Fourteen-year-old Kayla Budine, of Oakdale, California, says she couldn’t help but follow in her mother Marcie’s footsteps and live her life at shows and surrounded by horses.

“The passion and excitement that she displays when she works with the horse is contagious,” she explains. “As a little girl, I wanted to ride like my mom.”

Kayla became a familiar sight at shows, riding around on her 14-hand black pony, Captain, while her mom was showing her own horse. When she turned 9 years old, Kayla’s parents bought her The Custodian (Johnny), a 1992 chestnut gelding sired by

Zip To Be Mine and out of the thoroughbred mare Solonitas Title, and Kayla started showing at local American Quarter Horse Association shows. Their first prize together was a belt buckle for winning the Youth Western Pleasure at the Golden Grand in Rancho Murieta, California.

Over the next few years the pair competed in Performance Halter, Showmanship, and Trail, in addition to Western Pleasure.

Then last year during the AQHA World Championship Show, Texas trainer Nancy Sue Ryan called Kayla’s mom to tell her about Last Minute Investment, a 2010 bay mare sired by Do You Have A Minute and out of Zips Little Asset.

“At 16.2 hands tall with a beautiful trot and outstanding canter, Ryan thought Last Minute Investment (Liza) would be perfect for us to show and breed to my mom’s stallion, What Matters Most,” Kayla says.

Marcie went to see for herself and agreed that Last Minute Investment would be a good fit. She was bred to The Krymsun Kruzer and What Matters Most and embryos were transfered so they could get started showing and Kayla says they can’t wait

to see her babies.

“Liza is the ‘cookie monster,’” Kayla says. “She will do anything for cookie treats. She expects to get them when she does something well. So when you are working with Liza, you better have a pocket full of treats.”

Kayla and Liza got off to a great start this year by capturing a Reserve Circuit Championship in Youth Hunter Under Saddle at the Arizona Sun Circuit in Scottsdale.

“We are so thankful that Nancy Sue found this horse,” she says. “Liza is so good with me.”

Kayla says she loves showing Hunter Under Saddle – in fact, it and Western Riding are her favorite events.

She’s a big fan of the 3-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle class because the good ones are so smooth and represent the future of the class.

“It takes a trained eye to pick out the best horses and I’m working on my ability to pick out the great ones,” she explains.

When she is not at a horse show Kayla is busy participating in competing in Competition Cheer.

“I have competed for six years and in 2013 won the NCA National Championship on our Level 4 California All Stars SWAGG Team. In January 2013 my Oakdale Stampede Youth Football Cheer won the Jamz Nationals in Las Vegas for Level 3 Competition Cheer.”

A freshman at Oakdale High School, Kayla is a cheerleader for both football and basketball at school and has just started track competition in the Triple Jump and 100 meter relay. She is also a member of the Oakdale Future Farmers of America program.

During a trip to Florida over the Christmas holiday with her mother, father, Matt Budine, and brother, Austin, Kayla got the opportunity to stop and tour the University of Florida campus in Gainesville and would love to continue her education there after graduation. She hopes some day to work in the sports medicine or the sports physical therapy field.

Kayla says her dad has always encouraged her to be the best she can all of the time.

“He is very focused on doing things right,” she says. “He is the first person in our family to attend College (Cornell University) He started his own very successful nutritional consulting business with his business partners. With my busy schedule juggling cheer, track, school and horses, I need to be very focused on what I’m doing.