Kelly Lear is trading her veterinary lab coat for glitzy western wear to compete in her 18th show season with 2007 Pinto World Champion Singing Saddie Sue, a horse Lear met as an abused weanling and has nurtured into a top show mare.

“This season is going to be a special one,” Lear said.

That’s because Lear graduated from veterinary school at Colorado State University (CSU) on May 16, completing her last, rigorous rotations even as she nursed her horse back from leg injuries that required daily treatment. Lear is considering a career in equine acupuncture—a complementary therapy that she used to help Saddie recover—but the new veterinarian’s immediate focus is the 2014 show season.

“Saddie and I have a lot to be proud of this year, with me graduating from veterinary school and with her now recovered from last season’s injury," she said. "It was a hard winter, and for a while I thought I would lose her

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