This week, we’re featuring CJ Lembke ’11 who currently owns and operates 70 Ranch Performance Horses, a prestigious cowhorse breeding business in nearby Fort Morgan.

 

After graduating from college, where she was on the rodeo team, CJ became a professional barrel racer and trainer in Texas and traveled the country competing at rodeos. But when a series of accidents left her unable to ride, she switched gears and founded her cowhorse breeding business as it’s known today.

 

“The cowhorse event is basically triathlon of events that test the horsemanship of the rider and the agility of a horse,” CJ explains. “Each event, Reining, Cutting, and Down the Fence, is scored individually and then added together for a final score.”

 

She teamed up with cowhorse/rope horse trainer Chris Anderson, and the two of them choose offspring from mares who will go into training in hopes that they develop a producer record, which means that the win will go on the mare’s record with the American Quarter Association. Since its founding in November of 2017, the business has exploded and CJ is now responsible for an impressive 35 horses at 70 Ranch Performance Horses.