Mandy Chisum of Salinas, Calif., won the $100,000 Non-Pro Any Age title with 222 on Friday at the Augusta Futurity aboard Dual Mud Flaps. Special

No one could blame Mandy Chisum for staying away from Augusta. She had already spent enough time here after a freak accident a few years back.

Chisum overcame her fears, however, and left the Augusta Futurity with a sense of satisfaction.

Atop Dual Mud Flaps, Chisum marked 222 to win the $100,000 Non-Pro Any Age finals by three points Friday night at James Brown Arena.

Chisum, of Salinas, Calif., took home the first-place check of $5,530. Reagan Lancaster, of Pilot Point, Texas, and Talamasca Cat placed second at 219 for $4,147. Adam Koontz, of Weatherford, Texas, and Cloud Nine finished third (216, $3,226).

"It's pretty emotional for me. I was scared to come here," the 29-year-old Chisum said. "So winning is a big deal. It's definitely come full circle."

Chisum competed in the 2005 Augusta Futurity for the first time six months after picking up the sport of showing cutting horses. In Augusta, she got more than she could have expected.

While exercising her horse at the Hippodrome in North Augusta, Chisum got bucked off. She thought the pain in her lower back was merely a pulled muscle. But within an hour, she was numb from her waist down.

Chisum was rushed to a local hospital, where it was discovered she crushed two vertebrae and her tailbone.

After a few weeks, she regained feeling to her lower extremities. She spent a month in the hospital. Chisum returned home and stayed in bed another four months.

While recovering, she thought about overcoming her fear and getting back on the horse who bucked her. After eight months, she mounted the horse again.

Soon after, she purchased Dual Mud Flaps, a 12-year-old gelding by Dual Pep out of Miss Sabrina Lena. She and the horse jelled from Day One.

"He's kind of hard to be around. He's kind of goofy. Around me, he's a completely different horse. I can do anything I want to with him, and I'm the only one who can do it. I'm the only one who can wrap his back legs.

"That's my favorite thing about him - we have that connection."

Dual Mud Flaps has been sick with a virus. Since the horse has been taking antibiotics, Chisum was unsure how he'd perform.

"We weren't really sure what to expect going into tonight," she said. "He has a bigger heart than any one other horse I've been on. If anyone could do it, he could do it."

If anyone could get back on a horse, it's Chisum. Though she's studying to become a kindergarten teacher, she's planning to continue showing cutting horses for now.

"I'm clear to ride," she said. "I don't know how happy the doctors are about it. But I do feel better when I'm riding."

From the Thursday, January 20, 2007 edition of the Augusta Chronicle