Furytyme and Adios Pantalones Take Top Honors in Texas, Tricia Aldridge Tells All

When you are chasing the ultimate goal of making the National Finals Rodeo, placing second at a rodeo might not be the highlight of your journey. For Tricia Aldridge, at the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show and Rodeo in Mercedes, Texas, it was a pretty cool experience. Why?

The competitor who bested her was none other than World Champion, Fallon Taylor, riding a horse trained by Aldridge. Furytyme “Puma” is six years old and Taylor purchased her from Aldridge late in her four-year-old year. Aldridge, a futurity trainer by trade, had taken the mare through her futurity year, where she earned roughly $40,000.

Aldridge told us, “Fallon had asked about Puma several times during her futurity year and I thought Puma would be a good fit for Fallon. I know she’s making a lot of runs and that mare just seems to do better the more runs you make on her.”

While Aldridge’s training program focuses on keeping horses sharp at home and capitalizing on runs when it matters most, she discovered that Puma ran best on the weekends if she was also hitting some jackpots in between events. She felt that would be advantageous in rodeo, where horses often make multiple runs in a week.

Puma may not have naturally had the boldness that some great rodeo horses have, but the ideal jockey could ease that transition. When pairing a young horse up with a jockey for some of the biggest and most intimidating rodeos in the United States, there is no better match than a tried and true veteran. Taylor has spent over three decades competing in professional rodeo, training and seasoning countless horses throughout that time.

Aldridge explained, “Puma is a chicken. I told Fallon that I thought if she was friends with that mare, she would do anything for you, but you’re not going to make that mare do anything. I was worried about that. I had several people asking about her, but I just didn’t feel like it was a good fit. That mare is a little goofy and just needs that special person. Fallon put in the time and spent time seasoning her and she loves Puma and Puma loves her.”

Taylor spent 2024 seasoning Puma at rodeos across the US, ultimately finishing on top of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association Tour standings. That accomplishment earned her a place at many of the big, limited entry rodeos, like RODEOHOUSTON and the Calgary Stampede.

While Aldridge is working her way up the standings without the limited entry rodeos, because she did not professionally rodeo in 2024, she feels that “Adios” deserves the chance to make the NFR and has allotted herself two years to make that a reality. The palomino stallion is a social media sensation, with over $610,000 in lifetime earnings. After breaking the record for highest money earning futurity horse of all time in 2024, all eyes were on the duo coming into this year.

Aldridge typically focuses on the futurities and aged events, but has dedicated all of her efforts in 2025 to rodeo. She has sent her younger horses to Jayme Hunt, who will campaign her 2025 futurity horse and continue to season and train her colts.

Aldridge told us, “I’m pretty sure Adios was like, ‘Can you please just get out of my way?’ I went to a couple rodeos where I caught barrels to win it and I was like, ‘Okay, if I’m going to drive this many hours, I need to send him down the alley like I’m going to win it. If I don’t, we can come home and regroup.’ I was missing opportunities because I was still riding him like a colt.”

Adios’ natural talent has been obvious, since Aldridge began posting videos of him throughout the training process. Earning over $558,011 in one futurity season is no small feat, but the palomino stallion did it with seeming ease and grace.

“I never felt like I had to ask him to be fast, he always just did enough and I felt like there was a lot more in the tank. It’s really cool now, because he’s run several fast times of the event and he placed second in Mercedes and Jackson. Every good horse was there and even with some mistakes, he’s still right there with them,” Aldridge explained.

Stay tuned to Rodeo on SI this week for another special feature with Aldridge, where she talks all things training and barrel racing.

Recommended Articles