Exclusive: Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi Opens Up on Gold Buckle, Horses and Future of the Sport

World Champion barrel racer Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi chats about her Wrangler National Finals Rodeo experience, her partners and where this sport can go from here.

2023 has been an incredible year for 17-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier and two-time World Champion barrel racer Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi. She set the new regular season earnings record with $270,563 and already has the 2023 gold buckle to her name.

On Friday, Rodeo Daily got to spend some time with her while at The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Brittany has been impressive this year in Las Vegas, record-breaking, in fact. This year she broke the $1 million mark in earnings, the fourth in history. But she’s not done quite yet.

"I am winning the average. Maybe on track to set an average record. It's been a theme for me this year, breaking records," Tonozzi said.

But with that success has come a partnership with her incredible horses. Their sheer talent has played a major factor in her successes this season. The biggest change though?

"Horsepower. I have had three amazing horses to pick from this year and it has really shown and having the horsepower I have had this year has made the difference," Tonozzi said.

"Having a horse that likes the Thomas and Mack is huge here. I was pretty confident Benny would like it, he's never been here before. He proved me right! I had Benny, Titan and Birdie all year and with the combination of these three horses I was able to keep them fresh, switch them out, run them in arenas that they felt comfortable in and I knew they could win in. It was a plan that all came together and I am glad it did."

Tonozzi is enjoying huge wins during what is arguably one of the most exciting times in the history of the sport. People are more interested than ever in the Western way of life. She has a pretty good idea of why this boom is occurring within the industry.

"The money keeps getting better and better. It's a really cool time to be a part of the industry. With all the changes we have seen, the growth, now it's cool to be a cowboy! These cowboy Christmases we are at keep getting better, bigger, more people involved in the industry," Tonozzi said.

"I attribute it to the different television shows. Everyone is really interested in the Western way of life. It is bringing more notoriety to our sport. People are actually seeing what we do and getting involved. The barrel racing is really easy to get involved in. The rules are easy. The fastest time wins. You hit a barrel it's plus-five. We have seen growth not only in the rodeo part of our industry but we have seen growth in the barrel racing world with the different breeding incentives we have going on. I see a future in it for my six-year-old daughter that whenever she becomes the age to rodeo she can make a living rodeoing. The last ten to fifteen years it's been hard to make a living rodeoing and it keeps getting better and it's super exciting for us."

While Tonozzi is an incredible athlete, she is also very passionate about the health and future growth of the sport and the industry. Where do we go from here and how do we get there? 

"I think we keep bringing notoriety to the sport. It is a Western way of life. Keeping people interested. The animals, letting people know we love our animals. It doesn't have the stigmas that the city people want to give it. It's completely different and it's all about the horse and the animals. It's a sport that is like no other. And I think we just keep bringing notoriety to the sport," Tonozzi said.

"I think Yellowstone and the different television shows have really done that for us, kind of made it cool to be a cowboy. And the money. A lot of people watch sports because they want to see someone win a million dollars. They want to see someone's life change for winning first. The more money we can get in our sport the better it will make it."

"It's an incredible time to be a part of rodeo and seeing the growth in our industry, it's really cool!"