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On The Cover

 

Jessie Kuka

Did Someone Say Tomboy?

 

Minnesota Cowgirl grew up competing with boys.
Now that she’s all grown up, she’s taking on all competitors

 

Just like the pioneer cowgirls of the Old West whose birthright with horses was as natural as taking their first steps, Jessie Kuka can “ride the fur” off any horse, turn a barrel on a dime, and hand you back change. The Minnesota tomboy turned cowgirl has not only captured the attention of the game’s top competitors, but also three world records and a bunch of national titles.

 

Early On

“My grandpa bought me a pony before I was even born,” she says. She doesn’t remember anything about that horse, but she knows that she felt an equine connection from her earliest days.

 

“A good horse is almost like a best friend,” says Jessie. “You can just go out there and ride them all day. And they’re so forgiving, so good to be around.” And there were a bunch of horses around her family’s place; it was natural that she’d learn to ride. “I never had any formal training in riding horses. It was just something that came to me. I guess it was something I was born to do.”

 

Others in the family were born to the same thing. Her parents, Mike and Bonnie. Jessie’s two brothers, Mike and Tommy. And her first cousins—top riders Chad and Charlie and Shaun Little—who grew up not far away. The kids all played together when they were young. Jessie was the only girl, so she had to learn to do, well, boy stuff–wrestle and fight to keep up: “I think I’m pretty tough.”

 

The youngsters also put together their own informal riding contests, including running poles, team penning, a little barrel racing. Obviously, it must have prepped them for big time competitions, considering the success the Littles and Kukas have enjoyed in mounted shooting.

 

Some friends showed them that sport around 2000. Jessie (and her whole family) competed in the first match she saw—which was also the first shoot in Minnesota. Her Junior competitors included cousin Chad and brother Mike. Success was not immediate. “I think I missed a lot. I don’t think I placed real high. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

 

Still, she was hooked. Jessie rode Juniors for the next couple of years before making her move.

 

Up the Ladder

She never rode L1; instead, Jessie became an L3 in 2003. The weekend after taking that step, she won the class at the CMSA Nationals in St. Louis.

 

And she had more success, taking the ’05 Eastern Eliminator title (on board Sakota, now a point champ for Whitney Vickers). But there were problems. Jessie remembers, “For a long time, I couldn’t get that 10th balloon. I think I was just trying to over run things, was just trying for speed and I wasn’t too accurate.” She tried a couple of different horses, but the fit wasn’t quite right—especially for her experience and talent level.

 

That changed in the spring of 2005. “I got a Palomino named Poco, and he helped my shooting quite a bit. He’s so consistent in the patterns. You didn’t have to worry about anything. You’d just go out there and just shoot. He’d put you in the right place at the right time.”

 

Poco had a background in team penning, roping and barrels. He was so good that she had to share him with brother Mike (and sometimes with brother Tommy and her dad, too). Jessie says that Poco ran like he was on autopilot—he knew just what to do, allowing her to focus on shooting. The improvement was noticeable and fast. So fast that within 18 months, she’d gone beyond what Poco could offer. Jessie needed more speed to reach the top. And the horse was getting older.

 

In 2006, her mom found Rico, a 16 hands, six-year-old Quarter Horse bought for the elder Mike Kuka. The kids had other ideas, though, and started riding Rico around the farm and at competitions.

 

Jessie took her turn in the summer of ’07. She got her wish; Rico was not an autopilot horse. Be careful what you ask for: “We had some issues to begin with. Sometimes he’d blow the right turn.” They worked their way through that. And they found the speed they were looking for.

 

The team won the 2007 World Point Colt Eliminator Championship, as well as the 2008 National Colt Eliminator (setting a couple of records in the process). She topped more records at last year’s Eastern Colt Eliminator.

 

Going for the Top

But Jessie says there’s still room for improvement—from both of them. She’s had to overcome some confidence issues: “When I get to a course, especially a condensed one, I get it in my head that I just can’t get off those five shots quick enough. "It’s like I get out there and my finger freezes.”

 

But Jessie Kuka is poised to break through to the very top of the sport. She feels it; so do others. Her goal is to be the biggest winner in mounted shooting—and friend/competitor Whitney Vickers thinks she can do it.

 

“If anybody can win an Overall World Championship, she could,” says Whitney. “She’s determined, she tries
her hardest and she really gets into it. She’s one of the best, I think.”

 

So Jessie continues to work on her mounted shooting. And she lives the life so well suited for her—training and selling horses, giving riding lessons, stuff that will keep her around the animals she loves so much.

 

It’s a life not unlike those of the pioneer cowgirls of America’s rugged West. Jessie Kuka carries the tradition.
 

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