Frontier Rodeo Company of Winnie, Texas, made a bit of history Oct. 14 by sweeping the 2011 PRCA bucking horse of the year awards, the first time that has been done since separate awards were created for bareback and saddle bronc horses in 1974. Full Baggage was voted the PRCA Bareback Horse of the Year and Medicine Woman edged Spring Planting in balloting for the PRCA Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year. If these names sound familiar, they should. The same horses were named the best performers at the 2010 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo last December in the same categories. Frontier Rodeo’s Jerry Nelson Jr. couldn’t have been more pleased to hear that he had not one, but two award winners in his stable. “Calgary Stampede has been raising horses for 100 years, the same with the Keslers,” Nelson Jr. said. “When guys like Harry Vold and Ike Sankey are your peers and competition in this business and you win awards like this, it’s pretty special.” It marked just the fourth time that a stock contractor had received two roughstock awards in the same year, the most recent double coming in 1997 when Big Bend Rodeo had the top bareback horse (Skoal’s Spring Fling) and the winning bull (Rapid Fire). Full Baggage, a 10-year-old, has been bucking for five years. Among the few to have a qualified ride on him in 2011 were world standings leader Kaycee Feild, 2004 World Champion Kelly Timberman and Casey Colletti. Feild won on him at Corpus Christi, Texas, with an 89-point ride and Colletti rode him to the win at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days. Nelson Jr. wasn’t sure if the top 20 bareback riders in the world would vote for Full Baggage because of his dominant nature. “Full Baggage is a rank horse, and lots of times guys won’t vote for a horse that they could draw around if they were able to,” Nelson Jr. said. “The flip side to that is that when you can actually ride him, you win.” As happy as he was with Full Baggage taking the bareback award, Nelson Jr. was even more thrilled with his home-grown mare, Medicine Woman, taking the saddle bronc title. Eight-year-old Medicine Woman helped riders including Bradley Harter, Cody DeMoss and Ty Atchison to big scores around the country. She has the perfect bloodlines to be great, as she is the daughter of Big Medicine, who has sired more than 50 offspring – many of which have become rodeo stars. “I’m just tickled to death that she was selected,” Nelson Jr. said. “She’s your perfect, classic bronc. She doesn’t do anything dirty – there are no ducks or dives with her. She’s the kind of bronc that cowboys will drive 10,000 miles to get on because she’s a rank bucking horse, but she fits the style the riders want perfectly.”
2011 PRCA "Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year"
