Fresh off her first WPRA World Championship in 2025, Taylor Munsell added another win to her résumé with her fourth Prairie Circuit year-end title.
“It’s been pretty busy,” Munsell said of her time since the Finals. “I’m glad everything turned out as good as it did, but I’ve had a lot going on. I am thankful that I had such a good year.”
That good year inside the Prairie Circuit came from capitalizing on the rodeos she was comfortable at this summer.
“I had a great year in the circuit,” she said. “When you win that much money in your circuit, that’s super exciting. I got a lot of wins. I think most rodeos I won were in circuit.”
Munsell’s run included wins at Durant, Oklahoma, where she was 2.3 seconds for $2,487, and Mount Pleasant, Texas, where she was 1.9. She also split the wins in Abilene, Kansas, with a 1.9-second run worth $3,232 and at the Woodward Elks Rodeo in Oklahoma with a 2.3-second run that paid $4,046.
The Woodward stop carried a little extra meaning as a hometown rodeo.
“That was super big for me,” Munsell said.
She kept up her streak when she was sixth in the first round at the Dodge City Roundup with a 2.9-second run and tied for third in the average with a 6.5-second time on two head, worth $3,158. Earlier in the season, she also picked up a piece of fifth at the Hugo Pro Rodeo with a 2.4-second run.
“I just have a good feel at the circuit rodeos in my circuit,” Munsell said. “I get along real well with them.”
Packed Schedule
Hitting her circuit rodeo count while also trying to make the NFBR took plenty of planning, but Munsell said she made it a point to make it back to the Prairie Circuit Finals.
“It’s not super hard in our (circuit), but you still have to make a point of it and be mindful of how you enter,” she said. “I made the decision last year after I won Houston that I was going to make sure and go to all the circuit rodeos I could get to.”
That effort paid off.
“It’s very beneficial that there’s those tour rodeos you’re going to anyway, and it’s good that they count for circuit money,” she said.
Veteran Horses Power Another Circuit Title
Munsell’s string of good horses powered her success at the circuit rodeos this year.
She rode 14-year-old Colonel, registered as Hotrod Song, at stops like Woodward and Guymon. Eighteen-year-old Ray, registered as Pals Star Shine, got the call for most of her summer schedule.
But it was Monster—the 20-year-old grade gelding, her “old man”—who made the bulk of her circuit money. Monster was the horse she rode to wins at Mount Pleasant, Durant and Abilene, Kansas, along with a placing in Hugo.
“He’s actually who I probably won the most circuit money on,” Munsell said.
With four Prairie Circuit titles now on her list of wins—and a world championship already in hand—Munsell plans to stick with the same formula moving forward.
“I’ve been rodeoing long enough now that I’ve got a pretty good idea of the rodeos that I like,” she said. “I like my circuit a lot, and I like the rodeos that are in it.”
