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Marana barrel racer Teri Murphy is back in the saddle for her second year at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, and she is rodeoing with her horse Cash for the first time since he was injured.

Cash, a 9-year-old quarter horse, has not raced for nearly a month, after another horse and rider collided with him from behind at a previous rodeo. Since he dislocated his hip, Cash has been readjusted by a chiropractor.

"We're just now bringing him back. Today will be a good adventure for him," Murphy, 39, said at Thursday's Tucson Rodeo.

Murphy and Cash made their first run at the 83rd annual event on Monday, facing a still-muddy arena.

"I was getting a little leery because my horse is hurt. He hurt his back end, and mud is the last thing you want to put a horse like that in," she said. "He did OK. He turned really good, (but) he wouldn't run."

When the duo raced again Thursday in better arena conditions, they finished in 18.14 seconds, better than Monday but not good enough to advance to the finals.

Murphy has competed as a barrel racer since she was 7. She comes from a five-generation rodeo family. Her brother Troy Trimble competed in tie-down roping last weekend.

Murphy's name may sound familiar to little cowboys and cowgirls because of her involvement in the Marana Junior Rodeo Association, which she started about four years ago to give kids the same opportunities she had as a child, she said.

Before competing Thursday, she sat down to talk about what it's like to barrel race in the Tucson Rodeo.

A. "Actually it's a great experience. … To be in your hometown is a really big deal because everyone is here to watch you."

Though originally from Nevada, Murphy has been in the Tucson area for about 15 years.

A. "Yeah, it taught me I need to get a faster horse. This is a really tough arena for the horses because it is so big and so open, you have a real long way to your first barrel, and so a lot of horses have a lot of problems in this arena."

"My main goal today is to get (Cash) in this arena and make him come out of the arena sound. This is a tough arena. You really want your horse to be in tip-top shape because everybody else is in tip-top shape. They've been running all year and, for him being hurt in this last month, this will be his first rodeo back, and so I'm expecting a lot out of him."