Hauling a young horse on the rodeo road isn’t always easy, but it’s a necessity for professional barrel racers like Dona Kay Rule.
Superstar horses are made through years of dedicated work, learning the ropes hauling from rodeo to rodeo with a seasoned partner. For Dona Kay Rule, having an up-and-coming B team is a vital part of maintaining a regular presence in professional barrel racing.
In 2022, Rule was having such pain in her hip she thought that her barrel racing days may be numbered. With that in mind, the four-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier didn’t have a young horse waiting in the wings. But a hip replacement in early 2022 got Rule back in the saddle.
“I realized I needed to get after it and find a young horse,” she says. “To do this, you should always have a young horse in tow if your plan is to continue on the road, one you know, and it won’t be a surprise if you have to ride them.”
The Minco, Oklahoma, trainer recently began hauling Simply High, called “Lulu,” a young mare that is out of the same dam as her gelding, High Valor, Rare High. Lulu’s owners, Jennifer and Jason Jensen, visited with Rule and the stars aligned for Rule to continue Lulu’s training with real-life experience on the road.
“If you add another horse to the mix, you need to mentally commit to seeing it through,” Rule says. “Lulu has been pretty fun, and I told my daughter it’s been a pleasant surprise to have fun. I call them ‘the further adventures of Lulu ‘when I send photos to her owners! I think they are sad they are missing out on her training, and I wanted them to feel included.”
Like wet saddle blankets, miles make a solid rodeo horse. Rule, and many other competitors, are training up the B team while focusing on winning with their current mounts.
Plan Ahead
With Lulu ready to hit the road, Rule took another look at the supplies she hauls regularly. Double the horses means double the potential for trouble, and Rule would know from hauling her two sorrel geldings, A Juicy Adventure, called “Juice,” and “Valor.”
“Extra hay is like a pacifier for Juice, so I always bring extra hay to keep in front of them, even when the horse is just tied to the trailer it gives them something to do and stay out of trouble,” she explains. “Hay is a normal thing in an abnormal situation.”
Keeping a horse calm and comfortable, no matter the situation, has helped earn Rule’s gelding titles like reserve Horse of the Year in 2022, WPRA Horse With The Most Heart in 2021-2022, and the 2019 Purina Horse of the Year honors.
“Extra things I bring when I haul a couple horses is an extra halter or two, and leads, and that is something I double-checked before I left last weekend,” Rule says. “I always pack sheets, or blankets in the winter, because the changes in temperature can stress them mentally and not just physically. Before I leave, I always check my medicine box and make sure it is well stocked.”
Begin with Basics
Before setting out to a rodeo, Rule advises to have a certain level of understanding for and with the young horse joining the trailer.
“If you’re going to be on the road, you have to be smart and careful,” says Rule. “You want to bring a broke individual that can stand tied, stay in a pen and won’t panic if you’re in a bad situation, or they will deal with it. Say you’re at a rodeo and a wagon team comes by, that is terrifying. They are there to learn to deal with that atmosphere, but they have to be broke enough to let you help them deal with it. You must have them a little bit broke before you leave, but there are a lot of surprises out there you can’t plan for, and that is the entire reason they are in the trailer.”
Rule recalls bringing Juice and Valor along before she joined the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association in 2018. She prioritized working on their focus and comfort while on the road.
“On Juice, when I got him, I took him everywhere—ropings, rodeos, all kinds of arenas—and taught him to be intense and when to come down,” explains Rule. “Fast forward to Denver three years ago and Valor couldn’t go, so I took Juice. I started down the alley, picked up my reins and was ready to go when they waved me off because the timers stopped working. I had to stop, drop the intensity, then pick it up and go again, and he almost placed that year.”
Calling on her own real-world experience has Rule thinking through how to introduce Lulu to the rodeo atmosphere.
“The first couple of years in the trailer are so important to set yourself up for success down the line,” she says.
Have Flexible Expectations
While Rule and Valor have been tearing up the road, winning titles in 2023 like the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo to be named the Montana Silversmiths WPRA Athlete of the Week, she has been helping Lulu have positive experiences at all rodeo stops. Even Clovis, New Mexico, where the weather made riding even the most seasoned horse a challenge.
“There are some places where I do not even saddle that extra horse,” says Rule. “If the weather is miserable, like it was in Clovis where the wind was blowing and it was terrible cold, I chose to focus on Valor. I channeled peace to him. She fed off that, and it reminds me how much the B team guy can learn from the A team guy.
“She learned as much at Clovis without me riding her than if I had ridden her. If I’d forced an issue in a crummy situation, she’d have left with a crummy memory. Instead, she can think it was scary, but she lived and wasn’t overly stressed out.”
That point of view carries to each stop the team makes. Rule admitted that the young horse has had some challenges, but Lulu continues to rise above expectations.
“She’s had a little issue at events, and she gets a little scared,” explains Rule. “I decided not to put an end time on the days when I would ride her at rodeos. If I had a day there and plenty of time before I ran that night, and they were running through steers for example, I would ride her to the arena and stay there to show her she wasn’t going to run and that she can be calm. Even things like sitting on her and listening to cowboy church, I try to make the rides calm and pleasant.”
As Rule takes aim at her fifth NFR qualification this year, she isn’t only looking toward November but to the next year and another partner.
There are some places where I do not even saddle the extra horse. If the weather is miserable, like it was in Clovis where the wind was blowing and it was terrible cold, I chose to focus on Valor. I channeled peace to him. She fed off that, and it reminds me how much the B team guy can learn from the A team guy.
She learned as much at Clovis without me riding her than if I had ridden her. If I’d forced an issue in a crummy situation, she’d have left with a crummy memory. Instead, she can think it was scary but she lived and wasn’t overly stressed out.
