CLARESHOLM, Alta. – She has the beauty of a cover model, aggression of an Olympic athlete and brains of the doctor she wants to be one day.
At 18, Jill Besplug begins university studies in science this fall with a comfortable nest egg under her rodeo belt buckle. She won the biggest single prize for women at the 2001 Calgary Stampede – a $50,000 cheque in barrel racing.
That is added to her other earnings this year, last year’s $30,000 booty on the pro rodeo circuit and money and scholarships from previous years. Her previous best single earning was $35,000.
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She gives her eight-year-old Quarter-horse Chick most of the credit. Citing steady improvement, Besplug said the horse is turning really well.
“My horse is just young and every year gets more solid than the year before.”
A good horse comes from good bloodlines, a blend of cow horse for turning and race horse for speed.
Besplug does light daily workouts with Chick.
“I run her, but I don’t race her.”
She has little trouble getting Chick ready to run.
“They know when they’re going to do it,” she said.
Her own motivation comes from growing up around rodeos.
“You have to want to do it,” she said.
Her brother Chad, 15, is a provincial high school rodeo champion in bull riding. Father Neil has competed in steer wrestling while mother Ginger, who helped train Chick, also competed in barrel racing.
Nerves are not a factor for the soft-spoken teen, who said school exams are more nerve-racking than tilting sideways at high speeds on top of a horse.
“If you have a horse turning good, working properly, there is no reason to go down,” she said.
She has not been hurt in barrel racing, but did need surgery to repair damage from downhill skiing that included a herniated disc and knee tear.
At five feet, 10 inches and 110 pounds, Besplug keeps herself in shape by biking, running and riding Chick every day on the family acreage near Claresholm, Alta., which houses five horses and a goat. The goat remains from Jill’s days in goat-tying events.
Her focus will now shift to school and will likely return to rodeoing next summer.
Ginger said Jill is competitive, determined and tries really hard.
“She’s mentally tough and very focused,” she said. “When you tell her things to do, she can connect and do it.”
Her father agrees: “Anything you try at, you’ll be successful in.”
Like the other 18- to 60-year-old women in the rodeo circuit, she rides well, hard and aggressively, going to 25 rodeos between January and July.
Ginger said Jill placed at her first high school rodeo.
Chantel Wickenheiser hopes to follow a similar path one day by going professional and acquiring scholarships for university classes in agriculture.
The 16-year-old from Vibank, Sask., placed fourth in the barrel racing event with her 14-year-old horse Bert at the Canadian High School rodeo finals in Regina in August.
Like Besplug, Wickenheiser was raised around rodeos. Her family runs a mixed farm and regularly does chores on horseback.
Her success at the more than 30 rodeos she attends every year comes from a positive attitude, steady improvement and a good horse with heart, “willing to go for it.
“You can’t get down when you lose,” she said, advising others to “keep it open and have some fun and enjoy what you do.”
Despite spills for both horse and rider, Wickenheiser loves the “speed and adrenaline rush,” challenging others for the top prize and bettering her own records.
“Giving an honest clean run makes you feel good.”
She has won an assortment of buckles, blankets and jackets in rodeo.
Wickenheiser hopes to earn a university scholarship after high school and compete in the college rodeo circuit.
“I will continue as long as I can,” she said.
