CHESTER, Utah — The Flitton family is part of a rodeo legacy, and the youngest generation is honoring that legacy while making a name of their own as top trick riders.

Stellar Trick Riding Cowgirls, a regular on the pro rodeo circuit, is the duo of Kate and Tera Flitton. The family operates Bar T Rodeo Company and has supplied top professional rodeo livestock for more than 75 years.

“Our great-grandpa, Bud Kerby, and great-great-grandpa Swanny Kerby are both in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame as livestock contractors,” Tera said. “Swanny is also in the Cowboy Hall of Fame.”

Because of that family history, the Flitton girls have grown up in and around the rodeo world. Kate, 19, was just 7 years old when she made a life-changing decision.

“I saw trick riding at a rodeo when I was younger, just like a lot of little girls watching in the stands, and I decided this is who I am going to be, what I wanted to do,” Kate said.

Her grandmother paid for Kate to spend a week at a trick riding school in Texas, and from there she learned from others on the rodeo circuit as the family traveled the nation for their work. Motivated to be fully available for her love of trick riding, she graduated high school a year early, at just 16.

“We travel across the Midwest and the western United States,” Kate said. “Because our family is the stock contractor also, we do a lot of work related to that. I think the only month we really have off is October.”

That tracks with the rodeo calendar, as the season typically ends in late September and a new one begins in November.

Tera said watching her sister perform — and everything that went along with it — drew her to trick riding as well.

“Just looking at the crowd, and the music and the energy in the arena,” she said. “I thought it was definitely one of the more extreme things I could do and it looks fun. I could also give my sister a break during her laps.”

Tera, 15, takes her classes online and is on track to graduate a year from now, just before she turns 16 — two full years early. While Kate says she has no interest in college and is happy to spend her life trick riding and eventually working the family livestock business, Tera hopes to study web design and is an avid photographer.

The Stellar Trick Riding Cowgirls are set to make a run through Idaho this summer, starting with the Bannock County PRCA Rodeo at the Bannock County Events Center in Pocatello on May 22-23. They will then head to Mackay for the Mackay PRCA Rodeo on June 26-27, and to Tetonia for the Buckin’ by the Tetons rodeo on July 10-11.

Both girls use multiple horses during their performances and each has multiple routines, helping keep each night fresh for themselves and the audience.

When asked about their favorite tricks, Kate has a question of her own.

“Do you mean what is my favorite or what is the crowd’s favorite?” she asked. “I have a favorite trick and the crowd has a favorite trick.”

Her personal favorite is the shoulder stand, in which she performs what is essentially a handstand on the horse’s shoulders.

“The crowd favorite is when we are standing on the back of the horse, the hippodrome,” Kate said.

Tera loves performing what she calls the one-foot stand — essentially the hippodrome, but balanced on just one foot. The crowd’s favorite of her tricks, she said, is the Cossack drag.

“It’s where my head and hands are dragging in the dirt and my one foot is connected to a strap on the right side of the saddle,” Tera said. “It’s kind of like I am doing the splits but then my head is touching the dirt. The crowd loves it.”

To learn more about Kate and Tera, visit stellartrickriding.com.