A Streak of Success: Tyler Rivette Finds His “Mojo” on Yet Another ASOF

Tyler Rivette rounds a barrel aboard Slingin Firewater
Tyler Rivette and Slingin Firewater gathered more than $30,000 in winnings at the Kinder Cup in the futurity and slot race. Photo by 555 Photography

Tyler Rivette burst onto the futurity scene in 2015 and found his groove riding A Streak Of Fling-sired horses, most recently clinching the Kinder Cup Futurity Championship and gathering more than $30,000 in winnings Feb. 7—11, 2023, aboard A Streak Of Fling gelding Slingin Firewater.

Slingin Firewater and Rivette ran a 15.052 in the first round of the Kinder Cup Futurity and a 14.402 in round two. With the time they clinched a win in the futurity slot race and a top-ten finish in both the futurity average and the Breeder’s Challenge qualifier. In all, these three finishes bagged them $27,716.

Tyler Rivette and Slingin Firewater run home
Tyler Rivette and Slingin Firewater hustled home, stopping the clock at 14.402. Photo by 555 Photography

Rivette’s Partnership with Harrison Quarter Horses

Rivette works exclusively for Rosemary Harrison of Harrison Quarter Horses of Houston, Texas, orchestrating everything from the breeding of mares to managing the five stallions and training the prospects.

“Rosemary was big in the cow horse and roping industry,” Rivette’s peer and esteemed trainer Pete Oen said. “When Tyler went to work for her in the early 2010’s, she wasn’t in the futurity barrel industry much. He started riding her cow-bred horses trying to make them barrel horses.”

One of Rivette’s first winners for Harrison was Mykindoffrenchglo, a 2011 mare sired by Harrison’s resident Frenchmans Guy stallion Frenchmansaceofspade and out of a Doc Acre Glo mare. The two of them advanced to the short go in the 2015 Old Fort Days Futurity and finished in the top ten in the Cornhuskers Futurity Average.

Harrison’s breeding program routed into more pure-run-bloodlines with the purchase of Highpoint Performance Horses’ Streakinflingindisco in 2017. For Rivette, it was love from the first time he set foot in the stirrup.

The Journey Begins with Streakinflingindisco

“We bought Streakinflingindisco to compete a little but mostly as a broodmare,” Rivette explained. “I am obsessed with her and her style. What I love about the A Streak Of Flings is that they’ll run on their own but still prepare for a turn. They run until you tell them to turn and then they really sit and drag their butts for the turn.”

Streakinflingindisco was bred by A Streak Of Fling’s owner and heads of the legendary breeding program at Fulton Ranch, Lisa Fulton and her late husband, Brian, and sold in their production sale as a 2-year-old in 2011.

“That dam only had three babies and she passed early,” Fulton said. “Everyone has hunted a Disco Jerry mare and they’re nonexistent because of how old that stud was. Now we’re getting that in more of a third generation-breeding.”

At 7-years-old, Streakinflingindisco traveled with Michele McLeod to the 2016 NFR where she served as a backup horse for McLeod and Highpoint stallion Slick By Design. When she came to Harrison’s barn, she and Rivette advanced to the 2018 and 2019 American Rodeo. In 2020, the duo were the American Semifinal Champions.

Rivette aims to treat each horse as an individual, but it’s apparent that he meshes well with the free-running, hard-turning style of A Streak Of Fling, or “ASOF,” horses.

Junior Stallion: Flingin Roses

Following in the vein of ASOF and Disco Jerry crosses, Harrison Quarter Horses purchased stallion Flingin Roses in 2017 as a yearling.  

“Flingin Roses has everything you’d want in a stallion,” Rivette said. “He has the conformation, he’s beautiful, and he was quick and very easy to train.”

Elena “Laney” Pinckard interned with Oen and recalled seeing Flingin Roses come into himself as a strong competitor under Rivette’s guidance.

“When Tyler started him on the barrels, and said he came along really fast,” Pinckard said. “He really loved to do it, and I think him being a stud helped out too. He wanted to run barrels.”

Flingin Roses and Rivette went on to win the Barrel Futurities of America Championship in 2020, AQHA Junior Barrel World Championship in 2021 and AQHA Senior Barrel World Championship in 2022.

“The good ones, they want to be good,” Rivette said “You don’t have to make them into anything.”

Flingin Roses’ second foal crop is being born in 2023, and Rivette expressed his excitement for the ASOF x Disco Jerry line to continue.

Kinder Cup Futurity Winner: Slingin Firewater

Tyler Rivette and Slingin Firewater compete in Waco.
Tyler Rivette and Slingin Firewater round a barrel at the Waco Golden Buckle, securing a Breeder’s Challenge Qualification. Photo courtesy of Rivette.

Harrison’s place, Slingin Firewater has been a star from the start.

“He’s been a dream to train, he’s very talented and fast,” Rivette said.

A combination of ASOF and Firewater Ta Fame mare Firewater Traffic is a departure from the Disco Jerry bottom side, but one that Rivette knows he can push.

“The first round of the Kinder Cup we didn’t have a perfect run, and so the second day I told myself I had nothing to lose,” Rivette said. “He’d placed at every futurity we’d gone to so I knew he could do it. On the second round he spun the first barrel, turned the second and felt really good. He was soft, quick and he ended up running fastest time of the futurity.”

good. He was soft, quick and he ended up running fastest time of the futurity.”

3 Keys to Success with ASOF’s

With a string of ASOF’s in the barn, Rivette and Oen have an advantage of knowing what to expect with the bloodline, according to Fulton. The two of them use that to their advantage, bouncing ideas off one another and riding together on occasion.

“Most all the Streak Of Flings want to run, and they have what I call a big duck back, where their finish of the turn is sharp and effective,” Oen said. “That’s what I like about them.”

Keep it Simple

“I don’t think horses are complex thinkers, so I try to keep it very basic for them,” Rivette said. “I don’t do any drills, I try not to circle the barrels a whole lot, I just take them to their spot where I want them to start or finish their turn.”

Take Your Time

From Pinckard’s perspective watching both Rivette and Oen, taking time to get with an ASOF is ideal for unlocking their top potential.

“ASOF’s are all really consistent, and they’re horses people can build upon from any age,” Pinckard said. “Once you get with one, they’re going to be your buddy and really work for you. I think the [ASOF’s] that have done well haven’t had as much pressure, either. They were just allowed to come into themselves naturally.”

Don’t believe these barrel racers? Check out what NFR team roping heeler Wesley Thorp had to say about Freanch Streakin, the 4-year-old daughter of ASOF out of French Silk Pie, by Frenchmans Guy after winning $40,000 at the Roping Futurities of America heading futurity, days after Rivette banked nearly $30,000 in Kinder.

“I was so determined to help him reach his potential that I spent so much extra time on him. Every day was a new day—we’d be seeing butterflies at the start of every ride. So, I stuck with it and took a bunch of extra time every day with him. He would finish every ride so well, and then he just got it.”

Have Confidence in Them

Finally, mentally buying in to a horses’ ability can change a riders’ outlook, much like how saying affirmations in the mirror or manifesting a goal affects neural pathways in the brain.

“I think you can get further faster when you believe in the horses you’re on,” Oen said. “And Tyler sure is—he is addicted to them.”

Team roper Thorp echoed the idea that the ASOF’s are addicting–but for team ropers, it’s the speed that’s alluring.

Thorp went on to explain that when he took the horse to his first futurity, he really got it.

“I was a little bit nervous—you think they’re fast at home, but you don’t know until you take them somewhere,” Thorp said when he took French Streakin to his first futurity as a 4-year-old. “I got a mediocre start on the first one, but he caught up good. On the second one it’s like the lightbulb came on. When I dropped my hand, he ran. He doesn’t ever feel like he’s running, but I could feel another gear hit on the second one. He caught up.”

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