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Contestant

NFR Top 15 Bareback Riders 2019

November 16, 2019 By Haylee Taylor

The Wrangler NFR serves as the season-ending championship event for both the PRCA and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. Universally recognized as the world’s premier rodeo, this prestigious event has been an annual tradition since 1985. Hosted at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas every December, the Wrangler NFR stands as the most esteemed and financially rewarding rodeo in the ProRodeo circuit. It provides a platform for showcasing the absolute best cowboys, barrel racers, and livestock from across the globe.

Wrangler NFR Bareback Riders Profiles 2019

Jake Brown: Jake Brown – Cleveland, Texas ($95,068) 5-time WNFR qualifier

Jake Brown at NFR

Jake has always wanted to be cowboy and one of the first goals he ever set was to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

He enters his fifth NFR in ninth place with $95,048 in regular season earnings. The born and bred Texan first accomplished that goal in 2015 and hasn’t missed one since. His father, Paul Brown is a college rodeo coach. He has two older sisters that competed at play days and the family was nearly always at a rodeo or practicing for rodeos.

Tim O’Connell: Tim O’Connell – Zwingle, Iowa ($113,168) 6-time WNFR qualifier 3-time World Champion

Tim O’Connell at NFR

Three years in a row Tim O’Connell entered the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in first place and left with a world title. But in 2018, he also left with an injury.

He scored 87-points on J Bar J’s bucking horse All Pink in the tenth round, but that came at a cost. He suffered a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum. While he didn’t think the injury was that bad at first, an MRI when he returned home showed the extent of the damage.

Dr. Tandy Freeman of the Justin Sportsmedicine Team recommended surgery which kept Tim out of action for six months. The upside of the forced inaction was Tim had more time to spend with his wife Sami and their son Hazen who turned one in March.

I enjoyed the six months off,” he said. “God blessed me with the time to spend with my wife and son, and it lit my fire to ride bucking horses again.

Trenten Montero: Trenten Montero – Winnemucca, Nev. ($80,757) First-time WNFR qualifier

Trenten Montero at NFR

If Trenton Montero has any regrets about his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualification, it’s that he won’t be able to participate in the grand entry.

There is nothing this ranch-raised cowboy would rather do than ride behind the Nevada flag as one of this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo contestants, except get on a bucking horse and ride for a world championship. That is exactly what he is going to do and because bareback riding is the first event, those contestants don’t participate in the grand entry.

Taylor Broussard: Taylor Broussard – Estherwood, La. ($79,271) First-time WNFR qualifier

Taylor Broussard at NFR

When a lot of rodeo contestants qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, someone plans a celebration for them.

Taylor Broussard from Estherwood, Louisiana is having his own party on Facebook. Broussard’s family owns Acadia Crawfish Company, a gourmet line of spices and foods that reflects his Louisiana bayou heritage. When it was official, and he could announce that he got the 15th spot and was headed to compete on rodeo’s biggest stage he celebrated by giving away a starter kit to have the world’s best crawfish boil.

While he is giving others the opportunity to have a celebration, he and his wife Alishea and their families are doing a lot of celebrating as well. Taylor joined the PRCA in 2011. When he’s not rodeoing, he works at the family business. After finishing in the top 40 last year, he felt like he could compete with the best and had the confidence that he could be among the top 15 that ride for the gold buckle.

Tilden Hooper: Tilden Hooper – Carthage, Texas ($137,559) 6-time WNFR qualifier

Tilden Hooper at NFR

When Tilden Hooper won the bareback riding at the College National Finals Rodeo and the PRCA Rookie of the Year in 2007, everyone saw a bright future for the talented athlete.

He qualified for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2008. Tilden finished that year 15th in the world standings. The next year he qualified again in 14th place.

In 2010, he tied for the world-record score when he rode Classic Pro Rodeo’s Big Tex for 94 points. But he missed the NFR.

A trip back to Las Vegas came in 2011 and again in 2014, when he finished the year in 11th place both times.

Clint Laye: Clint Laye – Cadogan, Alberta ($107,954) 2-time WNFR qualifier

Clint Laye at NFR

Clint Laye is returning to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo after a three-year absence. The Canadian bareback rider qualified for his first trip to the Thomas & Mack Center in 2015, finished 10th in the world standings and placed in four of the 10 rounds.

Injuries kept him out of action for most of 2016, he finished in the Top 50 in 2017 and just missed returning to the WNFR last year when he finished 17th. He starts this year’s competition in eighth place with $107,954 in regular season earnings.

He started 2019 with a bang, winning the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver in January. Other big wins included the California Rodeo in Salinas; Union, Oregon; Jerome, Idaho; Moses Lake, Washington; and Mona, Utah, the last weekend of the regular rodeo season.

Ty Breuer: Ty Breuer – Mandan, N.D. ($88,699) 5–time WNFR qualifier

Ty Breuer at NFR

Ty Breuer had the best winter of his nine years as a PRCA bareback rider this year.

The Mandan, North Dakota resident won the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, then the Fiesta De Las Vaqueros Rodeo in Tucson, Arizona. He also got nearly $10,000 out of the San Antonio Stock Show Rodeo.

He continued winning and by the first of April had worked his way to third place in the world standings. Then things started to slow down. After the Fourth of July he was sixth with $86,113. He only added $2,586 through the rest of the season qualifying for his fifth Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 12th place with $88,699.

Caleb Bennett: Caleb Bennett – Corvallis, Mont. ($110,973) 8-time WNFR qualifier

Caleb Bennett at NFR

Caleb Bennett had high hopes for a gold buckle last year. He came to Las Vegas ranked 2nd, his best regular season finish in more than a decade of membership in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

He won one round at the 2018 WNFR and placed in three others – a respectable showing – but five other cowboys won enough in the 10 rounds to pass him. He finished the year ranked sixth in the world.

This year he starts rodeo’s championships in seventh with $110,973 earned in during the regular season. He kicked off 2019 with big wins in Texas at San Angelo and Austin, where he won first for the second year in a row. Other big wins came at the 100th anniversary Cody (Wyoming) Stampede over July 4 and at several Canadian rodeos.

Austin Foss: Austin Foss – Terrebonne, Ore. ($92,895) 4-time WNFR qualifier

Austin Foss at NFR

A bareback riding glove that gets wedged into the handle of a rigging is much more than a tool for Austin Foss of Terrebonne, Oregon.

The four-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier customizes those gloves for his fellow competitors and uses his own glove to keep track of his rides and remind him to keep improving. Each time he is more than 80 points on a ride, he stamps an eight on his glove. He pulled out some old gloves and did some calculating. The glove he rode with in 2012 had about 20 of the eights on it. The next year it was 26. During this year’s regular season, he has been 80 points or better a total of 45 times and even got to put a nine on his glove for a ride that topped 90 this year.

That success during the regular season has Austin headed to the NFR in 11th place with $92,895. A native Oregonian, Austin won the state title in high school twice. He went on to Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton and finished fifth at the College National Finals Rodeo in 2012, the same year he won the PRCA Rookie-of-the-Year title.

Steven Dent: Steven Dent – Mullen, Neb. ($93,799) 10-time WNFR qualifier

Steven Dent at WNFR

Growing up in the sandhills of Nebraska, there were three things Steven Dent learned a lot about, athletics, rodeo and ranching. He has been successful at all three and 2019 marks his tenth trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

When he was a junior in high school,l he helped his eight-man football team win a state championship and led the state in rushing with 2,488 yards. The next year, he was a state wrestling champion.

All the while, he was learning about rodeo from his father who competed in the PRCA. His parents made their living ranching and he was taking that all in as well. Football scholarships held little interest to the high school athlete, but an offer to rodeo with world champion saddle bronc rider Tom Reeves at Ranger College in Texas was very appealing.

Steven also competes in saddle bronc riding as well as bareback riding. In fact, he finished the 2019 regular season ranked fifth in the all-around world championship standings and won the collegiate all-around title in 2007.

Clayton Biglow: Clayton Biglow – Clements, Calif. ($181,952) 4-time WNFR qualifier

Clayton Biglow at WNFR

After the best season of his rodeo career, Clayton Biglow is headed to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for the fourth consecutive year – and this time he’s the frontrunner.

He racked up nearly $182,000 in regular-season earnings, including over $9,000 in the final month of the season to move him $5,741 ahead of four-time world champion Kaycee Feild.

After his first NFR qualification in 2016, he finished the season in seventh place. In 2017, he was fifth and in 2018 he finished fourth. With that constant improvement, this year he is poised for a serious bid for a world championship.

Clayton has been among the top seven bareback riders in the world since 2016, just three years removed from winning the National High School Rodeo Association champion bareback rider and reserve all-around cowboy.

Kaycee Feild: Kaycee Feild – Spanish Fork, Utah ($176,205) 10-time WNFR qualifier 4-time World Champion

Kaycee Feild at NFR

The path to his tenth Wrangler National Finals Rodeo has been a roller-coaster of ups and downs for four-time world champion bareback rider Kaycee Feild.

After finishing seventh at the end of 2018, Feild didn’t have an exceptional early season in 2019. By mid-February he was ranked 10th in the world championship standings.

Then came March. He started the month winning second place and $26,000 at The American in Arlington, Texas. Then he headed to one of his favorite rodeos – Rodeo Houston. There he won his fifth title in eight years and added more than $56,000 to his season earnings and passing the $100,000 mark. He finished the month by staying in Texas and winning $12,000 at Rodeo Austin and held the number one position with just under $116,000.

Richmond Champion: Richmond Champion – The Woodlands, Texas ($130,829) 5-time WNFR qualifier

Richmond Champion at NFR

With parents that jobs that required frequent moves, Richmond Champion didn’t find his way to the rodeo arena until he was a teenager and had moved to Texas. The first-generation cowboy has truly found his passion and has qualified for his fifth Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in the bareback riding.

Wanting to be the best he knew he needed to learn so he went to three bareback riding schools in six months. It paid off. He won the Texas High School Rodeo title, competed at the National High School Finals Rodeo and got a chance to further his education at Tarleton State University.

His mother competed in equestrian events in high school and had a love for horses that she passed on. The family is super competitive with everything they do and when Richmond’s older brother Doug was riding bareback horses, it wasn’t long until they both were getting on. Richmond had been riding bulls but said “I wasn’t very good at it,” so the transition to bareback was an easy decision.

Orin Larsen: Orin Larsen – Inglis, Manitoba ($173,442) 5-time WNFR qualifier

Orin Larsen at NFR

Orin Larsen is making a habit of qualifying for both the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) and the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. This is the fourth year in a row that he will compete at Canada’s championship rodeo in October and then head to Las Vegas for the WNFR in December.

The first year he qualified for the NFR was in 2015. But the native Canadian missed the CFR that year.

Orin’s first NFR qualification was special for the family as his older brother Tyrell competed in the saddle bronc riding. They were the first contestants from Manitoba to compete for rodeo’s championships.

They have made a lot of family memories. At last year’s CFR, Orin competed in bareback riding, Tyrell in saddle bronc riding and their youngest brother Kane qualified in the bull riding.

Tanner Aus: Tanner Aus – Granite Falls, Minn. ($81,595) 4-time WNFR qualifier

Tanner Aus at NFR

Rodeo fans would be hard pressed to find a cowboy that is more humble than Tanner Aus from Granite Falls, Minnesota.

Each of the three previous years that he has been there, he has shared or won at least one round and placed in multiple rounds. He has career earnings of nearly $900,000 so it’s a pretty safe bet that he will accomplish that goal at this year’s NFR.

He has won a lot of big rodeos, qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo four times and is on track to cross the $1 million mark. In fact, even though he is entering the NFR in 13th place with $81,595 he could cross that milestone in Las Vegas in December.

Courtesy of WranglerNetwork.com

Filed Under: Contestant

NFR Top 15 Barrel Racers 2019

November 13, 2019 By Haylee Taylor

The Wrangler NFR stands as the culminating championship event for both the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association, holding the esteemed title of the world’s foremost rodeo competition. Since its inception in 1985, this grand event has been a December tradition, taking place at the renowned Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Renowned as the most lucrative and prestigious rodeo in the ProRodeo circuit, the Wrangler NFR proudly features the finest cowboys, barrel racers, and livestock from across the globe.

2019 WNFR Barrel Racers Profiles

Jennifer Sharp: Jennifer Sharp – Richards, Texas ($91,754) First-time WNFR qualifier

Jennifer Sharp

Jennifer Sharp started the 2019 season with a bang, winning second at Odessa, Texas, and then taking the championship at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver in January. Riding Six French Smooches “Smooch”, she won nearly $12,000. Smooch, a six-year-old palomino mare is owned by Terri Lamp of Cat Springs, Texas.

Hailey Kinsel: Hailey Kinsel – Cotulla, Texas ($148,867) 3-time WNFR qualifier 2018 World Champion

It wasn’t that long ago that no one had heard of Hailey Kinsel, but she and her great mare DM Sissy Hayday “Sister” have not only become superstars in the barrel racing world, their rise to success in the rodeo arena has given the Kinsel name notoriety.

It started in 2017 when they won RFD-TV’s The American. Then came a college championship for Texas A&M University and their first trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo where they set an arena record and an earnings record.

Stevi Hillman: Stevi Hillman – Weatherford, Texas ($105,335) 4-time WNFR qualifier

For any barrel racer to achieve greatness, it takes a team. For Stevi Hillman, it has also taken a Truck.

Stevi is on her way to her fourth Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and while she has ridden several different horses, there has been one that has been instrumental in her success. That horse is 12-year-old gelding Cuatro Fame, “Truck.”

There are several constants in her life. Her faith in God, her husband Ty, and her desire to win. Truck has been right there too. This year he has won the majority of her $105,335 during the regular season putting her in sixth place to start the NFR.

Stevi first qualified for the NFR in 2016. That same year, her husband, Ty Hillman, started his own personal coaching business – Prepare to Win. That has become a way of life for this duo as they listen to motivational speakers as they drive, try to eat healthy and get rest on the road and put their faith to good use.

Nellie Miller: Nellie Miller – Cottonwood, Calif. ($154,611) 4-time WNFR qualifier 2017 World Champion

Nellie Miller not only has the distinction of entering her fourth Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in first place, she did it by entering fewer rodeos than any of her other competitors.

It’s not just because she has a super star horse in Rafter W Minnie Reba, the 11-year-old mare that everyone knows as Sister. Sister was raised and trained by Nellie’s father Sam Williams and is a full sister to the horse that Nellie competed on at her first NFR.

Maybe it is because they raised and trained the mare, and maybe it’s just because of the partnership they have formed, but Nellie has figured out exactly what rodeos Sister likes and where they will excel. Needless to say, they have a high winning percentage. They earned $154,611 during the regular season and did that at 28 rodeos.

Ericka Nelson: Ericka Nelson – Century, Fla. ($93,433) First-time WNFR qualifier

Ericka Nelson at nfr

Ask Ericka Nelson about the learning curve in rodeo. It took her three years to get to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and it wasn’t from lack of effort or winning.

Ericka joined the WPRA in 2001. She went to circuit rodeos and stayed pretty close to home in Century, Florida. She rode outside horses and did some training. One of the horses that came to her in those days was PC Cash “Bud.” He came to Ericka as a three-year-old, she started training him and taking him to futurities. Because she didn’t want to travel and go “out west” but wanted Bud to have those opportunities he was sold.

Then Goodfrenchmanfriday “Friday” came into her life and she couldn’t turn down the opportunity to ride him. She saw it as an opportunity to show the rest of the world the quality of horses there are in Florida, so she hit the road.

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi: Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi – Lampasas, Texas ($105,503) 13-time WNFR qualifier 2-time World Champion

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi at NFR

Brittany Pozzi-Tonozzi just might have a horse problem. It’s a self-proclaimed part of her barrel racing addiction.

That addiction has led to 13 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifications, well over $2 million in career earnings and two world championships. It’s also developed her horsemanship as she has ridden so many different horses and gained experience and knowledge from each one.

Her love of the sport led to ventures outside of the arena starting a breeding business. She and her husband Garrett Tonozzi have about 50 horses in their care and do a large percentage of the work themselves.

Add a two-year-old daughter (Tinlee born March of 2017) and their lives have to be nothing short of chaotic. Even with the chaos, Brittany has managed to travel coast to coast, earn $105,503 during the regular season and will start this year’s NFR in fifth place.

On the “Married With Horses” podcast, she told Lane and Jackie Jatzlau that she would really be happy if she won fifth place at every rodeo she went to. All of those fifth-place checks would add up and with going to 67 rodeos would likely get someone to the NFR.

Emily Miller: Emily Miller – Weatherford, Okla. ($98,145) First-time WNFR qualifier

Emily Miller at NFR

Emily Miller grew up on a farm in Kansas with family that wasn’t involved with horses. Her babysitter was a barrel racer and that started an interest that is not only a lifelong passion for Emily, it forged a lifelong relationship with that babysitter, Jana (Wehkamp) Turner.

Emily’s parents supported her love of horses and competing in rodeos but they also were realistic about the endeavors. She competed in five events in high school and was the Kansas all-around champion on three occasions.

When she was a sophomore in high school her parents bought her a horse for the last time. They were still supportive but knew that she needed to learn to make it on her own and treat rodeo like a business.

She got rodeo scholarships for college and started out at the nearby Garden City Community College. Then she transferred to Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford and got her dental hygiene degree.

Shali Lord: Shali Lord – Lamar, Colo. ($111,776) 2-time WNFR qualifier

Shali Lord at NFR

A lot of things have changed since Shali Lord qualified for her first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2005.

While the competition is essentially the same, the NFR payout has nearly doubled going from $5,104,424 to $10,000. Each of the 10 rounds is worth about $12,000 more for winners and the overall NFR champion will earn $27,000 more than the 2005 winner did.

When Shali, from Lamar, Colorado, qualified in 2005, she rode a little bay rocket, SX Docs Slider “Slider” that either got her to the pay window or hit a barrel. It was exciting to watch and that duo stole the hearts of many fans. She ended up third in the world with $143,348. This year she enters the competition fourth in the world with $111,776, just $31,572 less than she won during the whole 2005 season.

Cheyenne Wimberley: Cheyenne Wimberley – Stephenville, Texas ($90,361) 3-time WNFR qualifier

Cheyenne Wimberley at NFR

It’s been 20 years since Cheyenne Wimberley ran down the alley at the Thomas & Mack Center to compete in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

The Stephenville, Texas, cowgirl joined the WPRA shortly after hitting double digits. It wasn’t long until she was finding success in the rodeo arena. She filled her permit when she was 11 at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque. The next year she was the Turquoise Circuit Rookie of the Year. She made her first of two consecutive appearances at the NFR in 1998.

After her good horse sustained a career-ending injury, Cheyenne walked away from professional rodeo and its grueling travel schedule. She finished college at Tarleton State University, earned her realtor’s license, became a horse insurance broker and founded Cowboy Classic Saddlery with her parents. She kept her passion for barrel racing, finding her niche training futurity horses.

Ivy Conrado-Saebens: Ivy Conrado – Nowata, Okla. ($93,269) 4-time WNFR qualifier

Ivy Conrado-Saebens at Wrangler NFR

This has been a year of change outside of the rodeo arena for Ivy Conrado-Saebens, but her barrel racing has been on a steady winning path.

She qualified for her fourth consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in barrel racing and her ten-year-old mare KNFabs Gift of Fame “JLo” was named AQHA Purina Reserve Barrel Horse of the Year for the second straight year. Ivy has $93,269 in regular-season earnings and will start the NFR in 11th place.

Last year she placed in six of the ten rounds at the Thomas & Mack Center, finishing eighth in the average. She won the fifth round, earning the go-round buckle, finished third in the first, sixth and seventh rounds and took sixth in the third and tenth rounds. Ivy won $98,000 to nearly double her regular season winnings and finish the year ranked sixth.

On the personal side, Ivy moved to Nowata, Oklahoma, early this year, where her fiancé Billie Jack Saebens is head trainer for Dixon Flowers Rope Horses.

The couple had a chance to be one of the relatively few husband-wife duos to qualify for the WNFR in the same year. Saebens, a two-time WNFR qualifier in team roping, just missed the cut this year, finishing 16th in the heeler standings, just $2,200 short of the Top 15.

Dona Kay Rule: Dona Kay Rule – Minco, Okla. ($96,507) First-time WNFR qualifier

Dona Kay Rule at NFR

Dona Kay Rule has said that at 60-plus years of age, it’s her turn. She proved that by qualifying for her first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and doing it on a horse that 20 years ago she probably would have sold.

The Minco, Oklahoma resident doesn’t remember a time when horses weren’t a part of her life or when she didn’t want to go ride. Her father competed in rodeos. She was showing horses. Her father was entered in the team roping at a rodeo and they had to hustle from the horse show to get there. Dona Kay had won ribbons at the horse show but when she saw that her father got money for winning at the rodeo, her focus changed.

She met her husband, John Rule, inside the National Saddlery shop in Oklahoma City. That’s a business that they bought and ran together for years. Dona Kay was also raising two children and training barrel racing horses.

Amberleigh Moore: Amberleigh Moore – Salem, Ore. ($93,059) 4-time WNFR qualifier

Amberleigh Moore at NFR

Amberleigh Moore will be making her fourth consecutive trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The Salem, Oregon, barrel racer has earned her berth nearly every possible way in those four years.

Her ten-year-old mare CP Dark Moon, who her husband Paul nicknamed Paige, has excelled in the atmosphere at the Thomas & Mack Center

Four years ago, she barely squeaked into the barrel racing field in 15th, but placed in eight of the 10 rounds, winning three. She won almost $187,000 at the finals, finished as reserve world champion and was the high money winner among the barrel racers.

The next year she came into Las Vegas ranked fourth and again won three rounds and placed in two others, winning nearly $120,000 at the WNFR.

Lisa Lockhart: Lisa Lockhart – Oelrichs, S.D. (146,352) 13-time WNFR qualifier 2-time WNFR Champion

Lisa Lockhart at NFR

Maybe 13 will be the magic number for South Dakota’s Lisa Lockhart. Her fans are certainly hoping so.

When she rides into the Thomas and Mack Center for the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, it will be for her 13th qualification. Much of her success in Las Vegas has been aboard An Oakie With Cash “Louie.”

Louie has been a standout in Las Vegas, taking Lisa to two NFR championships. At 16-years-old, the buckskin gelding has already made 80 trips around the barrels there. That’s 80 right turns and 160 left. Lisa has another buckskin mount that she won a round on at last year’s NFR, Rosas Cantina CC “Rosa,” nine, that looks very similar to Louie. The biggest difference is when they enter the arena, Louie goes right, Rosa goes left.

She also got help this year from an eight-year-old Prime Diamond “Cutter” that took her to her first national title. Last March, with Louie on the inured list and Rosa busy with breeding season, Lisa’s top two horses weren’t available for competition. She was representing the Badlands Circuit at the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo (for the 15th time) and had a big decision to make.

Jessica Routier: Jessica Routier – Buffalo, S.D. ($96,507) 2-time WNFR qualifier

Jessica Routier at NFR

Last year was a learning experience for Jessica Routier that led to her first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualification and taught her how to get back there again.

After finishing the 2018 season as the reserve world champion, she got into the lucrative winter rodeos hoping that the palomino mare, Fiery Miss West, that she rides would shine over the winter. “Missy” did just that and before the busy summer run, they had been to 10 rodeos and won nearly $40,000.

As she schedules those rodeos, she plans the trips so she is never gone from home for more than two weeks. Her husband Riley Routier is part of a ranching family that takes care of 800 head of cattle.

Jessica is a planner and with five children, a ranch and plenty of horses to ride, those plans play a critical role in her success. This year she went to 54 rodeos and won $96,507 to finish the regular season in eighth place.

Lacinda Rose: Lacinda Rose – Willard, Mo. ($88,936) First-time WNFR qualifier

Lacinda Rose at NFR

Making her first appearance at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo is barrel racer Lacinda Rose of Willard, Missouri.

Lacinda qualified for Las Vegas in the 15th (and last) position, but with a $10,000 cushion over 16th-ranked Leia Pluemer. She is the first person from Missouri to qualify in the barrel racing since Amanda Clayman in 2004. They are the only two Missouri barrel racers to compete at the NFR since it moved to Las Vegas 34 years ago. She and team roper Paul Eaves will represent the “Show Me” state this year.

Adam has qualified for four RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeos and won the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo in January with partner Jett Hillman.

Her main mount has been RR Meradas Real Deal, an 11-year-old product of her father-in-law’s breeding program. Her husband Adam, a PRCA tie-down and team roper, trained Real Deal as a heading horse and Lacinda trained him on barrels.

Courtesy of WranglerNetwork.com

Filed Under: Contestant

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