Smooth and Suave: Kappie Bryant and Smooth As Rico Suave Earn a Spot in AT&T Stadium
- Teal Stoll
- Jun 6, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 8, 2025
By Teal Stoll
Kappie Bryant and her unexpected superstar, "Pancakes," are enjoying the ride in 2025.
“He looked like a Halflinger. He had snowballs frozen to him. To this day, he measures barely 14.1 hands. I was wondering what I’d done,” Kappie Bryant laughed.
In 2025, that same little buckskin gelding, Smooth As Rico Suave, better known as “Pancakes,” helped her earn a coveted spot in AT&T Stadium. Bryant and Pancakes have had some milestone experiences this year, thanks in part to new avenues in rodeo.
The month of May featured several major events, including the World Champions Rodeo Alliance’s Rodeo Corpus Christi, the Women’s Rodeo World Championship (WRWC), and Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo. While all of these events are open to professional rodeo athletes, contestants from a variety of lifestyles are now able to earn a seat at the table.
Historically, options were limited for those who couldn’t compete full-time. Over the past 10 years, pioneering individuals have stepped forward to create new opportunities for cowboys and cowgirls in the sport. We caught up with Kappie Bryant of Sunset, Texas, to talk about her path to Corpus Christi and Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo.
Bryant, who had initially nominated for Rodeo North Carolina, was offered the option to transfer her points to Rodeo Corpus Christi (RCC) after Hurricane Helene devastated the East Coast in 2024. Feeling confident that her horse would like the setup in Corpus Christi, Bryant took the opportunity.
Coming into RCC in the 16th (and final) position on the leaderboard, she made a splash by winning the Wild Card Round and earning a spot in the Progressive Rounds. RCC used the “stoplight start.” Rather than an electric eye clocking the start of the run, the start time is based on a stoplight.
“My horse is young, and I wanted to get an extra run in there, so coming in where I did on the leaderboard was ideal for us. He gets better with more runs, so I planned to treat my Wild Card run as an exhibition and just see how the stoplight system worked. I wanted to get my bearings, and he hasn’t been in very many performances, so I thought, ‘The more runs, the merrier!’” Bryant told us.
Bryant left ever-so-slightly too early in Progressive Round 1, which resulted in a costly five-second penalty for what could have been a round win. Undeterred, she returned for the Showdown Round, finishing second for a $9,000 payday. Winning a total of $11,500 at the event, their performance earned the duo a spot on the Free Riders Team at Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo.
While the stoplight start can be intimidating to some, Bryant quickly got the hang of it. Her advice: “Just watch the light. Don’t listen to the sounds, the announcer, or anyone around you. Don’t try to count it down, just pay attention to the light. It’s better to be a little bit behind it than break it. I was trying to be fast at Corpus and broke it, just barely by his nose. It was heartbreaking because he smoked a run.”
Bryant praised the unique format and production of the events. “It was my first year, and I didn’t know how it would all work, but it was really neat. It felt unified and really did bring the team aspect back to rodeo. I had a blast. They really took care of us.”
Bryant’s equine partner, seven-year-old Smooth As Rico Suave (A Smooth Guy x Little Thunder Rolls x Royal Quick Dash), handled both setups with ease. She credits their success to his calm temperament and trainability.
“I got Pancakes when he was three. I actually traded for him, and when we went to pick him up, it was late at night and he was from up north. I handed them this slick, fat bay colt, and literally, a pony stepped off their trailer. He had snowballs frozen to him.”
As Bryant rodeoed, Pancakes stayed in the trailer with her off and on, training on her pop-up barrels at arenas across the country. Like any worthy adventure, it was not always smooth sailing.
“I would try to ride him in a grand entry to get him used to stuff, and he would come untrained,” she told us. “One of my favorite stories was in Natural Dam, Arkansas. It was maybe his third race. I was walking to the arena, and a rooster comes running out of the tree line, and a guy was yelling while chasing it with a catfish net. He bucked me off. So we like to joke that he has come a long way from rooster catching.”
Despite his early quirks, Pancakes always brought heart.
“He has never once told me ‘no.’ Everything I’ve thrown at him, he’s never backed off. Since the day I got him, he has had so much try. I’m blown away at the amount of effort he puts out every single time, and he just does it because I ask,” Bryant said. “He has an ego, he thinks he’s the biggest stud out there. He’s been super trainable from day one, extremely willing. As goofy as it sounds, we’ve always been really good friends.”
Always focused on Pancakes’ wellbeing, Bryant continues refining her approach.
“Something I’ve taken from Tricia (Aldridge) and reiterated back into my program is how much attention she pays to her horses. I try to genuinely pay attention to him: how he’s feeling, what he’s doing, how we can capitalize on it and make it better.”
This wasn’t the journey Bryant had planned, but she is grateful for where their path has led. “He was never supposed to be what he is. I never looked at him and thought about him doing this kind of thing in just two years. We sit at the trailer and scratch him until he’s in a good mood, and he’s ready. He is literally the easiest horse.”
As for what’s ahead, Bryant plans to simply keep enjoying the ride.
“I really want to focus on making the circuit finals. I don’t want to rodeo full-time right now. I’d rather try again for The American, take him to some slot races, and get the futurity colts ready for next year. It’s fun when you have a horse that gives you a shot every time you’re entered. It’s one of those rides you hope never stops.”
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