Could you hang off the side of a horse by one leg as it’s running full speed? Well two twelve year old girls can do that and much more. Maddy Gatrel and Liberty Cunningham are the Pegasus Riders and compete in trick riding competitions across the U.S. They share some insight into their life of how they learned to do this and what these tricks look like.

Trick riding is the act of performing stunts while horseback riding. Gatrel has been riding since she was three years old while Cunningham began when she was eight.

“Every trick rider learns the same first four tricks,” explains Gatrel. “We call them the foundation of trick riding. These are what help you to achieve the many tricks we are able to do.”

One trick that Gatrel performs entails hanging off her horse by one foot and her head being inches from the ground. Cunningham says one she does a lot is where she stands on her horse with one foot in the air at a needle pose.