Rodeo dreams are often born early. Watching them start to become true is a treat.
Such was the case when Jestin Jacklin nodded his head in the bull riding at the 90th Ponoka Stampede. Just eight seconds later, the crowd was roaring in support as one of the town’s own young cowboys not only made the whistle, but was 83.5 points. After two performances, he’s one of only three qualified bull rides vying for a spot in the top twelve returning for the July first Finals, sitting second behind leader Griffin Koester’s 85.
“Oh, it’s so awesome,” gushed Jacklin, who’s just 19 years old. “Hometown rodeo, everyone’s here cheering me on. I’m super blessed and happy to see everyone here.”
Jacklin feels at home in the arena, even though he’s only a rookie rider. He’d competed plenty of times at the Ponoka Stampede, as a wild pony racer, and not so long ago, in the junior steer riding.
“It feels like it was just yesterday, but now I’m in the big leagues,” he adds. “I’ve always wanted to do it. It’s been my dream since I was two years old – to want to come and ride at this rodeo. Now I’m here, I’m grateful I took advantage of it and did good.”
Jacklin plotted his path, going from steer riding, to junior bulls and taking in a bull riding school put on by two-time Canadian Champion Scott Schiffner.
“I went up the ranks like you’re supposed to and it’s really paid off now. There’s so many good people around that will set you up in such good ways. It’s such a great community.”
Jacklin’s opponent was an older Macza bull called Big River. But the cowboy saw him more as a partner.
“I let him do the work and when I felt him do the things I needed to work on, I did what I had to do to get to that next jump. We worked together and clearly, we were good teammates.”
Jacklin has several more bulls to ride at other rodeos before coming back home, to hopefully vie for the Ponoka championship.
Making his way to the top of the leaderboard in the steer wrestling now is Bridge Anderson, who put together a pair of runs in 11.9 seconds, in his second ever trip down Ponoka’s famous long score alley.
“I came last year and it didn’t go very good for me,” recalls the Oklahoma cowboy. “I rode my own horse and we came from all the nod (and go) rides. He heard the gate crack, and he straight ran through the barrier on my first one. Coming back, I decided to ride a good horse of Evan Spady’s – a Canadian horse that’s done this a time or two and they’ve had a lot of luck on. Evan did a great job hazing for me.”
Anderson admits it wasn’t only the horse who had some adjusting to do for the unique setup.
“It’s wild,” Anderson admits. “There’s a lot of stuff going on at a high rate of speed here in Ponoka. We don’t get to see that very often. For the most part, I just tried to not think about it and blank it out, and just let my instincts take care of it out there. As soon as I’d run him and stand up I was like ‘oh man, that was a rush, for sure’! It’s a lot more fun when it goes right, so we’re having a blast!”
“Hopefully we come back Wednesday!”
Idaho’s Cooper Cooke made his Ponoka Stampede debut count, claiming the bareback riding lead after marking 85.75 points. He’d been asking contractor Willy Macza what to expect on Nobody’s Baby. Trusting his assessment, Cooke made the journey and it was worth it.
“It felt really good. The horse went out there and stalled out for two (jumps) and was pretty flashy and showy. Then there was a little double clutch in there that was a little tricky,” says Cooke, who’s sitting top five in the world standings.
There are also new leaders in the team roping as Ponoka’s own Tyrel Flewelling has been on a roll with veteran header Dustin Bird of Montana. The two managed to snag a pair of steers in a 13.9 second total. Riley Warren of Stettler remains the overall leader in the tie-down roping with his 20.0 seconds. Lucas Potter of Kansas moved into second just behind him Friday clocking 20.2 seconds on his two runs. Delaney Douglas of Tilley slid into third spot in the barrel racing with a time of 17.76 seconds, behind the 17.35 from Lisa Zachoda. B.C.’s Falyn Thomson remains in front for the breakaway roping with her 6.2 second tally. There was also no change Friday at the top of the saddle bronc leaderboard where a pair of 86.25’s from Kyle Wanchuk and Tyrel Roberts remain solid.