A hard worker

Every morning for the past year, Kassidy Dennison woke up with hopes of a second consecutive women's all-around Indian National Finals Rodeo title on her mind.

She and her father Karl Dennison spent day after day working to help Kassidy defend her women's all-around INFR title from last year.

"We worked hard, long hours, six to 10 o'clock," Kassidy said. "I had to work with my two horses. It's hard to take care of two horses that are working in two different events. That's why winning all-around means a lot to me."

Her hard work may be why winning the women's all-around INFR title is so special (Kassidy also held the title for the first time in 2005), but it's what she's been through for the past year that makes the accomplishment so much more rewarding.

Last year at the INFR, Dennison said she broke her ankle while competing in the breakaway event, but she somehow walked away with the women's all-around title.

She spent the entire year recovering and in July was in a vehicle accident that hurt her barrel-racing horse.

Kassidy spent even more time helping her injured horse recover.

But as this year's INFR got closer Kassidy's mother, Debra Dennison, said the family began to wonder if the horse was going to be ready in time.

"We kind of panicked about a month before (the INFR)," Debra Dennison said. "When it got close we realized he might not be ready. When it got closer we started thinking about a horse she could ride."

Then they found one.

She was young and unseasoned, and but Kassidy was comfortable riding an unfamiliar horse.

Debra Dennison said that in 2005, when Kassidy won her first INFR all-around title, the San Carlos Apache tribe gave her a horse. It was young and she trained with it to prepare for the possibility of having to ride it in the INFR.

"She was able to ride a horse that wasn't seasoned," Debra Dennison said. "She knew that she was going to really have to take some chances."

And she did and took her chances with the new horse, named Vanna.

In the breakaway event Kassidy placed 12th and missed her calf in the second go, but finished with an average of 28.1/3.

But much to her surprise, she did better in the barrel-racing event, turning in an average of 61.23 and a fourth-place finish.

Kassidy won the first go-round in breakaway with a time of 2.7, and after that she bounced up and down on the standings.

But it was her first-place standings after the first go-round that Kassidy knew she had a chance to win the all-around title for the third time in her rodeo career.

"I won the first round in breakaway and I did good in barrels," she said. "I felt confident and I was prepared. All the work me and my dad and my family did, we worked hard to get this far."

"We were actually very blessed to have this horse come into our lives," she said.

Recovering from a broken ankle and with a recovering barrel-racing horse, Kassidy said things got rough but she didn't let it stop her.

"It just took me a long time to recover and it's still in the stage of recovery right now. They said it would take a year," Kassidy said.

With a family that understands the trials of tribulations of rodeos and injuries, Kassidy said she was fortunate to get through the rough patches.

"It all goes back to my parents who helped make me do the best, who instilled the best in me," she said. "Just because I broke my ankle and I had these accidents, I'm not going to quit, just because I had some bad luck here and there.

"I'm just really thankful to have my parents and my family in my life, to not have that doubt. The reason for me not to have doubt is because I know it's all in God's hands. He helps me through when I'm struggling, when I'm down, and I have my family there," she added.

Debra Dennison said the while the family supported Kassidy it was the 16-year-old's own desire that drove her through the hard times.

"She had a very hard year," she said. "I'm really proud of her because she was determined one way or another to make it work. It wasn't me telling her what to do."

"Her dad's a very good inspiration to her because he's an excellent coach," she said.

And Kassidy woke up with her third all-around women's title.

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