Eighteen-year-old Nicola Valley cowgirl Reesa Stoltzfus is having quite a final season on the B.C. high school rodeo circuit.
The Grade 12 student at Merritt Secondary School won her third all-around title of the 2015-16 campaign on the weekend — at the Merritt high school rodeo in Collettville. Over 100 cowboys and cowgirls from all over B.C. took part in the three-day event.
If there were ever any doubts that Stoltzfus was going to take the senior girls’ overall title on her home turf, they were put to rest late on Sunday, as the talented teen won the last two events on the program — pole bending and team roping. In the latter, Stoltzfus and her roping partner, Tylee Cooper from Vernon, were the only pair to successfully head and heel their steer and record a time.
Merritt Secondary School cowgirl Reesa Stoltzfus and her seven-year-old mare, Sophie. Ian Webster/Herald
Stoltzfus started the weekend just as strong, winning both cutting horse events on Friday night by wide margins. All told, Stoltzfus picked up four firsts, a second, two thirds, a fifth and a sixth. She was also an all-around winner last September in Kamloops, and in Barriere at the end of April of this year.
Working so many different events, Stoltzfus had four horses on the go over the weekend.
“I alternate using Sophie (seven-year-old mare) and Jerry Lee (11-year-old gelding) in the barrels and the poles,” Stoltzfus said. “Sophie is actually my sister’s horse, but she’s letting me use her while she’s away at school.
“Then there’s Columbo (a 15-year-old gelding), who I use for goat tying and team roping. My partents originally bought him for cutting cattle, but then we started rodeoing off him. He can pretty well do everything.”
For the cutting horse competition, Stoltzfus turns to her eight-year-old gelding, Scar.
“I pretty well ride every day,” the MSS cowgirl said, “but I practise each of the events lightly. I like to keep [the horses’] brains fresh. They’ll get tired of it if you overdo things.”
Stoltzfus has one more rodeo, in Valemont at the end of the month, before the B.C. High School Finals in Quesnel on the June 10-12 weekend.
Going into the Merritt rodeo, Stoltzfus was leading in the senior girls’ all-around competition provincially, was ranked second in barrels, sixth in pole bending, and seventh in both goat tying and team roping.
Stoltzfus, who lives on the family ranch 30 minutes west of Merritt on Hwy 5, would like nothing better than to win a B.C. title or two, and also qualify for this year’s National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyoming, in July.
“I went to the National Finals last year in barrels and cutting,” Stoltzfus said. “It was pretty exciting. I didn’t make the short go in barrels, but I finished 13th in cutting.”
The MSS cowgirl said she’s been riding horses almost since she could stand, and began competing in Little Britches rodeos at age seven.
Looks like being in it for the long haul is really paying off.
