KRISTY LEE COOK

Living every day like it's your last

“I love the feel of being on a horse’s back and just going for a run. Ever since I stepped foot on a horse when I was 2 years old, it has been my favorite thing to do,” she says, “especially when you’re on a fast one.”

Kristy has poured everything she had into her passion for horses. Her specialty is in training horses, young and old, that have failed for a reason or another. She's great at figuring out the best way for each animal to get back in peak competition form as soon as possible.

Maybe she knows a bit of what the racing horses are going through: Kristy has had to remake herself because of vocal cord injuries. The music industry was left behind, literally, for greener pastures.

EVERY DAY COUNTS
"I don’t want to sit still. I want to do as many things as I can, because you never know when it’s gonna be your last day you know?," she says. "I’ve always felt that you can do more than one thing in life. And I feel that you can be successful at more than one thing.”

That clarity comes with time and experience. Jordan Muller, a horse trainer apprentice and family friend, has empathy for Kristy. “She’s been through a lot honestly," she says. "Having to sell her favorite barrel horse to not being able to pursue her music dream anymore, I feel like that would be really hard on somebody.”

SHOWING RESPECT FOR THE LAND
Her show, Most Wanted List, is built on a deep belief that Kristy and Lee Orr, Kristy's husband, cherish the land they live on. "I wouldn’t want to live any other way. I feel like this kind of lifestyle teaches respect, teaches responsibility and manners," she says. "You learn about animals and outdoors and all of the things that were such a big part of our history."

Every year, Lee and Kristy look forward to elk hunting. "We like to go out and provide our own food that we put on our own table," Lee says. "We want to live off the land, rely on the land. Eat what we harvest."

BECOMING BETTER EVERY DAY
Lee beams with pride when discussing all that his wife has accomplished. “I think that Kristy is a role model to a lot of little girls," he says, "that look up to a respectable woman in today’s age."

Kristy has one clear goal for the future: to better herself. That means living with no regrets and looking after their home and their land. "I feel like living off the land, doing things on the outdoors and getting outside, I think that’s such a huge thing," she says, "especially for now and for the generations that are to come.

"If you don’t take care of it, if you don’t appreciate and understand and respect any of that, then it’s just that all the beauty of the land is going to be gone."