutting part of the competition, another team member has more experience with the technique.

"I've only been doing the cutting for less than a year and there's one girl on the team who's been doing it for eight years," he said. "I've been doing the reining much longer."

Reining is a process in which a rider guides a horse through a pattern of circles, spins and stops, according to the U.S. Equestrian Federation, and it's meant to be a tight, precise performance.

Either way, Murphy said he's excited about the opportunity to showcase his skills at the premiere horse-riding event in the world.

"I've been wanting to go there for a long time and now the cherry on top is that I get to show horses there," he said.

Murphy's brother, Tyler, also went to the World Cup in 2010. That year, the competition was held in Oklahoma City.

To qualify for this year's competition, Brock Murphy not only had to fill out a long written application, but he had to make a two-minute video that showed him riding several different horses, and he needed two letters of recommendation.

But for a young man who first started buying and selling mini-longhorn cattle in gradeschool, who soon graduated to standard longhorns, who has his own website, and who recently was interviewed by USA Today for his high-profile political activism, it's all just business as usual.

"It's a lot of fun," he said.

ljones@semissourian.com

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