Crystal McNutt Brock grew up with reining horses, showed in NRHA events as a Youth competitor and never outgrew her passion for the sport. “I’ve been showing in stock horse classes and Reining since I was five,” she says, and that was more than two decades ago.

Her enjoyment of the sport started out with Arabians and that hasn’t changed. “My dad got me an Arabian. He thought it would be fun,” she says. “I started out with Arabs, went to Quarter Horses, and now I ride both.”

McNutt-Brock said she’s “been lucky enough to ride with some really great people,” including trainers John O’Hara, John Slack and Brett Stone. “They’ve been a great influence on me,” she says. She’s been training on her own for several years.

Crystal’s most recent success in the Arabian world came when she won the 2006 Half Arabian Reining Classic Futurity on Hollywood Playboy. In 2005, she won the same event on Diamonds A Shining. Crystal also won the 2004 Working Western Trainer award from the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman’s Association.

No matter what breed, McNutt Brock loves her chosen career, even if it was a second choice. “I went to school to be a Veterinarian,” she says. “But I love what I do. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Crystal has $97,374.56 in NRHA Lifetime Earnings as of Aug. 2006.

[read full article on the 2006 World Equestrian Games]