[cow moos] - Ooh, ooh, yah!
Being a cowboy, to me, is being tough.
- It's the code of ethics that we live by.
- This is as close to the Old West
as you could possibly get.
male narrator: The world's greatest horsemen
aren't chasing cattle across the plains.
They're pushing themselves and their animals
to the absolute limit
in the toughest sport in the West:
- Anybody like that run, ladies and gentlemen?
[cheers and applause]
- I can do something with a horse
that .% of people out there in the world
can't do.
- These horses are expensive,
so you've got that pressure to make it perform.
- Reining is a dangerous sport.
Anything can happen when you're out there.
- You don't escape without getting hurt.
[crowd gasps] - Oh, no.
narrator: This year, riders
will come together in Las Vegas
for the highest cash prize in reining history,
$ million.
- It's gonna be monumental for our industry.
- It is life-changing.
- The place is falling apart!
narrator: competitors...
one ride...
- Your leader!
- Oh, my God.
narrator: For these elite horsemen,
just one six-minute ride
could change their lives forever.
[dramatic music]
[twangy country music]
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
[rattling]
♪ ♪
- No need to start blazing any new trails out here.
I don't want to step on a snake.
Ooh, watch out for those.
So what do you think we'd do
if we won that million there in Vegas?
Can we make a pact that we take some of it
and we just blow it?
I mean, life's short.
- [laughs] We're not doing that.
- Got to have some fun, though.
I mean, I say we do one trip
and maybe save the rest.
- I say you save it.
- You're only as good as your last ride
in this thing. - Exactly.
- You know how quick people-- they fall out of love with you.
- Exactly. That's why we would save it.
- Then we'll be like, "Damn,
I wish we would have had some fun."
- Are you kidding? What would you do different?
- We could move to Mexico.
I absolutely consider myself a cowboy.
I'm from the city,
but this Western lifestyle-- it just fit me to a tee.
It's so much more than just
the cowboy hats, the boots, and the spurs.
Working with horses, you kind of have
a set of ethics that comes along with it.
When you shake a guy's hand,
it's supposed to mean something.
I almost feel like it's a dying breed.
My name is Matt Mills. I live in Scottsdale, Arizona.
I'm a professional reining horse trainer
at Ruckman Ranch.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
I mean, for me, the passion
is the horse.
I knew I wanted to be a horse trainer;
I was probably about , years old.
- ♪ I'll tell ya ♪
- I grew up in Long Beach, California.
It was not the best part of town,
nowhere near any horses at all.
My mother--she always had a love for horses.
She found the one stable in the area.
I'm riding a city bus from school
minutes to an hour to go for a riding lesson.
Riding, as a kid, was definitely an escape.
And it's still like that today.
We want to work on that fitness
so he doesn't get tired in the middle of my run,
so we'll just put him up on the treadmill.
narrator: Matt's come from his humble beginnings
and landed at one of the most elite ranches in Arizona.
- These horses are taken care of
the same as human athletes...
Go ahead and fire it up.
From their feed program, to the grooming.
We've got a treadmill.
Nice and easy, okay? - Okay.
- Massages. They're icing their legs down
with all these expensive machines.
Heat's good for their backs, too.
There's literally hundreds of thousands of dollars
that are spent on these horses.
[horse nickering]
- You gonna try and get one more in before lunch?
- You going too? - Yeah, I might as well.
Then I'm done. - [laughs]
All right, I'll get another one, then.
- These are athletes.
This is no different than LeBron James
or Dez Bryant wrapping their ankles
before they go really try and perform.
narrator: With the reining season beginning
and the first big horse show a couple weeks away,
Matt needs to pick the right horses
to use in competition.
- This is one of my best three-year-olds.
- Oh, yeah.
These reining horses
are the most trained horses in the world.
- That's a pretty big step for a three-year-old.
- Ho.
That was good.
Whoa.
[horse nickers]
Whoa.
[horse grunts] Whoa.
[horse neighing]
You have to be kidding me.
- Holy moly.
[horse grunting]
[dramatic music]
- Oh, sh**t.
Oh.
- Wow. - That just caught me
completely off guard.
It's still gets Western every now and then, huh?
These horses are all so broke,
but a couple days off, and they revert back.
For the Cactus.
[peppy music]
♪ ♪
- Addi's riding her horse with no saddle.
Steer with your fingers. Touch his neck.
There you go.
Yee.
It's a proud dad moment.
My name is Craig Schmersal.
I live in Scottsdale, Arizona.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
narrator: Craig Schmersal is a veteran horseman
and owner of Schmersal Ranch,
where he trains top competition horses.
He has won every competition on the reining circuit
and has the hardware to prove it.
- I've always wanted to be a cowboy.
I ride horses every day.
It's the lifestyle that I've chosen.
It's very important
that reining survives in the States.
It's a cowboy event.
It'd be terrible to lose that.
Go. [whistles]
- When we whistle, it means it's good.
narrator: And the secret behind his success:
his wife of years, Ginger Schmersal.
- Craig's main objective
is to get his horses ready to show.
The less distraction in his day, the better.
So I manage the money, and he manages the horses.
This one he's getting on--
we're gonna show him next week at the Cactus.
narrator: The sport of reining season
begins in March with a circuit of competitions
held around the country,
beginning with the Cactus Classic
in Scottsdale, Arizona;
then the National Reining Breeders Classic, or NRBC;
and this year, building up
to The Run for a Million invitational
in Las Vegas in August.
- The Cactus Classic
is the first show that we get to really throw down
and go for some real money.
- ♪ Whoa ♪
- For me, I've had no other goals in my life
but to get to the top in the sport of reining.
- ♪ Run all day ♪
- That's what I'm sh**ting for.
I want the bragging rights.
♪ ♪
Pretty good.
- So how you think it's gonna go?
- I bet it's gonna be a long, long day.
- Andrea will have the usual suspects, I'm sure.
- Oh, yeah.
With any top athletes in any sport,
there's always gonna be a rivalry.
Definitely, ours is Andrea.
He lives across town. We're knocking heads
all the time at the horse shows.
It's just gonna happen.
- He's always hard to get around
at that horse show. He's annoying as hell.
- Yeah, he is. - [laughs]
♪ ♪
- ♪ The devil's got you b*at ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Ah, ah, ah-ah-ah-ah ♪
♪ The devil ♪
♪ ♪
♪ The devil's got you b*at ♪
[ominous music]
- Getting started in the morning--
it gives me an hour or two
of nothing but me and the horses.
[hooves clopping]
I just know that there's not very many other
of my competitors that are doing the same thing.
I'm Andrea Fappani, and I live in Scottsdale, Arizona.
♪ ♪
[bird cawing]
♪ ♪
narrator: -year-old Andrea Fappani
is no stranger to success.
In , Fappani became the youngest rider
to break the coveted $ million earnings mark.
The Italian native
has won more money in the last five years
than any other rider
and is considered the number one man to b*at
on the reining circuit.
- If I'm not minutes early, you're late, pretty much.
So my dad always told me that, and that's the way I go.
The dots are my horses,
so I'm gonna be riding Shine Plum Shine,
which is one that I'm gonna be showing next week
at the Cactus Classic.
Come on, Scurvy. Let's go.
To me, it's not a lifestyle.
I don't want to be a cowboy the rest of my life.
I'm not a cowboy right now.
I'm a horse trainer that learned the trade
and tries to do the best he can.
[horse nickers]
There's a guy that's cleaning stalls in here
that's not supposed to clean stalls in here.
He's supposed to be outside.
So I'm just wondering what he's doing.
[foreboding music]
[speaking Spanish]
I think that it would be tough working for me.
You can tell there's a little bit
of uncomfortable atmosphere because of that.
Hey, Gabriel.
Mario stayed all night without any blankets on.
Nobody walked through the barn when you guys closed
to check these horses, nothing.
Once again, can't just close the two doors and go to sleep.
And I have a horse over there with no blankets.
And Leo, I mean, I asked him this morning,
how can you go get the horse next to him
and the other one-- he's standing up--
and not even think, "Oh, I wonder why
that horse doesn't have a blanket on"?
I function the way I function,
and that's probably why they think I'm a machine.
[tense music]
It's about what people don't see
when nobody's watching that makes who you are.
[deep rock music]
When I'm at the horse show, that's when I need to perform.
That's where I need to bring my "A" game.
The other riders--I look at them at competition,
not as friends.
I'm all business.
I just want to be better than them; that's all.
That's probably why they think I'm an ass.
♪ ♪
- Andrea is not super friendly with us.
You try to visit with him over the years.
Or maybe he doesn't like us. Whatever.
- We've always had a rivalry.
I mean, I don't want him to b*at me.
He's always a thr*at.
- Andrea's definitely a force to be reckoned with,
but so is Craig.
♪ ♪
[laidback music]
♪ ♪
- I was talking to Mary-Beth this morning,
and she just said that Tim wanted to get together.
- Is there something-- are they okay?
- They want to win.
I think that's what Tim kind of wants to talk about.
narrator: Matt Mills works at one
of the top reining facilities in Arizona,
Ruckman Ranch.
With the first big event of the season weeks away,
Matt has been summoned by the owners
for an unexpected meeting.
- I mean, this is my whole life,
is riding these horses.
They go out and have one bad day.
It's like me--you know, you have a bad day or whatever.
So, I mean, I just hope they understand that too.
- I think they understand it until they don't.
- Yeah, exactly.
narrator: Matt knows a thing or two
about the fickle nature of financial support
that comes with the highs and lows of competition.
Early in his career, Matt was on track
to become the hottest new reiner in the sport.
- . for Matt Mills.
narrator: In , he bagged a gold medal for Team USA
at the World Equestrian Games.
- From that point,
I thought everything was gonna be easy,
but that wasn't the case.
narrator: Since then, he's led a respectable career,
but now he needs to get back to the top of the rankings.
- Hello!
- With all the money that's in this sport,
it's a big juggling act.
I've got some great owners,
but that could change tomorrow,
and if that happened, it would be a big, big deal.
Oh, just about ready to head down to the Cactus.
- So are we ready to go?
- You know, I don't have a crystal ball,
but they feel like they're ready to win.
I mean, that's my goal.
First show of the year,
and we want our team to start off on the right side.
- We've thrown the kitchen sink at this thing,
so, I mean, we've got to have the investment here.
- Yeah.
- I don't know what else to do
to make this thing work.
- I think we're on the right track,
but I have to make sure we have the right horse.
I feel really confident, honestly.
- Our goal is to make sure
that Matt has the best horses possible.
If it's good for him and it's gonna make him look good,
then obviously,
it's gonna boost the Ruckman brand.
The horses we're bringing-- we got something to compete
with the other two big players, Craig and Andrea?
- If I find the right horse,
do I believe I can b*at them on any given day?
You know, you bet your ass I can, %.
- I just don't want to show up to a g*n fight with a Kn*fe.
- I think this year is gonna be it.
- This is totally gonna be it.
- It better be.
[birds chirping]
- I thought this pan had enough butter in it.
That one is all the way cracked.
- Wyatt, step in and handle the eggs.
- You're a pro. - [laughs] You had
to take over, buddy.
At least these are mine.
If they're crunchy, I can handle it.
- Perfect. - Okay, you ready to eat?
Livy's gonna have to have a seat.
Let's pray, and then we can eat.
- Father, we love you, and we praise you,
and we thank you for this family.
We thank you for these healthy little people,
and we ask that everything we say and do
would glorify you today.
In Jesus' name, amen. - Amen.
- My name's Casey Deary,
and I'm from Weatherford, Texas.
[acoustic guitar music]
♪ ♪
Pull the outside rein up to the saddle horn!
I started my business
from a $ riding lesson program.
Straight line. Giddyup, giddyup.
Right rein, right leg. Good girl.
Right rein, right rein.
And now our ranch sits on acres.
We house roughly head of horses here.
Currently I have five employees
that ride with me.
narrator: Casey's reaped the benefits
of acquiring a healthy string of talented horses
over the years.
- [clicks] Good girl.
narrator: But luck hasn't always been on his side.
♪ ♪
- It was just a freak accident.
[dramatic guitar music]
One of the horses that I had bought--
something spooked him.
I come right off the side,
but my foot hung up in the stirrup,
and so he dragged me or feet
at a gallop with my foot hung in the stirrup,
and I bit a pipe fence.
That shoved all of my front teeth
on the left side up into my sinus cavities.
Uh, they did a lot of bone grafting
and reconstructive stuff.
You know, I can't tell you that it doesn't cross my mind.
You know, "What would I do if I was injured again?"
This job is really hard on our body.
A guy can only do it for so many years.
I know that every horse I throw my leg over
has the potential of hurting me
and it being my last one,
but I have to keep riding and competing
to support my family.
So winning The Run for a Million would be huge.
Uh-oh.
There's the ranch boss.
- Whoa.
- [whistles]Nice!
♪ ♪
-This is leftover steak, Tuff's favorite.
He likes steak. Don't you, Tuff?
Back up.
Sit pretty.
Bang!
Good boy.
My name is Abby Lengel.
I'm from Burlington, Colorado.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
I think your next trick needs to be
getting me a beer out of the fridge.
What do you think?
Oh, see, he's heading to the fridge already.
narrator: Abby Lengel has started to make
a name for herself as a pro reiner.
Just three months ago,
the -year-old started her own reining business
out of a small, rundown facility in West Texas.
♪ ♪
- Horses are my life.
I wanted a horse for as long as I can remember.
I was actually nine when I took my first lessons,
and the second I sat on a reining horse,
I was completely hooked.
So I told my parents--I said, "This is what I want to do,"
and they said, "You're not really raised
"in the kind of family
that necessarily can afford to do this,"
and I said, "No, this is what I want to do.
This is--this is it," and so they said,
"Okay, we'll get you to the horse show,
"but you have to buy your own horse
and pay for your own entry fees,"
and I think they thought
that was gonna take care of it.
Being a cowgirl is tough--
the hours, the time, the physical labor.
It'd be very hard to have a family and be a trainer.
But I really do love it.
[horse snorts]
You're ready, buddy.
As soon as I graduated college,
I went to work for Casey Deary.
Every year that I was at Casey's,
my skills were improving
as a trainer, as a showman.
Each year that went on,
I felt like I got better and better.
And then he started to put me on better horses.
In , I got the privilege
to show a mare named ARC Gunna Mark Ya.
- Score is in. Got a new leader.
- That was my first big open win.
In , I took her to the NRHA derby.
[crowd cheering]
[dramatic music]
On the first go, she was
the highest score of everybody.
- .
- For everything to come together like that,
it was amazing.
It made me realize
that it was time for me to make the next step,
that I needed to leave Casey's.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- The boss is ready.
Okay.
- We appreciate y'all so much.
narrator: Casey and Nicole have called a team meeting
to set the goals for the year,
but now that a star rider, Abby Lengel,
has left to start her own business,
all the pressure falls on Casey.
- So it's still my goal
for us to be the highest money-earning barn,
and I think if we play our cards right,
I think we can still pull that off.
I know we had a good year last year,
'cause Abby won--
What'd she win last year, ?
- Her top number was, like, or something.
- Was it?
When Abby told us
that she was gonna start her own business,
it was devastating for Nicole and I.
It left a huge void in my program and our family.
- Them training horses together
was an amazing recipe, and they were both winning.
- I just know that a team is only as strong
as the weakest player on there, so...
I gave % to Abby.
My whole plan was
to keep she and I at the top level,
and now that Abby decided to go her way,
it's all on me.
- Today's Monday. He's had a few days off.
So what's your plan for today?
- Exercise him,
get him mentally a little bit focused,
and then throughout the week, we'll start adding
a little more pressure and doing more maneuvers.
narrator: Abby's decision to leave Casey and Nicole
was largely influenced by horse owner Sandy Bentien,
who has provided Abby with Ace, her only horse.
- Abby gets along with him really well,
and he really likes her and likes to work for her.
Abby came to me and mentioned the fact
that she'd been with Dearys
for almost five years at that point.
- Hey, Sanders. - Hey, Abbs.
I kind of encouraged her
to go on her own.
- This is what I usually ride him in.
- This is solid.
Yeah, that's got the loose cheek.
We'd hoped it would go smooth,
but it probably didn't go as well as it could have.
Casey was very disappointed,
'cause it's not easy in this industry
to find people with Abby's kind of talent
to come step in as an assistant trainer.
- All right, Ace, I think you're ready to go.
- My goal with my assistants
has always been to train them to b*at me.
This'll be the first horse show
that Abby and I will be competing against each other
for different teams.
- Casey--he taught me to never give up.
I really don't care what it takes; I'm gonna win.
- And, obviously, I want to b*at her.
- ♪ Whoa-oh, whoa-oh ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Whoa-oh, whoa-oh ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Whoa-oh ♪
♪ ♪
- Who wants pancakes? - I want one.
- I'm just gonna have fruit.
I'm on a diet.
- I had pizza twice this week.
- Yeah, almost a whole pizza and three beers.
- ♪ Whoa-oh, whoa-oh ♪
- I probably drink far more of this than I should,
but I count it as a vegetable, because it is from...
a coffee bean.
- You want a cup of coffee?
- No, thank you.
- You sure? - Yeah.
narrator: Matt Mills has pressure
from the ranch owners, the Ruckmans, to find a horse
that is not just good enough for the entire reining season,
but also for The Run for a Million.
The clock is ticking, as riders need ample time
to train each horse to work perfectly with them.
- We've got Cactus Classic coming up.
I go win that thing, all of a sudden,
people are going to be going, "Oh, wow.
"You know what? Matt is really good.
Let some him some more horses." You know how that works.
- Oh, yeah. - Cactus Classic--
that's our first derby of the year,
our first big show,
and that's where, you know,
you want to get things started off right.
You know, I really like my chances with that,
but I've got to obviously find the right partner,
meaning the right horse, to compete with.
Normally, I'd sit and wait
and kind of see what horses came to me,
'cause I mean, the Vegas deal's not for a while,
but people are gonna start--
- I feel like we're kind of behind.
- I got to try to explore all options.
What if I went and talked to Craig
and asked him about Ginger's horse
Shiny Work Boots?
I think we got to go for it.
- Craig is gonna do what Ginger tells him.
- Well... - Honestly.
- Craig is just--he's the trophy husband right now.
He's-- [laughs]
He gets to--he doesn't have to be involved for this.
- You're gonna have to talk to Ginger.
- Maybe. - Maybe?
That's the way it rolls over there.
You know, Ginger has a bit of a reputation
of being very matter-of-fact.
- There's no sugar coating.
She's gonna tell you exactly how it is.
But I could be persuasive.
So, I mean, I think we make some gingersnap cookies
and take them over for Ginger.
I'm serious. - I'm not doing that.
- We got to ride as many as we can.
- That is lame.
Matt, we'll just go over there and look at the horse.
- Oh, come on! - No.
If she watches you ride the horse
and you get along with the horse
and she thinks you can make her some money,
that's--you won't need to worry about your stupid gingersnaps.
I can tell you that.
- Craig might like the cookies.
- ♪ Whoo ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
♪ Whoo ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Whoo ooh ♪
- Grab Rio, and then we'll throw the saddle on,
if you would, please.
We have four awesome kids.
Our youngest one has been following
in my footsteps a little bit.
- Make him stick his tongue out.
- Stick his tongue out? - You gotta rub his nose.
- Addi and I--we have similar interests,
so she's by my side every day.
You do it.
She's just so stinking funny.
She makes me laugh.
Why do you do that to him?
- Ho.
Hey.
Al. - Yeah.
- That one, I was going pretty fast,
and he kind of picked up a leg.
- Let me have a look back here and see what we got.
That shoe is worn out.
I'll throw a pair in the fire.
[rock music with vocals]
♪ ♪
- Here is the schedule for the Cactus.
- You might have to help me read this,
'cause I didn't bring my reading glasses.
- [laughing] I didn't either.
- I think Craig's gonna give them a run for their money.
- He is.
- I wonder what Casey Deary's gonna bring.
- I know with him and Abbi being split now
and Abby out on her own,
the death of their relationship.
- This is gonna be a big learning curve
for Abby this year.
- Yeah.
- And being a woman in our industry,
as we know...
- Is tough. - Is really, really tough.
- Is tough.
- You know, Matt is super talented.
As some point, if he can get some self-confidence,
that guy...
he can show one.
- He can absolutely show one.
- And I think Craig always wants to b*at Andrea.
He's gonna come loaded. - Yeah.
- And he is extremely talented.
I think Craig's gonna b*at him.
- Oh, I think so too. I have no doubt.
- You know, there are maybe
, riders in this event.
I'm not worried about b*ating Andrea;
I'm worried about b*ating all of them,
'cause they're all great riders,
so it's anybody's game when they walk in the arena.
♪ ♪
- [clicks tongue]
- Dad!
What bridle do you want me to use on YG?
- The one that goes like that a little bit.
It's a correction.
Luca, my first son, is showing now with me.
I think this sport really suits him,
'cause he's very methodical.
He's like a little machine.
That's good.
narrator: Luca is a rising star
in the amateur reining circuit
and will be competing this year
in the junior division of the Cactus Classic.
- If you let him hang out halfway through it,
he's gonna test you every single time.
When I actually help Luca,
it helps me with the training of my own horses,
'cause it gives me a little different perspective.
Go ahead and turn him again.
[dramatic music]
Make him look in a little bit more.
♪ ♪
Straighten him up a little bit.
He's too bent.
♪ ♪
- He's prepared for this show so many times,
and he's been doing it for so long
that I know he knows what I need to do
to go be successful at this horse show.
- Back towards you, not down.
Stop.
Let me ride him.
- Usually, I'm pretty effective at fixing the problem,
but sometimes they just don't respect me
as much as they respect him.
So if it gets to the point
to where they're just not listening
just because I'm on them,
then he'll obviously set them straight.
- He doesn't do it with me.
If you don't figure out what you're doing,
we're not going anywhere...
- I don't get it.
- 'Cause it's you.
When it gets closer to shows, it gets a little stressful,
'cause you're wanting things to get better quicker.
For the Cactus Classic coming up,
it's not about winning.
It's about working to try to win.
Make him drop his neck back to the right.
Just walk and follow his nose.
Why are we going sideways?
- I'm not trying to.
- Okay, I'm here trying to help you.
If you want to argue and talk back and stuff,
that's fine, but I'm sitting here trying to help you.
The minute you put your legson him,
he wants to lean forward.
If you don't fix that, we have nothing.
Sometimes it may seem like I'm pretty harsh on him,
but, I mean-- but that's the only way
that you're going to get better.
Try to win at all costs.
That's all that matters to me.
narrator: With the first major reining event of the season
just one week away,
these top riders have a lot to do before the competition.
- I feel like I've got to find a horse soon,
and the clock is always ticking.
- With Abby gone, I'm going forward
with a huge hole in my program,
so it's gonna be a tough reining.
- Cactus is the first big show since I went out on my own.
I feel like I have a horse that can win it.
I just need to prove that.
♪ ♪
- ♪ You may run for a long time ♪
♪ Run on for a long time ♪
♪ Run on for a long time ♪
♪ Let me tell you that God's gonna put you down ♪
♪ Let me tell you that God's gonna put you down ♪
- Hey, you want to go in that side?
- Right there? - If you want to.
- Yeah, yeah.
This is the master bedroom. That's the shower.
And they're gonna bring in some of the...
- Granite?
- This is a granite from Brazil.
It's leathered,
so it has a really unique texture on top.
- I'm the kind of guy
that I would have been just as happy
in a little van down by the river,
but she pushes on me in a lot of ways.
- There was a barn there in the front yard
that had to be over years old.
The hay was holding the barn up.
We tore it down, but we saved the wood,
and we used that as the ceiling here.
- She didn't want to look at the hay barn
when it would hold hay,
so now we're gonna look at the hay barn in the bedroom.
- I love it up there. - Looks good.
When I started my business,
Nicole and I lived in a camping trailer
for maybe the first year.
One night, she looked at me sternly and said,
"You need to get me a home."
This is actually my room here.
Put a cot in there, and she might give me a lamp.
The beautiful thing about reining
is that one horse
can completely change a person's life and career,
and that was America's Next g*n Model.
- Your new leader,
Casey Deary!
- We had some very large offers
come at us for that horse.
That mare basically set Nicole and I up.
- Right here, we're gonna have a large dining room table
that can seat .
- When we paid the ranch off, I was pretty relieved
until she told me she'd started
the paperwork on the house
at the same time.
I was really hoping to get my head above water
and take some deep breaths, but she just...
pushed me right back under there.
- The time you spend living in a camper,
you don't see the beauty of it until later on in life.
[laidback guitar music]
♪ ♪
- I'm headed to the Schmersal ranch right now
to go talk to Ginger,
see if I can't get anywhere with riding her horse.
narrator: With the Cactus Classic
just days away
and The Run for a Million on the horizon,
Matt has his eyes on one of the Schmersals' prize horses.
- Got to have as many nice horses to pick from as I can.
I know Ginger's the one that I've got to get through to,
but she's a scary lady.
I got nothing to lose.
I've got a lot to gain
if I could ride that horse of hers, though.
I feel like the first day of school.
I've got that-- the butterflies going.
This is a hell of a place, huh?
Hey, you guys hungry? - Yeah, we're hungry.
- I got some cookies here. I got some gingersnaps in here.
- Gingersnaps. Thanks, Matt.
- Hey, Ginger. - Matt.
- How you doing?
- What you got there?
- Oh, I got some cookies here.
- Oh.
Those look delish.
So why don't you cut to the chase?
What are you really here for?
[laughs]
- So I need to find a really good horse
for Cactus Classic.
Your horse Shiny Work Boots-- he's so good, right?
- He is as good as you can get.
- You know, I don't know what you're thinking,
but maybe we could come to some sort of agreement?
- What's in it for me?
- Um, I'm thinking, like,
maybe some sort of sliding scale
on a percentage.
You know, if we win,
we come up with a number that you makes you happy
and maybe slide it based on the placing.
- You know, I mean, money's good.
Do you have any other ideas
of a way to make it a little more palatable?
I am a strong personality, and I have a strong opinion.
That's interpreted sometimes as--
I hate to use the word "bitch,"
but call it what you want.
That's me.
You've got some good horses.
- I do. I got some nice ones for sure.
But for the million-dollar thing,
I'd love to have your horse.
- What if you b*at Craig on my horse?
- [laughs] Well, it's your horse, though.
Is Craig showing one of your horses?
- Craig's already committed to three other good horses
in the million-dollar deal,
but what happens if we give one of our heavy hitters away
and that horse, you know,
has better luck than Craig that night?
- If that happens, that's a win--
that's still a win for you.
- Mm, I don't think so.
- That was disappointing.
You know, every day that goes by
I don't have a horse, you know, that's not good.
I better hit the trail. - All right, buddy.
- I'm thinking about my Plan B. I'm a Plan B guy.
I'm gonna be keeping my eyes open.
- I just want you to go out, cruise him around.
- Okay. - Just ride him.
And I just want to watch and see the picture.
narrator: The first horse show of the season
is two days away.
- Thiago, go ahead and run some fast circles on this side.
narrator: Every rider is allowed to compete
with up to three horses.
Without the option of Ginger Schmersal's horse,
Matt must choose all three horses
from his own stable for the competition.
- What are you guys doing?
- Trying to decide on this horse,
whether I show him in the Cactus.
Cactus Classic is big for me,
'cause that's where momentum--
where you either get it or you lose it.
So you're thinking-- - You decide,
because I don't want you coming back at me.
- All right, he's gonna do it.
- All right, fine.
Are you % you want to do that?
- % sure. - Matt!
- Okay, done. Let's do it.
He's gonna do it. - All right.
[twangy music]
- All right, Ace.
narrator: With just one horse
and one sh*t to win at the Cactus Classic,
Abby has to make sure that her last practice counts.
I guess you could say I'm a bit of the underdog.
- [wolf whistles] Yeah.
Yeah.
- That's sure better, huh?
narrator: The Cactus Classic will be the first test
for Abby to prove she's ready to be out on her own.
- All right, you ready for me to stop down there?
- Yeah.
- I have one horse, one sh*t,
so I know the odds aren't in my favor,
but I think I have a great, great horse.
♪ ♪
Yeah! Whoo!
- That was nice.
- If he keeps improving like that,
I'm very, very happy.
narrator: All of the top riders
will be making their way to Scottsdale, Arizona,
to prove what they and their horses are made of.
- You know, we've been doing it for so long
that we've got a pretty good system going.
We're taking the last few down this morning.
There's a lot of competition at the Cactus Classic.
- ♪ Stood here dying on my feet ♪
- Casey Deary is where the pressure is up.
He's going to be competitive.
- Well, this'll be the first horse show
that Abby and I will be at
where we're competing against each other,
but it's one thing to be successful on someone's team.
It's another thing
to be successful on a team you've created.
- ♪ Seems right ♪
♪ I only meet you in the moonlight ♪
- I think he is ready.
I love the Cactus Classic,
but it's a long haul for us.
All right, buddy.
It's hours there, hours back.
But, you know, I need to make a statement here.
- Craig Schmersal's gonna be my toughest competition--
great training, great showing, no mistakes.
- A lot can change when you throw down on Saturday night,
but it's all bull[bleep] till you win a prize,
so we're gonna see on Saturday.
- ♪ Oh, oh-oh-oh ♪
- Matt Mills-- he's a hard one to read,
and I never count him out.
- Winning that deal in Vegas would be life-changing.
It would just be such a big weight off my shoulders.
Lee, that's the last one, right?
- Yeah.
- It is dangerous, what we do.
I'm one fall away from getting hurt,
and if I can't ride, I can't make a living.
- I'll see you down there.
- So if I get a chance to win money like that,
I'm gonna hang on to it.
- ♪ It seems right ♪
♪ I only meet you in the moonlight ♪
♪ I know the devil's inside ♪
♪ Just carrying me along ♪
- The only thing that's at stake is everything.
- ♪ It seems right ♪
♪ I only meet you in the moonlight ♪
♪ I know ♪
♪ ♪
- We are the ultimate badasses.
- There are so many good runs,
and you can't make any mistakes.
- We're out to get rich or die trying.
announcer: Oh! Oh! Oh!
- That's gonna take him out right there.
- The Run for a Million in Vegas
is the biggest purse that we've ever run.
- It's life-changing.
- Your new leader!
- The track's horse [bleep]. - I want to b*at that [bleep].
- Pretty frustrating. - This is not acceptable!
- They have no idea what's coming for them.
[cheers and applause] - Wow!
- With Vegas coming up,
there's of us scrambling to find the winner.
- They're looking for a horse.
- Do not let her walk all over you.
- You guys just do whatever you want.
- You'll bring that money back to Texas.
- Now you've gone really low.
Lying about your score?
- Whoo!
- They are so much drama.
- What?
[cheers and applause]
[twangy country music]
♪ ♪