Ashley Castleberry returned to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo with redemption on her mind.
After a year of peaks and valleys with her mount Skyy Blue, Castelberry dominated Bracket 5 in Dickies Arena to win Montana Silversmiths WPRA Athlete of the Week.
After down barrels in both rounds for Castleberry in 2023, she came back with a vengeance this season to, instead, lay down the fastest run of the entire rodeo on her beloved Skyy. T
he two stopped the clock at 16.57 seconds to win Round 1 by half a second, but they were long from done. They came into Round 2 to best their own time and everybody else’s with a 16.31-second run that landed Castleberry on top of her bracket and heading to the Semifinals.
Castleberry’s journey to get here with Skyy came after a tragedy in 2022. With her main mount, Stormy, surviving what could have been a career ending injury after a trailer fire, Castleberry’s focus and hope was all in on the big gray.
“That horse is awesome, I give everything to him, he makes my job easy and fun,” she said. “I’m just so grateful to come to an awesome rodeo.”
After finishing their 2023 season ranked No. 17 in the WPRA World Standings with $87,000 to her name, Castleberry is well on her way down a road to success and Fort Worth is just a pit stop. She is Semifinals bound and one to keep an eye on as we get one step closer to crowning Champions in Fort Worth.
