HEGINS, Pa. (AP) - A Hegins teen and her quarter horse, Charlie, will compete at the world’s largest rodeo in July.
Jeni Fey, a 2018 Tri-Valley graduate, earned a position on the Pennsylvania National High School Rodeo Team and will compete July 15-21 in the pole bending competition at the 70th annual National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Fey, 17, a daughter of Jesse and Lisa Fey. Although Fey’s been in rodeos since she was 5, she and Charlie just became a team last October.
“He’s not a patient horse,” she said, laughing Tuesday, while 11-year-old Charlie paced, indicating he preferred to be in motion while an open pasture beckoned nearby at her family’s Hegins farm. “I didn’t expect him to be as good as he was. Anytime you can get into the 20s and 21s, that’s a good time.”
One of their fastest times this season was 21.1 seconds.
In pole bending, the rider races the horse straight down alongside a series of six poles that are spaced 21 feet apart, turning and weaving through them, then turns at the end of the row and weaves back through the poles. They then race alongside the poles back to the starting area to complete a run.
At the start of each run, Fey said she doesn’t really have a strategy.
“I just try to stay calm, and then we go,” she said.
She rides her horse nearly every day, but doesn’t work with the poles too often. A horse can get bored doing the pattern work between the poles and may eventually refuse to make a run if they’ve been through the pattern too much, she said.
“I don’t do much of the pattern work. He knows what he’s doing. I just long trot him. We trot up and down these fields a bunch of times, keeping him in shape,” Fey said.
Fey, her parents and her sister, Jessica, who is a farrier, are planning to make the trip to nationals. Fey and her father will leave July 11 with Charlie, while her mother and sister will follow a few days later. It will be their first time in Wyoming. About half-way during the trip, Charlie will be able to stay at a horse hotel, Fey said. It’s a place for the horse to safely leave his trailer and stretch his legs.
Having her sister there is a comfort, knowing she’s a farrier familiar with Charlie. Normally, a horse needs to be re-shoed about every six to eight weeks. However, Charlie pulls his shoes every three to four weeks, Fey’s mother, Lisa, said.
“He’s high maintenance,” Fey said.
She got a position on the team based on the point standings at the end of a year-long rodeo season. The top four riders in each of the events are chosen to compete at the national level. Fey had the second highest point total for pole bending on her team, with 122 points. There were 30 vying in the pole bending event in the state.
The NHSFR features more than 1,650 contestants from 43 states, five Canadian provinces, Australia and Mexico, and is the world’s largest event of its kind, according to a NHSFR release.
Challengers will vie for more than $200,000 in prizes and more than $350,000 in college scholarships, and the chance to be named an NHSFR world champion.
Contestants must finish in the top 20, based on their combined times/scores in the first two rounds, to advance to the final round. The world champions will be determined based on their three-round combined times/scores.
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Online:
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Information from: Pottsville Republican and Herald, http://www.republicanherald.com
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