Member Profile: Kyle Noon
Get to know longtime National Barrel Horse Association competitor and futurity champion Kyle Noon.
Kyle Noon has been barrel racing more than 14 years and got his start in the sport thanks to multiple NBHA 1D champion Carl Wise. Noon now rides for Johnny Kight and has jockeyed several great horses in his young career, including the late unforgettable HM Cornerstone. The 26-year-old farrier and horse trainer has Equi-Stat reported earnings of more than $76,800—not including the $35,000+ he recently bagged at the Lance Graves International Barrel Racing Championships futurity, where he won the 4- and 5-year-old futurities and finished second in the slot race aboard Kight’s homebred Docs Moonpie.
Interview by Blanche Schaefer
How did you get into running barrels?
“One of my mentors, Carl Wise, he was my start. He started me out riding and put me on some really nice horses and I got exposed a bit. Then I went to work for Johnny, and I’ve been here ever since.”
How did your partnership with Johnny Kight begin?
“[We’ve been working together] probably 10 years. He asked me to ride a horse in Unadilla (Georgia) about 10 years ago at a youth show. I rode it for him, and he called me about riding another horse and I rode it for him, and then he offered me a job and I moved down here. We’ve been partners ever since.”
How many horses do you ride a day?
“I ride probably 12 a day.”
Kyle Noon and Johnny Kight’s homebred Docs Moonpie (Docs Gettin Reckless x Ultimate Miracle x Ultimate Force). Photo by Kenneth Springer.
What is your riding routine at home for “Moonpie?”
“I usually only work him on barrels one or two times a week, but I usually always work him slow when I do. We do a lot of exercising with the walker and long trotting; we do a lot of flat exercises with him. We don’t do a lot of barrel work. He’s pretty much trained as far as that; we may try to sharpen him up one or two days a week. Other than that, we try to exercise him and keep him in shape for the weekends.”
What type of grain and supplements do you feed?
“I don’t really have any supplements I give him. I feed Omolene 200, and we have a mixed feed we mix at the house and we feed him that too.”
Grab a copy of the April 2019 issue of Barrel Horse News for the full story on Kyle Noon.