White City, Kan. - (September 27, 2010) – A Kansas cowgirl is leading the standings for the Prairie Circuit.
Barrel racer Jeanne Anderson, White City, Kan., is in the number one spot in the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association’s regional designation of rodeos in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. After competing at 23 Prairie Circuit rodeos this year, she’s won $17,500, about $3,000 more than her closest competitor, Tana Renick, of Kingston, Okla.
And not only is Jeanne at the top of the Prairie Circuit standings, but she’s also in the pro rodeo’s world standings. For the first time, Anderson finds herself at number eleven with a good chance of making it to the National Finals Rodeo, the ten day rodeo in Las Vegas that determines world champions.
Being ranked in the world standings required Anderson to do something she’s not crazy about: being gone from home. During late August and early September, Anderson was in the northwest U.S., competing at rodeos in Canby, Ore., and Kennewick, Bremerton, Lynden, Walla Walla, and Ellensburg, Wash.
Actually, Jeanne is a homebody who likes to stay busy. “I like to be home working during the day, run to a rodeo, and come home. I hate the sitting around,” she said. “In the Northwest, we’d go to three (rodeos) in a row and then sit five days and wait for another one to start.” Anderson tried to fill up her free time. “I’d clean stalls a lot, mess with my horse, work the extra horse I took with me, wash the truck, just piddle and piddle.”
It was urgings by friends that got her to the big money rodeos in the Northwest. “My friends talked me into it,” she said. “They said, ‘You need to go to the Northwest to make it to the NFR because there’s more (prize) money out there.’”
Jeanne, who grew up in a horse training, showing and rodeo family, rides an eleven year old gelding named Firebug, who she trained. She continues to train horses, and she and her husband Rick run cattle.
Barring horse injuries, Jeanne will compete at the Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo in Park City, Kan. October 29-30. And after she’s competed at the regional championship, she’ll represent the circuit at the NFR on the big stage in Las Vegas.
This year’s Dodge Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo takes place at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan. The rodeo is set for 2:30 and 7:30 pm on October 29 and 7:30 pm on October 30. For more information, become a friend of the Prairie ProRodeo Circuit on Facebook.
