"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." – Martin Luther King Jr.
An Illinois farmer’s daughter, Karen Stallings, rode her first pony at age five. “Snowball” did one thing and only one thing: he bucked Karen off repeatedly, sending her flying in the air…but Karen was determined to ride. Her family was not “horsemen”; they didn’t own horses and had no plans to. When they moved to Western Kansas, Karen searched for a world with horses in it. She cleaned houses so she could pet the owners’ horses, and by 12, she was helping to put gates in irrigation pipes to get $2 an hour to save enough to buy a horse. When she walked home, she would stop to pet the horses that came to the fence, always dreaming that she would own/ride one day. And the day came when a man approached from the other side of the fence and asked her if she liked horses, she grinned and said, “Yes.” Little did Karen know the man she was talking to was Lee Riddiough…and as the saying goes, dreams do come true…and they did.
After buying her first palomino gelding, “Buck,” who earned his name, Karen would be introduced to the bull riding world. She never recognized that being small-framed was a concern and figured all she had to do was stay on and not fall off. By age 15, Karen was a Western Kansas bull rider, competing five straight years in the finals at the National Bull Riding Show, and she loved it. She continued to ride into college and was told bull riding was a “man’s event,” she ignored it and rode anyway.
It wouldn’t be until she worked at an Oklahoma cattle feed yard that she would be introduced to cowhorse and roping. With 5K head of cattle to move/feed, Karen’s boss told her he had a team roper friend who would “give us a hand”. All Karen heard and thought was, “Great, I get to babysit a team roper.”
To catch us up, Kevin was originally from Idaho, also grew up on a farm, but his family was “horsemen”. In his youth, Kevin broke and trained colts for neighbors and clients. By age 10, his father bought him his first horse, a Mustang named “Buck Shot.” And just like “Snowball” and “Buck”, “Buck Shot” earned his name. By age 12, Kevin was colt breaking and working for Darrell Walker of Walker Cattle Co. for 25 cents an hour. He would get into building cars, motorcross racing, and working as a mechanic, but he always found his way back to horses. He would work for the likes of Don Green, Bill Owens, and Ray Hansen and work alongside Nub Campbell, Ray Hunt, Tom Dorrance, and Tom Buckingham, to name a few. Colt breaking, bucking horse, team roping, cattle herding, colt clinics; Kevin thought he had his world complete until 1979 when he found cowhorse and finally knew what he was destined for.
But it wouldn’t be till 1997 that Kevin’s client, Doug, would ask him to help with 5K head of cattle. Doug explained that he needed Kevin’s help, and even though Kevin was breaking a colt named “Amos”, competing in cowhorse and team roping, and running a colt clinic, he needed help. Doug explained that he had an incredible gal working for him whom Kevin would work with and her name was Karen.
Karen and Kevin would later marry, merging their talents and exploding in the Cowhorse world taking home multi-championships each under the brand STALLINGS PERFORMANCE HORSES. From AQHA, NRCHA, NSHA and NCHA titles, both Karen and Kevin are seen as mentors and leaders in the industry.
Kevin is a 2025 NRCHA Hall of Fame Inductee. He is an Open Hackamore National Champion, a NRCHA Open Bridle World Champion, and a NSHA Open Bridle Champion. He would take 3rd place in the NRCHA Worlds Greatest Horseman Competition aboard his great stallion, NMSU TRUCKIN CHEX (also known as “Elvis”) who himself was a six time World Champion. Karen is a four time AQHA World Show Amateur Champion, a NSHA Non-Pro Bridle Extravaganza Champion, a multi-AQHA High Point Champion, a NRCHA Non-Pro Bridle World Champion and an Art of the Cowgirl finalist to name a few.
Together they train, judge, sit on association boards, lead clinics, and breed incredible horses and ranch pure bred border collies. Kevin has since retired from competing, however Karen continues, most recently being the 2024 AZRCHA OPEN BRIDLE CHAMPION and the 2024 AZQHA SENIOR WORKING COWHORSE RESERVE CHAMPION with SHEZA VOODOO DR.
Welcome to Stallings Performance Horses.
