Brooke & Jacuzzi

By Kitson

Brooke and Jacuzzi in 2009
Photos courtesy of Suzanne Meyers

In September - twist my arm - I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with a delightful 11-year old horse lover named Brooke. At age 9, Brooke tamed a wild mustang that she named Jacuzzi and won the youth division at the 2009 Extreme Mustang Makeover Murfreesboro, TN, the youngest participant ever to win.She bought Jacuzzi with the money she won.

The children's magazine I wrote the story for bends to the warm and fuzzy (more behind the scenes to come after the story appears next spring!). Brooke was certainly warm and fuzzy (especially when it came to talking horses), but she was also an uber-professional horse trainer, despite her age.

Brooke and her mom Suzanne (who won the Extreme Mustang Makeover in 2008) run Next Level Horsemanship which is located in beautiful Port Matilda, Pennsylvania. This month she'll be be competing in the All American Quarter Horse Congress, cinch freestyle reining with her Quarter Horse, Red. She also competes in English riding and jumping.