Pivoting has been the name of the game throughout Amy Roy’s life.
Curveballs ranging from a cancer diagnosis to a horse that wouldn’t breed all had big impacts on Roy’s road to the NRHA Futurity.
“I was a horse nut as a kid,” Roy said. “Of course, I grew up and got away from it, but when breast cancer meant I couldn’t have kids, my husband and I decided to do more of what we loved. So, I bought some horses and started looking at reining trainers.”
While Roy leaned into her passion for horses, her husband decided to become a pilot. Ultimately, her curiosity got the best of her, and she decided to join him through ground and flight school, coming out on the other side as a licensed pilot.
Three years ago, the weather in both Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Chehalis, Washington, was perfect, allowing Roy and her husband to fly themselves down to watch the National Reining Horse Association Futurity and Adequan® North American Affiliate Championships.
In 2023, she opted to drive the 28-hour trip, hauling down from Washington state to compete in the NRHA CINCH Non Pro Futurity.
While Roy has been in the pen plenty of times, this was her first time to show a futurity horse, as her focus has been on her breeding operation.
“My other mare I was going to breed just didn’t take,” said Roy. “I went to my trainer and told him I’d need a new broodmare, and instead, they found me this little two-year-old. She was down in Texas, and I couldn’t go try her, so I took the risk and just bought her.”
Despite the lack of similarity in her hobbies, Roy has found that certain aspects of being a pilot have helped her while showing horses, “Like a lot of non pros, I struggle with looking up, but when you’re looking up and running down, that’s actually how you need to land the plane.”
