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PHILLIPSBURG — At the Phillipsburg Rodeo next week, a student gets to work beside her mentor.
Barrel racer Jenna Rolland, a Norton resident, is the protégé of accomplished cowgirl Deb Christy, another Norton resident.
The two women will be among the barrel racers who compete at Kansas’ Biggest Rodeo August 4-6.
For Jenna, it will be the first time she has competed at the Phillipsburg rodeo, and her second pro rodeo.
She grew up in Hays, a high school rodeo contestant in the breakaway roping and goat tying, and graduating from Hays High School in 2006. She attended Ft. Hays State University, competing in college rodeo and graduating in 2011. After that, she got her Master’s Degree from Hastings (Neb.) College and now is an English teacher at Northern Valley High School in Almena. She moved to Norton when her parents, Gary and Sammette Rolland, retired there.
Even though she rodeoed, she had never run barrels, and she wanted to. A mutual friend told her about Deb, so she called her. “She called me out of the blue one day,” Deb said, “and that’s how it all started.”
Rolland was an accomplished rider and knew the correct technique for riding, so it was just a matter of learning to barrel race.
But it was more than that. There is a lot of technique in barrel racing, and Deb, who has barrel raced since her youth, was the accomplished veteran to help her.
Deb helped her with technique, even going with her to rodeos and walking into arenas to give her tips on where to start, when to give her horse the cue to turn, and more. “People would follow us around,” Jenna said, “listening to her, trying to hear what she was telling me. There’s so much to it, and she’s taught me a lot.”
Deb has also helped Jenna with her horses. Jenna wanted to not only run barrels but ride horses she had trained herself. She has trained her own horse Ringo, whose registered name is Chiefs Blue Bar. Ringo was four years old when she got him and had been a mounted shooting horse. She turned him into a barrel horse, and now “he’s my best friend. He’s the reason I run barrels.” Ringo is only fourteen hands tall, small for barrel racing, which sometimes works to his disadvantage. “Sometimes he gets outrun but it’s not from the lack of trying,” Jenna said.
And he has a large personality. “He’s very personable and very, very smart.” When he’s tied to the fence, “he will untie all the horses tied up next to him, but he won’t untie himself.”
Jenna also competes in regional rodeo associations, including the Kansas Pro Rodeo Association and the Nebraska State Rodeo Association. She has done very well in her barrel racing, Deb said. “She was very dedicated and had a lot of passion to do it right. She was easy to work with.” She has advanced, “incredibly,” Deb said. “She was already a good rider, which was huge, and I told her, ‘you’re going to go as far as you want to go.’ I’m so proud of her.”
Jenna often spends time at Deb’s house, with Deb and her husband Steve. “They’re very good friends to me,” Jenna said. “We love it when she comes out,” Deb said.
Both cowgirls will be among the barrel racers in slack on Wednesday, August 3 at the rodeo. Last year, the barrel racing payout was $13,700. This year, there are 99 barrel racers entered in the rodeo.
Slack, the extra competition that doesn’t fit into the performances, is free to the public. It is held at 7 pm on August 2 and 3. Rodeo performances are at 8 pm on August 4-5-6. Tickets are available at Heritage Insurance in Phillipsburg (785.543.2448) and at the gate. Ticket prices range from $14-16 for adults and $11-12 for children ages 3-12. For more information, visit the website at KansasBiggestRodeo.com or search for the rodeo on Facebook and Twitter.