Jackie Ryan is a barrel racer—rodeo’s version of a Swiss Army Knife.
She is part rider, part trainer, part owner, part veterinarian and part therapist, among a wide variety of other things. And she needs to be to excel at her sport.
The people in the grandstands watching Ryan compete only see the end product, which is usually awe-inspiring. These equine athletes are an impressive display of agility, power and speed. Four legs, 1,100 pounds, all under the care and direction of a rider who must navigate her charge around a cloverleaf pattern of three barrels.
Time is of the essence and precision is paramount as knocking over a barrel costs the tandem team a five-second plenty. This proves to be enormously costly when the difference between first and second could ultimately be a fraction of a second.
That’s what the spectators see, and riders like Ryan can make it appear easy when she’s zipping around the course at a lightning-quick pace.
Behind the scenes, however, its years of dedication at work—both as a rider and as a trainer.
“You really need to have a connection with the horse to have any kind of success,” Ryan says. “It’s 100 percent a team effort. If I don’t do well, we don’t do well. And vice versa. When it all comes together, it’s fantastic. The horses know when they’ve done well. You can see it in them.”
Ryan grew up around rodeos. She will tell you it’s in her blood. The W.F. West graduate participated in junior rodeo all the way through high school.
And while she was willing to try virtually any event, barrel racing was the sport she gravitated towards. Over time, the other rodeo events became afterthoughts to her and soon her full attention shifted solely towards barrel racing.
She competes primarily throughout the Pacific Northwest, but has ventured as far as Reno for her craft.
While there are year-round options to ride—there’s a winter season held in Yelm and a fall session in Salkum at the Rocky Top Arena that Ryan looks forward to—her schedule becomes incredibly stacked once the weather gets hotter and the fair circuits start up.
One of the bigger events is the Southwest Washington Rodeo Association’s Barrel Racing Championship series—a six-race competition that began in late May at the Stewart’s Arena in Yelm and concludes with the 2016 Twin Cities Bulls and Barrels Challenge at the Southwest Washington Fair on August 20.
Prior to the championships, the series will make its way to the Rock N Horse Arena in Rochester August 6.
“It’s really time consuming,” says Ryan about the work that goes into the sport. “You have to be patient.”
That’s something Ryan knows plenty about, however, as she is also the owner of the Little Inspirations Childcare in Centralia.
“They’re more similar than people would think,” Ryan says with a laugh about caring for children and horses. “Both need a lot of attention.”
The day job keeps Ryan stationary for the most part. Barrel racing has her all over the map. She’s looking at closing out the summer with several events, including the Chasin’ For Chopper Benefit Race at the BRN4D Arena in Oregon City, Oregon (a race on August 5-6 that benefits the Humane Society for Southwest Washington), the BRN4D Regional Finals Qualifier August 13-14 at the Oregon Horse Center in Eugene, Oregon, and the $20,000 Producers Gone Wild event September 2-4 in Moses Lake.
Ryan currently competes with a pair of Quarter horses. There’s 6-year-old Champion and 9-year-old Tex.
“I don’t like to have them compete until they are about 4,” Ryan says. “It gives them time to develop.”
Champion has seen the most action of late as Tex deals with some recurring issues.
“We’ve had problems. He’s had a rough go of it actually,” Ryan sats. “He’s diabetic. He’s allergic to bugs. He’s been hurt. He had a suspensory ligament injury. He was out for eight months, but when he’s healthy I’ve won with him.”
You can add pharmacist to Ryan’s growing list of skills as she finds a home remedy—with the main ingredient being baby oil gel—works best on Tex’s negative reaction to insects.
And it’s all for the love of horses and barrel racing.
“You’re dealing with an athlete that doesn’t talk. So, you have to pay attention to everything,” Ryan says. “There’s some difficult times, but it’s definitely worth it.”
