The slowly rising sun, chilled air and sparse stands make an early-morning slack run sound easy in comparison to the adrenaline-filled atmosphere of a packed, late-night rodeo.
But when there’s $2 million on the line, the stakes are high—even if it is a slack ride. Such was the case the morning of February 21 in Mesquite, Texas, at the RFDTV’s The American Rodeo Semifinals.
Among the crowd of other accomplished horses and riders at The American Semifinals slack was Ronnie Will of Silt, Colorado, and Super Devotion, a 2006 bay solid mare by Im Devoted Too and out of Estella.
Aboard “Amara,” Ronnie became one of the first barrel racers to qualify for The American. The duo earned their qualification to the semifinals with a smoking :16.30 run at the Better Barrel Races Western Regional Tour Finale held in Loveland, Colorado, on September 23.
“I made my husband decide which of my two runs—open or slot—would be my qualifying run, and he wasn’t allowed to tell me,” Ronnie said. “Luckily, I had a good run in the open, and that was the run he’d picked as my qualifier.”
Running 16th in the slack order, the pair needed a fast, clean run—something out of the grasp of many riders thanks to a number of knocked barrels…
Read the REST of Ronnie and Amara’s story through Flash, APHA’s speed-event magazine and news site.
Does action-packed speed events get your blood pumping? Get more exciting stories about Paints excelling in all things fast with Flash. APHA’s annual speed-event magazine, Flash is available as a free digital flipbook March 1, and fast Paints are celebrated year-round with news updates on myflashyride.com.