MILAN - Delaney Gonzales, Brooke and Kasey Eaves all did their village and parents proud with an excellent showing at the 2009 National Barrel Horse Association Youth World Championships, held in Jackson, Miss.

From left, are Kasey Eaves, Brooke Eaves and Delaney Gonzales enjoy some Mississippi fun after their international competition for barrel racing. Brooke missed a first place ride by two hundredths of a second.BEACON / TESHIMA

All three girls placed in the District 1, which includes Cibola, McKinley and San Juan Counties, to earn the trip to Mississippi. Nearly 800 competitors from 37 states and Canada and Italy competed in the youth division.

Delaney, 9, and Brooke, 12, qualified for the final go with times of 15.671 in the first round and 15.759 in the second, respectively.

Delaney took 11th amongst the 160 final-round qualifiers.

Brooke missed the first place prize, of a horse trailer, by a mere two hundredths of a second.

While the girls take the competition seriously, they have remained friends.

“The girls are really good friends,” said Robyn Eaves, mother of Brooke and Kasey. “When they're standing on the sidelines they're yelling “go faster,” but the minute they ride out in the arena it's all business.”

The Eaves girls got started barrel racing at a young age, on the same old horse 'Stick.'

“Stick only had one gear, slow,” said Robyn, “but it gave them the confidence they needed.”

With one year apiece on the 32-year old ranch horse, as the girls have gotten faster they upgraded the speed of their horses several times, each time training their own horses.

Delaney started racing at five years old on a pair of horses, Sassy and Dusty and has remained riding with two horses since for multiple events including roping, goat tying and racing.

While the sport can become filled with expenses from traveling to competitions, fresh equipment and horse expenditures, Robyn said it is a lifestyle, just the same as other parents have athletes in basketball or football. That lifestyle started long ago and has become a bit of a family tradition.

Gilbert Eaves ropes and rides while cousins, brothers and uncles all ride for sport or simple enjoyment. He believes that “you better show up in your best pair of shoes, or your gonna get beat,” according to the girl's mom. She said the girls take a little bit more of laid-back approach than their dad but still practice a couple hours a day.

With all the practice and competitions sometimes the girls get tired.

“Sometimes you have to take a break and keep it fun. Sometimes it becomes a job and they get burnt out, we try to not push them too much,” said Robyn.

Brooke has talked about riding professionally and next year will be moving up to the junior high division.

Kasey and Delaney will continue racing, goat tying and pole bending in their youth division for a couple more years.