Terye Penrod-Cheatham returns to the Hunt Seat arena after a 30-year hiatus and into the arms of her family.
By Delores Kuhlwein
Monday, March 3, 2025, found Terye Penrod-Cheatham in the irons of BlazingHotInvestment in the L1 Amateur Hunter Under Saddle at the Arizona Sun Circuit, the largest AQHA circuit in the world. The last time she showed a Hunt Seat horse, it was thirty years ago, and she was 23 years old. “So I’m 53 now, so it’s been a few days,” jokes Terye.
That was back in the days when she’d thought she’d checked off all the boxes – as the winner of an APHA World Championship in Western Pleasure at age 15 with Blame It On AJ, as the number two APHA amateur in the nation in 1992, and as she rode her 16-hand all-around mare in the Hunter Under Saddle as an amateur.
But since that time, her path changed more than once – she quit showing as an amateur, caught-rode some horses for a few trainers, and then moved away from Arizona. Her love of horses evolved in the team roping world, and then into the barrel racing industry, and eventually, she moved back to Arizona in 2011.
Whole Lotta Certain was raised by Tom Duke & Kelly Penrod, and she earned a World Championship with Kelly’s and Terye’s mom, Wink Penrod. Photo: Jeff Kirkbride Photography.
At that point, she turned to her sister, trainer Kelly Penrod, who Terye explains has always helped her follow her dreams, and asked if she could show a Western Pleasure horse. So in 2012, Terye won the state in Amateur APHA Western Pleasure with Whole Lotta Certain, a mare raised by Kelly and her husband, Tom Duke. “She was a 3 YO, super green, and very dark brown, so I showed her that year, and she was kind of hard to show and a natural mover, so I did pretty well,” Terye says.
But as she continued to run barrels, something she says she’ll always do, Terye knew in the back of her mind that she had another dream to fulfill. “I had always wanted to ride a big hunt seater,” Terye explains. One day not long ago, she traveled from her home in Laveen, Arizona, to visit her sister in Marana, Arizona, and asked Kelly to saddle up one of the big horses to see if she could even make it around. “We put the English saddle on, and surprisingly, I rode for like an hour and a half and had a blast.”
Then just a few weeks ago, Kelly called Terye and said she needed to come ride a horse that was at her place, and she did – it turned out to be BlazingHotInvestment, by by Blazing Hot and out of That Certain Chip, owned by Tricia Sarchett.
“I rode him three times in Marana at her place, and then we went to Silver Dollar Circuit in Vegas, and I showed him in the hunter under twice and we won under all six judges, and then I got brave enough to show him to the second set of judges in the Equitation,” Terye explains. “I was two firsts and a second there, and I think today (Monday, March 3rd) might be maybe my tenth or eleventh ride on him.”
Terye will always continue to barrel race, but she doesn’t hesitate to return to her all-around roots to chase her dreams.
Though Terye thought she might get tired or sore, she really hasn’t experienced that, and she attributes it to a moment that inspired her a long time ago. “Years ago, I rode for a cutting horse lady, and I would just go lope horses around, and one days she said to me, ‘do you slouch and bounce around like that at the shows?’ and I said ‘no’ – she told me my trainer was going to be mad at her if she didn’t say something, which was this: ‘no matter what you do, always ride right.’ Always sit up, pull your feet back, and ride right, and that stuck in my head. The barrel people kind of make fun of me because I sit up straight and don’t really ride like a barrel racer, but I think that’s why this has been easy – because even at home when I’m long trotting rope horses or barrel horses, I ride right.”
Terye says the whole experience – returning to the Hunt Seat arena, and to be surrounded by family – has choked her up because she has missed her family so much.
Her advice to others thinking of making a return to the show arena is simple: get a good horse and have a good support team.
Terye’s husband, whose name also happens to be Kelly, is a team roper, she explains, and even though they hail from different worlds, they both understand horses. The rest of her support team includes her mom, Wink Penrod, who was there cheering her on at Sun Circuit, the Duke Performance Horses barn, and of course, her sister, Kelly. “My sister is wonderful – she’s my favorite person in the whole world, so this way, we can spend time together.”
