Blane Cox was all-in on Kits Chicks N Checks, aka Gurty—the little mare he bought as a 3-year-old in Canada and molded into a rodeo weapon with his own two hands.
By summer 2023, Gurty had gone from project to payday. She packed Cox to $30,000 at Calgary, stacked checks all summer long, and finished strong with a $10,000 haul in Sioux Falls. Everything was clicking. She was his go-to. His NFR ticket. Then the bottom fell out.
“I brought her in for some maintenance injections right before Vegas,” Cox said. “She got an infection in her coffin joint. The vets told me she’d probably never be a performance horse again—and asked if I had insurance.”
He didn’t. And he wasn’t giving up.
“I told them to do whatever they could to make her sound again, even if it was just to be a broodmare.”
For over a year, Gurty battled back. She went from hobbling on three legs to walking, then trotting, then roping. And one tool Cox swears by in her comeback? Equinety.
“We started her on the powder and the oil from Equinety,” Cox said. “We could absolutely tell when she was on it versus off. I’m not even endorsed—I buy it out of pocket. But she’ll never go without it again.”
While Cox credited Signature Equine for managing Gurty’s rehab through aqua tread, shockwave, and around-the-clock care from Lane Wood-Bargar at The Rehabilitation Center at Valley Equine, he also leaned into hope that Gurty’s story wasn’t over. During the 2023 NFR, with Gurty sidelined, he backed in the box aboard Tachitas Rey—owned by Clint Robinson—the last horse he and his father trained together before his dad retired due to health issues.
“It wasn’t the horse I planned to ride, but it came full circle,” Cox said. “It still meant everything.”
Fast forward to May 2025—nearly 20 months after that vet visit. Gurty made her return at Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo. And Cox was feeling all the feels.
“The vet told me not to let her leave the box hard unless it was for money,” Cox said. “So I hadn’t let her go anywhere yet, not like that. But I knew her. I knew she was ready.”
The stoplight start at Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo? It was practically made for Gurty.
“She’s always scored amazing,” Cox said. “When you hit the corner, she locks in. She doesn’t move until you ask, and she’s quick across the line. The setup at the Kid Rock Rodeo with that red light, green light start—she’s made for that. As soon as we walked in the building, I was watching her—to see if the lights, the noise, any of it would bother her. But it was just like we were at home. That’s when I knew we were good to go.”
The nerves melted into relief as the duo exited the arena—on all four legs.
“After everything—rehab, rest, all the hours—my wife, myself, everyone worked to get her back, it all led to that moment,” Cox said. “That walk out of the arena felt like a win in itself.”
Gurty isn’t just a horse in the trailer to Blane. She’s a piece of his story.
“I’ve trained a lot of my own, and it’s always been my dream to make the NFR on a horse I built from scratch,” Blane said. “Gurty is the first one I trained all by myself, start to finish, that I took to the rodeos and won on.”
Now 9-years-old, Gurty’s career isn’t over. It’s just beginning a new chapter.
“Her next trip will be Calgary in July,” Cox said. “After that, I plan on only riding her in setups that suit her. Hopefully she’ll get her shot in Vegas.”
And when she goes? Equinety goes with her.
“I just want to give a big shoutout to Mr. John Dowdy and the Equinety team,” Cox said. “They didn’t pay me to say this—I paid for the product. But it’s worked, and I believe in it. That stuff brought my mare back.”