CODY, Wyo. — Performing what is often called gymnastics on horseback, the Double Trouble Trick Riders put on quite a show.
Twins Bethany and Brittany Iles, 12, along with sister Liberty, 8, of Lexington, Mo., performed the entire month of July at the Cody Nite Rodeo.
"I love everything about it," Bethany said. "It's exciting being in front of a crowd and performing our tricks."
Trick riding requires great athleticism, skill and determination. Each night, the girls have been wowing crowds with their tricks which include hanging upside down off their horses or standing in the saddle.
They make it look easy, which is amazing considering the girls just learned to ride horses two years ago.
Mom Andrea Iles was sick that summer, and Brittany started to lose weight and refused to eat. When she was diagnosed with anorexia, her parents decided to let her take riding lessons. Through the horse therapy she quickly began to improve. They then bought horses for all three girls.
A few months after they began riding, the girls saw trick rider Jennifer Gatrel and her friends perform. They tried it and were hooked.
"I thought it was cool," Brittany said. "I wasn't scared to try it."
"I was in the hospital or I would have never let them try it," Andrea said. "But they never sat in the saddle after that, so Jennifer offered to come back and teach them."
The girls trained for almost a year before performing their first show in June 2010.
"I was a little nervous my first show, but was really excited to go out there," Brittany said.
They quickly were booked every weekend for the rest of the season. In their short career they've already done some big things, including being the finals act for the United Rodeo Association Finals in Kansas. They also were featured in the American Royal Youth Rodeo in Kansas, and Libby sang at a PRCA Gold Series Rodeo with Keith Isley.
"They are the most talented and hard-working people I have ever met," trick riding instructor Gatrel has said of the girls. "Their show is dynamic and fun, and demonstrates to the crowd just exactly what trust and freedom look like."
Brittany enjoys doing a somersault drag and says the full-finger drag is her most dangerous trick. During the full-finger drag, she is underneath the horse and dragging her hand in the dirt.
"She likes to live on the edge," Andrea says.
Bethany's hardest trick is spin-around-the-horn. Her favorite is the shooting star, where she flips over the horn and hangs off the side.
"It's so much fun," she said. "We've learned most of the tricks, but we're always trying to add to our show."
Liberty, "Libby," began performing with her sisters shortly before the group came to Cody. Andrea thought she was too young to take up trick riding, but like her sisters Libby enjoys performing and shows no fear hanging upside down off her horse.
"They did it, and it looked like a lot of fun," she said. "On my birthday Bethany said she'd show me a trick, and we decided to do a tandem (ride together standing on a horse). Once I tried it I never stopped."
Also known as "Little Yodelin Libby," she occasionally entertains the crowd with her singing and yodeling.
"It sounds cool, and it's fun to make your tongue do it," she said. "I started when I was 7. I just go out and hope I don't mess up. It's a blast."
She has already mastered a handful of tricks, including her own creation, the "Liberty Special." During the trick, she twists one foot in the stirrup, hangs off the side of her horse and lifts her free foot up to her ear.
"The suicide drag is my hardest trick, but it's fun because you're upside, and it scares people so that's cool," she said.
Currently they are booked until New Year's Eve, and they wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's awesome," Bethany said. "We get to do what we love every night."